Muscle Fitness Muscle & Fitness UK - April 2018 | Page 129

PR AC T I SE W H AT YOU PR E AC H
was expanding globally during 2013
and 2014. I had to say to myself ‘you
don’t have the time to train properly to
compete as an individual at a high
level’, and for me if I don’t think I can
put myself in a position to win then
I don’t even want to put myself out
there at all”.
By allowing his business mentality
to over-rule any athletic ego Khalipa
made the switch to competing in the
Team event and like any successful
business this allowed him to share the
workload with other people and
reduce some of the stress he had from
competing as an individual.
“I had other life events going on and
other priorities that took my heart
away from just purely competing. So,
by switching to the Team event it was
a nice way to still get my competition
‘fix’ but at the same time be able to
utilise other people’s strengths and
maximise my own strengths”.
As a CrossFit® athlete you need to
be a jack-of-all-trades so you can’t
afford to neglect your weaknesses too
much. But for the first time Jason
could enhance his strengths a little bit
more, knowing that his partners could
cover his weaknesses, in much the
same way as he operated in his
business.
“It was kind of cool to be part of a
team, which transfers into the
workplace by utilising different people
for their strengths in different areas”.
The only potential issue with being
part of a team is making sure each
member pulls their weight, “if you are
putting in the work you want to make
sure that everyone else is also putting
in the work, which I think for our
team everyone did”.
However, life is not always rosey and
adversity was on the horizon to test
Jason’s resolve.
At the 2015 CrossFit® Games, team
member Miranda Oldroyd tore her
ACL as the team were doing really
well, which had a detrimental effect
on their otherwise competitive score.
“In the moment I was upset and
clearly frustrated, but looking back on
that moment, in hindsight everything
happens for a reason. What happened
on that day set the tone for everybody
and for their future”.
What happened to Miranda on that
day was unfortunate and anyone who
had spent all year preparing for one
weekend of competing would be
forgiven for being frustrated at being
deprived of the opportunity to win.
But Jason has a tenacious knack for
finding a positive in any situation,
“When Miranda tore her ACL it was
very challenging, and I wouldn’t wish
that upon her again, but looking back
on it I believe it created a domino
effect which allowed for some good
clarity. Now she has a very successful
business, she is married and has a
young baby. What would she have
been doing if she hadn’t got hurt?
What would have happened if we had
won the Games that year? Would we
have tried again the next year? We
would have all been a year behind
with our businesses and our families”.
Shortly afterwards in January 2016
adversity reared its ugly head once
more when Khalipa’s 4-year old
daughter Ava was diagnosed with
Leukemia. From the outside looking in
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