08/06/2020
Ten years ago we started doing this thing called "CrossFit" and it was brand new, super fun and struck a chord with a whole bunch of people. From that moment forward we began building a community of people who rallied around the idea that working hard together made us feel connected with one another, helped us feel good about ourselves, and created a wonderfully personal social network filled with great people here in central Vermont. Over these ten years we have received tons of inspiration from the governing body of CrossFit, learned so much about quality movement, and had many great CrossFit Open seasons as we partook in the big net-casting of the CrossFit Games. And we watched stars rise to the top of competitive CrossFit, feeling pretty good to be connected with something that produced such amazing athletes. And all along we felt great calling ourselves "CrossFitters!"
During this time that the activity of CrossFit was evolving, the business of CrossFit was also moving in its own direction. For many years the founder, Greg Glassman, poked and prodded at the status quo of the fitness industry in so many good ways that it awoke people's human instincts and helped us recognize our potential as human beings. At the same time, that prickly personality of Glassman unabashedly charted a path towards a true revolution in the world of fitness. GMCF fully supports that revolution, and understands how great of an idea it is to do the things we do on a physical level. It has given us a common denominator that underlies our strong bonds, and for that we are thankful for the practice of crossfit.
And there it just happened. Lowercase crossfit. Not the business, but the principle of what we do.
Recently Greg Glassman has taken his in-your-face tactics too far, and exposed himself as an individual unfit to lead us. With the world desperately needing voices that unite and inspire, Glassman has made some decisions and comments that are moving in the opposite direction. He has clarified to us all that he is not the person we want representing the thing we do. And more importantly he has not behaved in a way that our community will tolerate.
So as of this moment, we are ending our business relationship with Glassman. And as it so happens, he owns the name CrossFit. Fortunately we can still practice crossfit! Doing constantly varied functional fitness performed at high intensity cannot be trademarked. And while Glassman fed us some great ideas and started a powerful revolution, it is our community of people that matters moving forward. We get to choose what we do, who we call ourselves, and what we stand for. Within the last year we recognized this to be true, and began moving in our own direction, declaring our name as Green Mountain Community Fitness. And now that name rings even more true for us as we can continue to develop amazing workouts, under the tutelage of talented coaches, in a facility that is perfectly designed for our types of movements. We get to continue doing crossfit while the big CrossFit HQ goes in whatever direction it chooses.
So here's to GMCF and our future. We support the Black Lives Matter movement. We believe in equal rights for the LGBTQ community. We stand in unity as "I can't breathe" is chanted throughout our country. And we strive to unite, not divide. Thank you all for this terrific journey we're on, as it is all about you, not the CrossFit brand. GMCF is our tribe, and we stand side-by-side with the many affiliates that are making these same hard decisions to chart our own unique paths. This is a moment - let's do what needs to be done.
Thank you,
The GMCF Leadership Team
