Photo by Dan Wiseman of Focal Point Media
GRID Day was an event held by the Miami Surge professional team and the organizers of our sister league, the Florida GRID League. The purpose of the event was to help inform and expose curious GRID fans on a deeper level to the sport of GRID. They learned about the finer details of strategy, how to perform the movements, and what its like to actually play the sport. One attendee of the event, Amy Lawson, was a writer for the fitness magazine WOD Talk. She wrote about her experience, and while we hear many similar things from almost anyone that tries playing the sport, few put it so eloquently. Here is a excerpt from her article:
With plans firmly in place, we toed the line and prepared for “3-2-1-Race!” And I experienced an adrenaline rush like no other. Having watched GRID races, I knew there were differences between them and CrossFit competitions, but having participated, I was blown away by the differences. I don’t think I’ve had that much fun, worked that hard and cheered that loud for teammates since those relay races back in elementary school. We worked through a series of races, similar in format to those of the NPGL, but scaled so that we were competitive with each other. It was a blur of sweat and joy. And I walked away from the day a bigger fan of the NPGL than ever.
Photo by Dan Wiseman of Focal Point Media
She also went on to describe some of her key take aways from the day:
Lessons Learned from being a GRID athlete for a Day:
- GRID races are for everyone. Watching a match on TV, you might think that this is a specialized sport that is too technical and out of reach for the average person. However, I learned that the format and structure of the GRID can be done anywhere. We took over a box, utilized taped quadrants on the floor and modified movements so that everyone on the team could participate in races. Our coaches swapped out exercises like air squats for pistols and pull-ups for ring muscle ups. GRID racing would be a great addition to a CrossFit kids program or to help teams learn to work together.
- Communication is key. As in life, if you want to be successful as a team, you have to clearly communicate. The team carefully planned each race—who would do what work, when subs would be used, and how we would tackle the work. We also had to watch our teammates closely and be ready to sub in if things didn’t go quite according to plan.