What is Link?
Link is a 3 week opportunity for Animas High School students to go and participate in careers they may one day seek as full time jobs. Students can travel around the country or the world, or just stay in Durango to work for the business of their choice. Link is treated as a full-time job, requiring 30-40 hours a week for students, so no regular classes take place. Students are able to focus mainly on their internships, and at the end must present a final project. This project can be a contribution to the business, or anything the student and their mentor decide to exhibit.
Crossfit Catacombs
Crossfit Catacombs is a Crossfit style gym focusing on improving fitness and health. I chose Catacombs because of its welcoming staff, as well as its inviting and supportive community. Catacombs offers a variety of classes and personal training options to complete their main goal. Anyone, regardless of age, can join catacombs and get an amazing exercise experience.
http://www.crossfitcatacombs.com/
Reflection
At the beginning of my internship I was placed in a very uncomfortable situation. Throughout the three weeks, I became less shy and more able to properly coach, but this didn't come quickly. Going into Link I had a lot of knowledge on lifts being taught in the Crossfit class, mostly relating to weightlifting/powerlifting as well as a few other bodyweight movements. Having knowledge of these movements allowed me to show or help someone with potential ways to improve their form. Even though having knowledge of these lifts was a huge coaching benefit on my part, actually teaching someone these lifts was a different story. I worked with my mentor on giving cues to help better someone's form and this turned out to be very tricky to me. I overcomplicated the movement when what I really needed to do was simplify the cue and make it so they could not only understand it, but understand it quickly and effectively.
I was (for the most part) younger than a lot of the people participating in the Catacomb classes, and because of this I felt that when I tried to help someone they did not listen. I felt that because I was younger people did not trust my opinion, because of lack of experience or knowledge. After a week or two the people at Catacombs saw me more and began to trust my opinions, but still to the average new comer I still wasn't a trust worthy coach. This is a challenge I faced in most classes, as well as being a little too nervous to encourage or coach someone properly. In a few circumstances I set this aside, just trying my best to give effective cues but still there were times I should have coached but did not.
For my project during this internship I focused on making an advertisement film for their website, as well as discussing a possible “Sterling discount” to bring in more students to the Crossfit gym. This idea is still in the works and I hope to be working with them this summer to hopefully give them more business amongst high schoolers. The film's purpose is to summarize their website in a short, engaging video to help provide the message and goal of Crossfit Catacombs. This video may soon need to be updated with a location change, but hopefully this will only give way for an even better project.
As for my next steps in life, I still want to pursue a degree in exercise science, as well as to maybe open my own gym one day. My goals are pretty set and this internship just helped me reassure what I want to do. Having this experience, working in a gym opened by another passionate person run by a hard working crew gave me a lot of faith that I can do the same thing. Something I should look into more is the business side of opening a gym, more specifically learning to make sure my business doesn't go under for any reasons. I can do this during college or maybe even a class at Animas but this is definitely something I should look into.
I was (for the most part) younger than a lot of the people participating in the Catacomb classes, and because of this I felt that when I tried to help someone they did not listen. I felt that because I was younger people did not trust my opinion, because of lack of experience or knowledge. After a week or two the people at Catacombs saw me more and began to trust my opinions, but still to the average new comer I still wasn't a trust worthy coach. This is a challenge I faced in most classes, as well as being a little too nervous to encourage or coach someone properly. In a few circumstances I set this aside, just trying my best to give effective cues but still there were times I should have coached but did not.
For my project during this internship I focused on making an advertisement film for their website, as well as discussing a possible “Sterling discount” to bring in more students to the Crossfit gym. This idea is still in the works and I hope to be working with them this summer to hopefully give them more business amongst high schoolers. The film's purpose is to summarize their website in a short, engaging video to help provide the message and goal of Crossfit Catacombs. This video may soon need to be updated with a location change, but hopefully this will only give way for an even better project.
As for my next steps in life, I still want to pursue a degree in exercise science, as well as to maybe open my own gym one day. My goals are pretty set and this internship just helped me reassure what I want to do. Having this experience, working in a gym opened by another passionate person run by a hard working crew gave me a lot of faith that I can do the same thing. Something I should look into more is the business side of opening a gym, more specifically learning to make sure my business doesn't go under for any reasons. I can do this during college or maybe even a class at Animas but this is definitely something I should look into.