Charlee Pond

I have been involved in sports since I was five years old, specifically softball. I started softball at the age of five and finished at the age of twenty-one. I started playing competitively at the age of nine and committed to college at the age of fourteen. I played my freshman year at Ohio University then transferred to finish my career at The University of Utah. Softball alone taught me many valuable lessons, from perseverance to discipline! The sport of softball also led me to my career today - coaching. I had a coach at the young age of five, and from that point on, I knew I wanted to be a coach of something one day. Once softball was over I was searching for a new way to compete. I found CrossFit. CrossFit has shown and taught me so many things about myself - I am so incredibly thankful for this sport and the community that comes with it. I've only been doing CrossFit for about two years but from the start, I knew that I wanted to end up in this position one day - coaching others to the strongest, healthiest, and happiest versions of themselves.

I have been involved in sports since I was five years old, specifically softball. I started softball at the age of five and finished at the age of twenty-one. I started playing competitively at the age of nine and committed to college at the age of fourteen. I played my freshman year at Ohio University then transferred to finish my career at The University of Utah. Softball alone taught me many valuable lessons, from perseverance to discipline! The sport of softball also led me to my career today - coaching. I had a coach at the young age of five, and from that point on, I knew I wanted to be a coach of something one day. Once softball was over I was searching for a new way to compete. I found CrossFit. CrossFit has shown and taught me so many things about myself - I am so incredibly thankful for this sport and the community that comes with it. I've only been doing CrossFit for about two years but from the start, I knew that I wanted to end up in this position one day - coaching others to the strongest, healthiest, and happiest versions of themselves.

I come from a family of seven, and I am the only one that lives out of state. My first move was to Ohio at eighteen years old to play college softball, then it was Utah, and here I am now in Montana. Through experiencing new states and meeting amazing people, I learned a lot about myself and what I wanted to do in life - I got to see a lot and do a lot on my own away from my family. By the time I got to Montana, I had become a professional at moving and making new friends in unfamiliar places. Moving here has been the biggest blessing in my life, but also my biggest challenge. I had never lived alone, let alone on a mountain with 30 acres of family property surrounding me. It was foreign to me, but I knew that it was my choice to be here and that all the opportunities I had prayed for were right in front of me. My first winter alone up here was my turning point - it taught me that I could do everything I needed to do on my own, that I can live the life that I dreamed of, and that everything I had been working for was unfolding right in front of me.

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In my twenty-three years of life, I feel like I've gone through a lot. My passion for helping others runs deep - I've been the person who needed help and direction but didn't have the voice to ask. What I love about CrossFit is that it gives you an instant community, it gives you results with consistency, it takes the guesswork out of finding the right programming, and it builds you into the healthiest, strongest, and most functional version of yourself. I trained for softball up until I was twenty-one. It was the same monotonous routine, power movements, and isometric work with a little bit of sprinting sprinkled in. Was I fit? Absolutely. However, was fitness fun? No, it was a chore. It was something I needed to do, not wanted to do. CrossFit is fun, and it's a blessing to be able to come in and move every day to make your day-to-day activities and obligations more than doable. I want to help each and every person that walks through our doors find the best version of themselves and open them up to a whole new community that will always have their back.

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