A Farewell message from Coach Will

As we bid a fond farewell and safe travels to Coach Will, who is off to Australia (via Bali), he made quite a touching post in the Wildcard members Facebook group. I know many of you are not on Facebook these days so it is something I wanted to share on the blog.

When I first read it, it made some sort of liquid appear from my eyes. Wildcard has always been a special place for me and the hope was that it would be for others, whether that be for an hour a day to get away from the real-world bullshit or a place to meet life-long friends and even future significant others. It is very humbling to read such an open, emotional note from Will and we thank him for everything he has done for Wildcard. He has definitely made it a better place with his presence.

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From Coach Will:

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"Everyone has their own journey, here's mine (long read, sorry!)

Hey guys, as I close out my full time wildcard era I can’t help looking back at the past 3 years and think about the impact it’s had on me, and thought it’s a story worth sharing so people know what an amazing place they train at.

Before I stepped into wildcard, life was not all that great. The previous year was by far the toughest thing I’ve had to face, I won’t bore you with details but the life I thought I was going to have since a kid was taken away before I could really process any of it, and left with a permanent reminder of what happened.

It wasn’t long until the tinnitus I now have and the sudden changes in life got the better of me, causing me to spiral into an uncontrolled depression.

I worked on my own, developed bad social anxiety and because of this felt as alone as possible, distancing myself from anything that wasn’t training. After almost a year of hiding away I spoke with one of my only friends at the time confessing to him my struggles, but didn’t tell him the truth which was that I had plans on taking my own life in the next few weeks.

My friend could see I was out of aces, so with a shot in the dark he said “you know there’s a CrossFit gym in town, why don’t you give it a go?”

I figured, at the end of the day what’s the worst that can happen? I go there, don’t like it, then I just go back to my original plan. (It really was my last go at it)

I walked in those doors with absolutely 0 people skills (some may say that’s not changed ) and a belly full of nerves. But once the first foundation started, all of a sudden we were speaking my language and was doing something I had passion for. My foundations really did lay the foundations for my future training ) and I was sold for the time being.

Still an absolute nervous wreck, I went to my first 6am class. Still not used to communicating with anyone whatsoever and still more self conscious than anyone could guess.

We huddled around the whiteboard that Coach Priz was about to run through, and then big Adam Thomson turned around with a grin and said, “Hey I'm Adam, you done CrossFit before?” It seems like absolutely nothing but I was taken back that someone actually cared enough to ask me a question about my life, and the rest of that 6am class just showed me how anyone can go in there even with the worst things on their mind and forget about it as soon as you walk in.

Since then, I was completely sold and jumped in head first. Every small conversation I had with any member or staff slowly built my confidence in myself to what it is today. All of this whilst getting a bit better at fitness along the way and making friends and developing relationships that I’ll take with me for life.

After a while I was then given the amazing opportunity to join the coaching team, which to this day is the biggest privilege I’ve ever had. Getting the chance to then go on and help members on their own journey, whether they were new to fitness or just wanted some technical training, or sometimes just to be someone that can listen to them.

It’s not the training that changes lives, it’s the community that comes with it and I can honestly say I would not be here if it wasn’t for Wildcard and everyone that makes it so special.

With that, I bid everyone adios for now and wish everyone the absolute best for whatever journey your on"

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