Open Doors main man Preacher Sam shares his lessons from the MIA Meet, and shows how he has chosen to apply those lessons to our Open Doors Crusade. Guys we are trying to change the lives of young ones in our community that have had a rough start to life. We don’t want to talk about it anymore. We want to do life with these young boys and girls.
Preacher Sam’s take on MIA:
The Mash Mafia just got back to Winston Salem after an amazing weekend in Miami at the MIA Classic hosted by Crossfit Soul. Our team did well, and we had some online teammates a guest team members for the day who all did great too.
Coach Travis Mash was awesome, as usual, taking care of all of us plus helping with other lifters as well. His passion really shows at competitions. People from across the country and world get to see him in his element. I’m not sure that there is a better meet coach in this country (of course I am biased, and I’m proud to be).
First thing after we arrived in Miami, we headed over to hang out with the guys from Barbell Shrugged. Travis recorded an episode of “Barbell Business” (find it on iTunes) and then filmed what might be the best episode of “Barbell Shrugged” to ever be filmed. Mike, Chris, Doug, and CTP have a great way of developing conversation in such a way that a ton of information is discussed and a great time is had while discussing not only the practical information but all kinds of life stories and other topics as well.
I enjoyed hanging out with those guys, and that turned out to be the beginning of an awesome weekend of conversations for me. The next day it had a great talk with Charlie Zamora, co-founder of Caffeine and Kilos. C&K is a company that you’ll hear me talk a lot about on my social media outlets because I believe in them and their product. I got to discuss Open Doors with Charlie and talk about how developing character in folks is such an important responsibility. I spent a lot of time learning about Progenex from the Miami rep, Kris. He was a really cool guy and I got to spend some time with him later in the weekend as well. Then I met Nate from Crossfit Broken Chains. He is a friend of the Mash Mafia, so it was awesome to finally meet him. I just love talking with people, and I know God directs is into certain conversations some always look forward to interacting with different people while I’m out of town.
Four of us competed on Sunday, after Rabbit, our awesome 77kg lifter, set a great tone by snatching a huge PR then going after gold by opening with a very high attempt for clean and jerks. That same mentality played out in Sunday, where all of us PR’ed or medaled in our sessions. I was sick all weekend too, so it felt good to post a PR total after supporting my teammates all weekend.
I also loved having Chuck with us this weekend. I’ve grown close to this guy and I appreciate having him at the gym. He came with us to help sell some merch and be great support for us. Chuck organizes our podcast “Barbell Life” and is one of the co-hosts as well.
It was also the first chance I got to really hang out with our Canadian teammates Hayden and Adee and our youth phenom Dylan Cooper. We had that Chrysler minivan packed out and we were rolling hard everywhere we went. Our team is full of unique individuals and I love them all. Everyone really supported each other this weekend.
When Open Doors is launched and kids are coming into the gym and coming to be mentored, I want there to be a feeling of family within the group. Sometimes we get on each others’ nerves or have to have serious conflict resolution type conversations, but at the end of the day we are a team and a family, and we fight for each other. Open Doors may end up having kids from 5 different schools all under the same roof, and my expectation is for them to develop relationships that will last. Most of the kids we will reach out to have no concept of good friendships or positive atmosphere, but we will show them. Our team will (and must) be the model and excellent example that under-resourced and under-loved kids need to see. Our weightlifting team will help with Open Doors and will have opportunity to positively impact the kids who come into the gym to learn about weightlifting and working out.
My challenge to everyone, no matter where you are in life, is to be a positive example to those you influence. People are watching you, so it is important to set a good example. And it’s important to recognize when a conversation is not just small talk but could end up playing huge part in shaping your life.
If you want more info about Open Doors please email me at OpenDoorsChristianCoaching@gmail.com
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