CrossFit Needs to Get a Grip: Why Coaches Don’t Care and How We Fix It
The Growing Problem
Currently there are growing cases of unethical behaviours from sport coaches being reported in the media such as Maggie Haney and Phil Banning. This is supported by research that reveals that coaches don’t care about the wellbeing of their athletes in the same way as they used to in sport (Fortier et.al., 2020; Kerr et.al., 2020).
But is this being reflected in the sport of CrossFit? Do coaches, in this context, care about keeping their athletes safe, or are they purposefully putting them in harm’s way to make better performers?
I was fortunate enough to have the privilege of chatting with my good friend Stuart, (Not his real name, his identity has been protected) who is a level 3 qualified personal trainer and CrossFit Coach, to explore what it means to care as a coach in CrossFit.
What is Care?
To begin, it’s important to define exactly what I mean when I say care. When asked, Stuart said:
“care is subjective to what the person needs, […] but it’s how much you try to fulfil someone’s needs, is how much you care in my opinion”
I think that such a definition truly encompasses what it is to care as a coach of an athlete. We can say we care about people or things ‘I really care about you…I care about what others think’. However, the true act of care is to ‘care for’ and that is defined by the relationships we have with others.
Social philosopher Nel Noddings developed a theory known as an Ethic of Care (Noddings, 1984). This describes the moral responsibility of the practitioner to care. First, by understanding and acting on the needs of others, achieved through ‘Engrossment’ and ‘Motivational Displacement’.
‘Engrossment’ refers to the investment in the relationship and the understanding of needs beyond the physical such as thoughts, feelings, and emotions. Gaining an accurate insight into who the other is through talking, observing, and thinking critically on what makes this other, them.
‘Motivational Displacement’ is a process of redirecting self-motivation to better this person rather than yourself, making it necessary to reposition the needs of the individual above your own wants or desires.
It is this clear distinction that changes the motivations from ‘I want to care about’ to ‘I must care for; I must do the right thing’. Also, it’s this focus on the meaningful relationships that suggests that caring is feminine. Challenging the societal, masculine norm of society, where care, by this definition, is not always present (Noddings, 2005).
Do Coaches Care in CrossFit?
Stuart would say that they do, or at least he coaches with the aim of caring. To some extent I would agree, there are coaches out there that deeply care about the betterment of their athletes (Haywood 2016).
One example would be Ben Bergeron, owner, and head coach at CrossFit New England (Bergeron 2017; 2017a). Ben prioritises making better people that subsequently make better athletes, a belief that is reflected in sports coaching research (Davis et.al. 2019; Jowett, 2017). This approach has led to many podium finishes of the athletes he coaches.
However, this is where I diverge from Stuart. Through my observations, participation, and research of CrossFit. I would say that the vast majority of coaches don’t care for their athletes.
In my experience the general CrossFit culture, introduced by coaches, contributes to highly competitive, predominantly masculine, environments (Nash 2018). Developing an ‘I am better than you’ type mentality (Kerry, 2017). It’s this environment that changes, and reinvents, athletes to be more concerned with what weight and speed they are moving, rather than how they are moving (Dawson 2017).
With coaches measuring success on performance, in a culture that is said to bleed into every aspect of someone’s life, it’s obvious that they don’t care for their athletes. Such a focus encourages athletes to find easier ways of moving bigger weights quicker at an evidently higher risk of injury (Crockett and Butryn 2018).
It’s this clear lack of physical safety, coupled with the paradoxical encouragement to be better physical performers, which reveals there are coaches who only care about shaping their athletes into what they would like them to be, rather than what the athlete needs to be. Thereby promoting a masculine culture of measurable success, defined by an individual’s physical capability, subsequently ignoring the feminine principles of relational understanding.
Looking only at the defined parameters of physical improvement is limiting. To invest in each individual relationship, the coach must look beyond the physical needs of the athlete and include their emotional needs, through mutual discussion (Noddings 2012; Bergman 2004).
The Bigger Issue
Such a focus of coaches in this context doesn’t occur in a vacuum but by the wider influence that the organisation inflicts on owners and coaches. Stuart alluded to this during our chat when he said:
“the worst thing in CrossFit is that you get people who come in and they want to do all of the really big stuff.”
Greg Glassman, creator of CrossFit, is a strong libertarian. This means he is against centralised control and advocates individualism. Such an approach leaves owners and coaches alike without support, but at the same time leaves them open to run their box’s however they see fit (Helm 2013).
Although, this allows a great degree of freedom it doesn’t allow coaches to always centre in on what is important: the athletes. I feel that with the fundamental lack of guidance from a National Governing Body, which is replaced with a for profit business, begins to subconsciously de-emphasise the athlete and subsequently promotes, financial gain (Visnovsky, 2015). This is a measure of success by societies standards (Breman et.al. 2019; Campbell 2019).
Such a standard, modelled by a business, pollutes the minds of those involved. Although many believe that they are acting in morally right ways, there is perhaps a darker undertone that penetrates below the contented inclusive surface (Bailey et.al. 2019).
Those who coach are reliant on the owner’s ability to have, albeit a relatively small number, of paying athletes, to make a living. As a result, coaches have to play this balancing act between shaping athletes into who they need to be and who the athletes want to be. Balancing between pleasing the athletes and getting paid, or following their needs, potentially not pleasing their athletes, and risk them leave. Stuart explains:
“care comes into direct conflict with your business, because at the end of the day you have to take into account that yes you are caring for someone as their coach, but you are also a salesman and you have to make money”
Ultimately CrossFit coaches are subliminally influenced to first make profit, then care for their athletes. That is not to say coaches don’t care at all, they certainly care about their athletes but might lack the motivational displacement to care for them, as a result of this wider organisational influence (Dohsten et.al. 2020; Noddings 1984).
Care at its Heart
Although not explicit, Stuart, I hope, would agree that CrossFit needs to get a grip, critically considering how they can encourage care for athletes at the heart of coaching practice. Stuart said:
“I think CrossFit as a whole needs to drive that [Care] home in their coaching and their training qualification. […] if CrossFit came out with some sort of incentive to care for people […] you take away that money aspect and they can care because you aren’t worrying about whether they are going to pay”
I agree, it’s the responsibility of CrossFit to encourage this change, prioritising coach education that considers personal development not just physical development.
Glassman needs to adopt the motivational displacement of care, removing his agenda of what the brand should be, developing it into what it needs to be. By acknowledging the influence Glassman and his board have on the way coaches operate, CrossFit can move away from these regurgitative practices, opting to do what is morally right by those who engage within the sport.
However, this does not excuse coaches in CrossFit and a similar responsibility falls to them to adjust their perspective. Repositioning their ‘care about’ mentality for profitable gain, to one that focuses on a ‘cared for’ approach, is vital. One such approach comes from the work of Fisher (2019)(Figure 1).
Through a decade of research, Fisher (2019) developed a heuristic approach that coaches can adopt to do this. Challenging their morality in relation to how they coach. Although a heuristic approach is not an optimal solution, and more of a quick fix, coaches can use it to begin critically evaluating their practice in relation to each individual athlete.
By incorporating the work of Noddings (1984) at the centre of their solution, Fisher (2019) captures the moral ambiguity of such an ethic, allowing coaches to really consider what it means for them to care for their athletes, on their own terms. Encouraging coaches, to critically reflect if their actions properly reflect their moral predispositions.
The future
There is a lot that certainly still needs to be done here, from both the organisational perspective and the coaches. Firstly, to identify that there is an issue, coaches have the freedom to act in unethical ways. Secondly, to develop critically reflective approaches in rectifying it. Ideally an approach that encourages a coaches’ understanding of their moral commitment by deepening their relationships with their athletes through Engrossment and Motivational Displacement. Remembering that coaching isn’t looking out for yourself, but others to.
What do you think; How do you think coaches in CrossFit care and how can they get better?
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