The Open – Part 2
The second Crossfit Open of 2019 will be held from October 10th to November 11th, and will be the first qualifier for the 2020 Crossfit Games. Most of you did the Open in February/March, so you have some idea of what is in store, but as we have found out since the inception of the Open, every year is a new challenge.
This year we will be doing something different for the Open, something that will hopefully make it more fun and a community building event within the gym. Many gyms implement something called “Friday Night Lights” and we will be doing our own version of this! Friday Night Lights, as depicted in TV and cinema is the showcase of small town USA high school football. We are looking to preserve the positive aspects of this ideal: showcasing our hard work, giving our all and then pushing ourselves just a little bit further, sharing our hopes and aspirations, and coming together as a gym to support and cheer on each other.
How we are going to do it:
You will have the option to make a team for the Open. Teams will consist of (3 or 4?) people and points will be awarded to the team for certain categories throughout the duration of the Open. What are the categories you ask? Just see below!
- Teams will receive 1 point for each team member that completes each Open workout
- Dropping into another gym will count towards this point
- Teams will receive 1 point for each team member that attends Friday Night Lights. If you do the workout in the morning but do not come to Friday Night Lights, you do not get this point
- Each heat you judge will earn your team 1 point per heat
- If you accomplish a “first” in the Open you will get 2 points (first C2B, muscle up, HSPU, etc.)
- If you accomplish a PR in the Open you will get 2 points
- Team Spirit Award – 2 points will be awarded to the team that shows the most spirit during Friday Night Lights. Yes, this is subjective, but the first lesson of watching World Poker Tour at 2:00 AM, you play the opponent. Not the cards. Hint – your coaches appreciate cookies.
- Best Dressed Team – self explanatory. These 2 points will be awarded each week to the team that is best dressed at Friday Night Lights. Again, a little subjective, but that just means you will need to be that much more creative.
- Best Team Name – this is a one time only, 5 point award given during the first week of the Open. Make sure to choose your name wisely as you will not be able to change your name after week 1 scores are submitted Monday night, at which time the coaches will award these points.
- Weekly challenges will be posted to earn extra points. People that complete the challenges will earn 1 point, and winners of challenges have the potential to earn extra points. Information on these will be posted each Thursday evening after the Open announcement.
You will notice that points are not awarded according to athlete performance. We don’t care if you Rx each workout or if you are last in the gym. The Open is about coming together and celebrating our Crossfit community. At the conclusion of the Open, the points will be tallied up, and a prize will be given to the winning team. They will also have bragging rights for the year as the winners of Friday Night Lights!
A signup sheet will be posted at the gym in the next couple weeks for you and your team to sign up. If you have any questions, just ask a coach!
If you do not want to be on a team, that is not a problem! You will still end up doing the Open workouts on Friday in class and you can still come to the gym Friday evening and help judge or run heats. However, getting on a team will make the Open more fun as you will have teammates to cheer with and for and will help you to meet everyone at the gym.
Keep an eye out for Part 3, in which we detail how each Friday Night Lights will run!