CrossFit’s New Athlete Council – Learning Lessons From the Past
On Wednesday, CrossFit LLC announced that the third-party investigation into Lazar Đukić’s death at the 2024 CrossFit Games has been completed and that they will not be publishing a full report.
Instead, CrossFit laid out six steps it plans to take to “maximize [its] continued commitment to safety at the CrossFit Games.”
- One of these steps is the creation of an “Athlete Council” in order to “ensure that athletes from the CrossFit community can share feedback and have greater influence on CrossFit’s protocols for competition, safety, broader athlete welfare and the business of sport.”
- CrossFit expanded further, saying, “Unlike prior CrossFit councils, this Athlete Council will be elected by fellow athletes and will represent athletes from all divisions of competition.”
No further details were given in the post, but CrossFit did say to expect additional information in the near future.
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CrossFit’s Athlete Councils – A History
Establishing an Athlete Council is not a new thing for CrossFit.
- In 2020, CrossFit formed its inaugural Athlete Advisory Council (AAC), which included Annie Thorisdottir, Meredith Root, Neal Maddox, and James Hobart.
- The idea was for the council to help CrossFit gain insight and input from the athletes on a wide range of issues affecting the sport, including judging, scoring, and appeals, and to communicate with the then newly formed Professional Fitness Athlete Association (PFAA).
- Then, in July 2022, after the Athlete Council had provided feedback for two years, CrossFit added a new component: the Divisional Athlete Committee (DAC). This was a way to better listen to the athletes’ interests. Hundreds applied to become part of the DAC, and 37 members from all around the world were selected.
According to CrossFit, unlike the prior councils, this new Athlete Council will be elected by fellow athletes and represent athletes from all divisions of competition. A CrossFit spokesperson confirmed to the Morning Chalk Up that the new council will replace the old AAC and the DAC, which are no longer active.
- “In addition, the new council system is designed to operate independently from CrossFit HQ and act as an advocate for the sport of CrossFit. Members of the new council(s) will regularly communicate with our cross-functional group of HQ employees,” the spokesperson said.
What Former Council Members Are Saying
We spoke with Meredith Root, a 2018 CrossFit Games athlete, and Ellia Miller, a three-time Semifinals athlete, about their experiences on the AAC and DAC.
Root served on the first AAC in 2020 and was asked to re-join in 2021, while Miller was part of the 2022-2023 DAC. They offered very different perspectives about their experiences.
“The council’s role was to provide perspective and help guide decision-making through the lens of athlete experience at all levels of competition,” Root said. “Personally, I think the council was highly effective in doing that.”
- “The council members took the job very seriously and we saw that reflected back at us from leadership in their willingness to implement feedback and ideas that came from the council. There were a lot of changes that did happen in the 2020-2022 seasons, and while the council was not involved in everything, there was a great deal of influence,” she continued.
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About the new Athlete Council, Root offered this:
- “This is a step in the right direction. I think that in addition to the Athlete Advisory Council, the athletes should continue to get organized outside of [CrossFit]. Until a non-partisan entity steps in to govern the sport side of CrossFit, it would be wise to remember that athletes are participating in a business as much as they are participating in a sport.”
Miller, on the other hand, was more critical of her experience with the DAC.
While she said the first two meetings were great, by the third meeting in October 2022, “it no longer felt like us helping to guide decision-making.”
- “All the meetings after that became similar. It felt like they would come to the meeting and say, ‘Hey guys, we did this. What do you think?’ instead of, ‘Hey guys, we’re thinking of doing this in the future. What do you think?’”
By 2023, when Miller brought up some concerns she had about CrossFit’s strength of field worldwide ranking system and wanted to speak with Dave Castro about it, she was told the message would be passed on to him.
- “I never heard from him, and I never had an opportunity to discuss it with him,” she added.
The DAC was eventually dissolved, which Miller only discovered when she asked when they were going to have another meeting and was told the committee had been disbanded.
Ultimately, Miller said she thinks the biggest issue was that the individuals who ran their meetings “did not actually have the authority to act on any of the suggestions or feedback the committee provided.”
- “So while we got to voice our opinions, we only got to voice them, and the people who were actually making the decisions would only get the summarized version that was passed on to them,” she added.
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Because of this, Miller is not convinced the new Athlete Council will be any different:
- “The optimist in me wants to believe that [it] will be useful and productive and genuinely influence the path forward for CrossFit Sport. However, based on CrossFit’s track record with these committees and councils, I am not confident that these will be anything more than an attempt to quell the vocalized opposition to the sport of CrossFit by giving athletes and the community the illusion that we are being listened to, while CrossFit continues to make its decisions within its own echo chamber.”
What to Expect From the CrossFit Athlete Council
Though the soon-to-be-elected Athlete Council is said to operate independently from CrossFit, Root said it’s too early to tell if it’s truly a step in the right direction.
As Miller put it, it could just be another “illusion that we are being listened to.”
More CrossFit Stories
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- From Dancing to CrossFit, Australia’s Emily Cairns Takes Center Stage at the Adaptive CrossFit Games
- CrossFit Skylands Steps Up for Veterans in November, Raises $22,105 and Counting
Featured image: Carlos Fleury
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