Fight Gone Bad 6: Giving back to those who gave everything

  • Published
  • By 1st Lt. Ashley S. Jensen
  • 372nd Training Squadron Det. 15 commander
KADENA AIR BASE, Japan --  3 ... 2 ... 1 ... Go!

Pull!

Keep your weight in your heels!

Drive that bar up!

Squat lower!

I can't tell you how many times I shouted those words Sept. 17 during Shogun CrossFit's Fight Gone Bad 6 Fundraiser. Over the past two months I've had the privilege of running the new CrossFit gym within the Risner Fitness Center with eight of my closest friends, and this past Saturday might just have been the high point!

The other trainers and I woke up early to set up the gym assembling rowers, stacking weights on barbells, and filling the coolers with ice in anticipation of a day filled with soccer moms, front-line war fighters, aircraft maintainers, pilots and teachers alike throwing down in a workout to fundraise for three selected organizations.

Fight Gone Bad is an annual event, and this year the organization committed to raise funds for the Special Operations Warrior Foundation, the Infant Swimming Resource and Camp Patriot.

Approximately a month before the event, a Chinook crashed in Afghanistan, killing 30 U.S. service members, making it the greatest single-day U.S. forces' loss in Afghanistan. Fight Gone Bad 6 recognized this tragedy as an opportunity to focus our fundraising on the surviving families of these military members, and committed to pay for the college education of the all 32 dependents of these service members through the Special Operations Warrior Foundation.

The Infant Swimming Resource, with Fight Gone Bad 6's help, committed to training over 1,000 infants on basic swimming and floating techniques before their first birthday after a recent uprise in infant drowning deaths in backyard swimming pools. Many families could not afford to provide the training to their children, but with FGB6's help ISR promised not one of these children will drown.

Camp Patriot was the final organization selected by FGB6 to fundraise for. Camp Patriot provides outdoor adventures to disabled U.S. veterans renewing their dreams and visions of their physical limitations, or lack thereof, through positive, life-changing experiences. Their quest is to try to repay these American veterans who have endured great personal loss defending the U.S.

When I checked my phone for the latest fundraising stats, I couldn't believe my eyes. We had raised over $9,643 as a gym, contributing to the $2,232,618 CrossFitters worldwide raised as a whole.

Not only had the dollar amount surprised me, but also the number of participants. Ninety-four participants registered for the Shogun CrossFit Fight Gone Bad 6 event, a number none of the trainers thought possible two months ago, some of whom participated in deployed locations around the world.

As the athletes started to fill up the O'Connor Gym, I became preoccupied with the task of organizing a large group of people, some of whom had never touched a rowing machine or a barbell in their life, and preparing them for what may have been the physically and mentally toughest 17 minutes they have ever encountered. The adrenaline was so thick in the air, you could drink it - and I think some people were! Many of the athletes participating in the even knew one or more of the military members killed in last month's Chinook crash, and this was their opportunity to give everything their body could offer to honor the fallen.

After everyone was trained, warmed up and ready to go, I picked up the microphone to start the first heat of 20 participants. The room was so silent, you could have heard a pin drop. My microphone hand was shaking, and my left hand just couldn't decide on which heavy metal song on my iPod would take us through the opening minutes of the event. It wasn't even my turn to work out, and I already felt like I was going to heave!

After I hit play on the iPod, something incredible happened. The room erupted; participants, family members and passersby were engulfed by the power, drive and motivation of these soccer moms, stay-at-home dads, life support technicians and aero physiologists who could not contain themselves! People were screaming at the top of their lungs for the entire work out, pushing, motivating, encouraging the strangers and loved ones who were participating in the work out.

Over a year ago now, we originally asked to open the gym, and I never thought what I was seeing in front of my eyes was possible. A group of people this large with the same goals - putting others before themselves, raising money for people they had never met, and leaving it all out on the floor to honor those we'd never have the chance to meet.

The day went off without a hitch with four more heats of the workout, a great barbecue celebrating our accomplishments, and a few toasts to those who gave their all. It was incredible, and I am forever grateful to all of athletes who made this possible, particularly my fellow trainers Terry, Riley, Alison, Mark, Eric, David, John, Lindsay, Lisa, Michael and Rose.

I can't wait for next year!

For more information on Fight Gone Bad 6, the organizations supported by the event and Shogun CrossFit, check out:

http://www.sportsgrants.org/fgb6/blog/

www.shoguncrossfit.com

http://www.facebook.com/?ref=home#!/pages/Shogun-CrossFit/198551443500727