Jenn Swagar

Coach

email: jenns@crossfitai.com

• Bachelor of Kinesiology
• 20 years coaching experience.
• Head Coach of the Univeristy of Calgary Dinos Field Hockey Team. 2007- present
• NCCP level 3 Field Hockey
• Corrective Exercise Specialist (Through the National Academy of Sports Medicine)

CrossFit Certifications:

• CrossFit Level 1
  

Achievements:

• Competitor, 2010 World Cross Fit Games in Carson California.
• Canadian Intercollegiate Sport Association Coach of the Year 2010
• Canada West Coach of the year, 2007, 2009, 2010
• Canadian Intercollegiate Sport Association Coach of the Year 2010

I have been an athlete since age eight, when I started swimming competitively with UCSC. I used to swim twice a day 5 days a week, and compete almost every weekend. I loved it. I wished I could be in the pool all day long. I loved just being there doing my best.  No one affected how I did or how hard I pushed myself but me. I learned how to become mentally strong and physically capable.

After swimming for 10 years, I decided to stop and move on.  I played all the school sports in high school, volleyball, basketball, track and field and field hockey.  I fell in love with field hockey.  It was challenging and unique. To succeed you needed power, speed, agility and endurance, along with skill and tactical knowledge. This became my new passion. I played field hockey provincially for two years and then joined the University of Calgary Dinos Field Hockey Team in 1991.  I continued to play provincially during and after my varsity career and still play to this day.

While being a DINO I also fell in love with weight training. We followed an elite program developed for field hockey by a physiologist at the University who later went on to work as a strength and conditioning coach for the New York Giants in the NFL. It was here I learned my fundamental lifting techniques.  I power cleaned, bench-pressed and squatted my day’s away, often skipping classes to lift. I left university competition and started assistant coaching at UC and training for tryouts with the Canadian National Field Hockey Team.

I fortunately blew my knee (the day I met my husband). This changed the rest of my life. I now had to look outside my athletic abilities and find a job. I continued to help coach at the UC and settled down and started a family. Sadly, fitness took a back seat to day-to-day responsibility.

I was really in a rut when my husband (CrossFitter since 2005) took me to CrossFit AI and said “ you are joining, Merry Christmas.” I would have to say it has been the best gift anyone has ever given me. I was soft and depressed, lonely and unable to cope with stressful situations.

I started training CrossFit and my life in athletics came back to me. I was back in a competitive, motivated, progressive environment. I started to lose weight, gained my confidence back and learned that being athletic does not have to stop, you can compete for as long as you want. I have now regained my same youthful attitude. Some days I want to skip work so I can hit the box and do a crazy work out.

CrossFit is a new challenge, a new way to look at fitness.  I enjoy the fact that CrossFit is for everyone, young or old, big or small. It is for people who want to improve their quality of life, look past the societal norms and push their limits.

I do everything in my life with passion and purpose.  I hope that I can bring my passion for CrossFit and fitness to others. I also hope that my coaching experience will help people to find and pursue their own CrossFit goals. Coaching is my passion; I enjoy helping people find strength within. I love to see people succeed when they never thought it possible. I hope to bring my coaching expertise to the CrossFit arena and help people achieve greatness.

Do not celebrate mediocrity, celebrate excellence…