Casual Consulting with Brian Wilkerson
Talking to people who know stuff about things!
Casual Consulting with Brian Wilkerson
#005 - Cooper Marsh - Managing Professional Athletes
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Cooper Marsh is the Co-Owner of Lab MGMT — a boutique sports agency managing elite CrossFit athletes, flag football players, golfers, and more. Cooper got his start under mentor Jason St. Clair while teaching 8th grade math in Providence, Rhode Island, and has since built Lab MGMT into one of the most connected agencies in functional fitness. In this episode we get into how he and Daniel Robbins merged their rival agencies, what it's actually like to negotiate brand deals for athletes, why he thinks flag football is about to be the next big thing in sports, the FIFA World Cup, how he talked his way into Oxford University, and more.
Timestamps: 0:00 — Intro + What is Lab Management? 1:46 — How Cooper got into sports agency (Jason St. Clair, X Endurance, teaching) 4:06 — Merging with Daniel Robbins and moving to Boise 5:46 — How Cooper and Daniel split responsibilities 7:29 — Handling conflict as business partners 9:58 — Prioritization and the Uncalendar system 12:55 — Why they exited skateboarding + flag football's explosive growth 18:20 — Working in baseball: what brands actually want from athletes 23:11 — The art of negotiating brand deals 25:12 — Home run partnerships: Adidas, Tier, RAD, Gym Reapers 27:00 — World Cup flyover moment + why soccer is a religion 33:16 — The Oxford story: backdoor entry, lacrosse, and varsity ski trips 40:54 — What the Oxford tutorial system actually taught him 42:29 — Why competition is central to his identity 44:40 — 4th of July spike ball + competitive indoor soccer 46:44 — Cooper's training routine (hybrid CrossFit / bodybuilding / running) 51:14 — CrossFit's current state + Hyrox's rise 54:49 — ATHEX: the bridge between Hyrox and CrossFit 57:12 — Optimism for the future of fitness + what's next for Lab MGMT
Follow Cooper: Instagram: @coopermarsh / @labmgmt
Sweet. What's up, gang? We're here with Cooper Marsh, lab management. Uh Oxford graduate and uh cliff diving accident survivor. Cooper, how's it going?
SPEAKER_01You did you did your research on my Instagram, did you? I'm not an Oxford graduate. I wish I was, but I do like to claim that I was an Oxford lad. So that's a dude, that's nice. That's I'm gonna get my phone for that.
SPEAKER_00There you go. Um, so we chat about business entrepreneurship things. So obviously lab management. Um that's what you do. Um what is lab management? What do you do?
SPEAKER_01Lab management. We are a boutique sports agency that uh manages some of the top functional fitness athletes in the world, some more traditional athletes as well in the golf space, uh Olympians, and then we also do digital marketing and advertising for mainly health and wellness companies. Uh we're not completely uh like subject to that, but it's something that we're passionate about. Um, or if we're working with a brand, we probably are a company that's not health and wellness focused, ae, i.e. like a financial company, um, we've probably met the people that are behind it through health and wellness, aka they're usually good people, so we enjoy working with them. So yeah, keeps us busy.
SPEAKER_00Nice. I uh I saw on your website that uh White Claw is one of your trusted partners.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, we've done deals with White Claw before. That cracked me up. Yeah, like White Claw, Tampax, things like that. Yeah, that that was through more traditional sport and uh through an influencer named Brittany Eisenhower, who is a uh she was an NWSL soccer player. So she's all around the World Cup right now doing Coca-Cola and Gatorade and all that stuff. So it's cool. It's a good time to be her.
SPEAKER_00Gotcha. Yeah. Nice. Um, how'd you I feel like this is such a like a niche world you're in? Yep. Um, how'd you kind of get down this path? And what were the early days of lab management? What that looked like for you. How'd you how'd you get going?
SPEAKER_01Totally. Yeah, so I mean, I'm very grateful to be down this path. And that was uh I was led down it by my mentor, Jason St. Clair. So he is one of the owners of X Endurance, a supplement company. And I used to work for Jason after I left teaching. Uh, I was in Providence, Rhode Island, and uh after I left uh Teacher America in eighth grade math and finished my commitment there, I was the East Coast sales rep. So I would just drive up and down, I'd take like an annual trip where I'd drive down to Alabama and just hit gyms along the way and then back up. Um, and it was a ton of fun. I was super into CrossFit and fitness. I was coaching it, I want to be in gyms. But I also, when I would go to the CrossFit games to work at the booth, I would see Jason networking with other brands and managing athletes, and I thought, dang, that guy's so cool. I want to do what he does. And he had um he had been drafted out of high school as a baseball player, he had been a pro ball player, he had also been an agent in pro baseball. Um, and so then he took that skill set, continued to represent baseball players, had ownership and helped run X Endurance, and then also launched what was called Protential Labs Potential, but for professionals. So very, you know, fun wordplay from Jason there. Uh and that was the kind of first CrossFit agency in the space. And so they had Camille and Josh Bridges back before they even had Instagrams. Uh back before Instagram was a platform. Um, and then Jason kind of grew that. I started to understudy under him while working for him, so it's kind of nice because I could spend some of my time working for him and still collect a paycheck when I was probably shirking my responsibilities for ex endurance. Sorry, guys. Um Yeah, and uh and then I uh moved from Providence out to Arizona to grow the agency more full-time, um, build up Josh Bridges kind of what all the stuff he's doing currently, and after he retired, and that that led to you know like a full-time job, and uh and then I just kind of took the reins and and built it from there and became an equal partner. And since then we've we've merged with some other guys, um, one of which was local, Daniel Robbins. Uh he's a boisey boise guy, and and you know, so now Daniel and I kind of run the show for lab and and Jason's more of a you know like older brother mentor type, which is cool because he's got a thousand things cooking and four kids and you know he stays busy.
SPEAKER_00Wow. Yeah. Was Daniel kind of doing his own sort of agency stuff as well and when you guys met and how'd that kind of come together?
SPEAKER_01Yeah, he was. So Daniel was uh like while I was kind of working under Jason, Daniel was working under Matt O'Keefe, and I used to kind of beef with Matt O'Keefe because we're both like Boston and and we would butt heads on things because we were competitive, and then I just hated Daniel because he was my competition, I wanted to beat him. And then one day or one weekend when we were in Knoxville, Tennessee, we sat there and you know, I just took notes on a whiteboard while Daniel paced back and forth, telling me all of his things that he was dealing with and the stresses of of kind of running his ship while I was running mine. And we were like, hey, we actually have the we have the same kind of goals here of getting into traditional sport while still really holding uh holding down the fort and CrossFit and functional fitness. And then it was like we should we should just merge up and do this together because we're you know similar ages and and we we both have mentors that have kind of passed it along to us and we could probably go further together. And so that's how that became a thing. And then um, you know, my wife and I are we were living in Arizona still, and we were like, we do not want to be here, it's too hot. We had visited Boise at one point, fell in love with the city, and thought, let's just move there. And then when we started the merge and Daniel already lived here, it was like this is a no-brainer, right? I've already got my business partner up here, he's a friend of mine, and let's just go and off we went.
SPEAKER_00That's awesome. Yeah, that's good. I didn't know the the origin story of how you guys met and kind of put together. So yeah, yeah, that's sweet. Um working with a partner in business and having partners, something I've never experienced. I've just always done business by myself, but um, I'm sure there's pros and cons to it. But how do you feel like you and Daniel kind of fill each other's gaps? And are there certain things that you own and certain things that he owns, and kind of how's that working relationship work out?
SPEAKER_01Totally. I think I think naturally we've like the delineation is between the athlete representation side and the marketing side. I think because that was something that was in our business before we merged with them, as we've built that side up, I've naturally kind of helped head and lead that. I think Daniel has uh really kind of taken over on the on the athlete representation side. I still have the athletes that I work very closely with and they hear from me a lot, but now they'll hear from Daniel a little bit too, which is great. Um, so when I'm in the weeds on something, I can, you know, kick things over to him and he'll just handle, which is good. Um, but yeah, I think we we fill each other's gaps a little bit by, you know, the biggest thing is like when you're in the trenches and it's really stressful and and one of you feels like their hair's on fire, the other one's like, hey, let's let's take a breath here and like calm down for a second, we'll figure it out. And so I think we balance each other out there really well. Um, but yeah, it's it's it's good. I mean, I'm also like I'm from New England, I'm a little bit more fiery and blunt. Um, and there are times where I really want to go toe-to-toe and like square up with somebody if I feel like we've been uh wronged. And you know, Daniel will talk me off the off the ledge a little bit and be like, hey man, like maybe try saying this or say this like this, and it'll yield you some better results. Um and and to be fair, as I've gotten a little older, I think uh, you know, Daniel sometimes feels like he's been wronged and and we need to, and I'll I'll try to speak some sense into him and be like, hey man, it's probably not worth it coming from the guy who who does that and then it doesn't result in what you want. So uh, you know, you attract more, you know, what is it? You track more bees with honey than vinegar.
SPEAKER_00So that's true.
SPEAKER_01Yeah.
SPEAKER_00Uh you guys ever butt heads over things and and how do you how do you resolve and and work things out when you disagree on something?
SPEAKER_01We typically don't butt heads that much. I mean, I think we just communicate so often, and for the most part, we're we're pretty in lockstep. Um I think the thing that like might cause us to butt heads sometimes is less about business and more about just personal things that you're dealing with and stresses at home. Like you know, Daniel's got a a two-year-old daughter who honestly feels like she's like my niece. Uh, and then he's also, you know, Megan's very pregnant and they're about to have their second, and it's just a stressful time to, you know, be operating a business and also his family's growing. And so I think it's one of those things where, you know, he's feeling the stress. And so if if there's ever like any rifts or if if I if things are going on because my wife's pregnant and and we're stressed, it's it's less about the business and disagreements or butting heads there, and more about like, yeah, sorry, I'm feeling short or super fatigued or whatever. Things are going on at home. Like, let me just take a pause on this and handle this and we'll get back to it, right? Or you know, just give me a sec on this. Like, I'm not my best self per se. So I think we do a pretty good job there.
SPEAKER_00I think it's good that you guys are in like similar places in life too, so you you get it.
SPEAKER_01Yeah. I mean, and we try to share the burden, right? It's it's it's normal for them to drop Macy off so that they can try to get a workout in or something, you know, and it's like, okay, well, we can just entertain the girl and you know, just go run around the backyard with the dogs and you guys go into the garage and hit something so that you're you're feeling better, right? Because I mean, as you know, if you don't if you don't get that piece in, that physical expression, like your mental emotional is gonna just tank. So I I'm always like, just bring the kid over, I will play with Macy. She's super funny, she's sassy. Uh she's like two and a half now, so she's in the in the everything's a no, and then kind of like we can talk about it. So, you know, it keeps it keeps it fun. But yeah, I'm like, I know it's probably stressful as a as a parent, everything you tell your kid to do. They're like, no, I'm not doing that. And you're like, excuse me. Uh and so then I'm like, bring the burden over here. I'll I'll listen to some no's. You guys go do some thrusters, I don't know.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, right. Go go go get it out, go, yeah go run to the fence and back exactly where you're in middle school.
SPEAKER_01Exactly.
SPEAKER_00Um, yeah, I feel like you guys are uh you stay busy. Yeah, like your job is very much just like things coming in and flying out all the time. Yes. How do you uh do you have any sort of prioritization system set in place? Or are you just kind of like flying by the seat of the fence and and knowing what's important and taking care of business as it comes? Or kind of how how do you prioritize your days and figure out what's important?
SPEAKER_01That's a great question. I think I'm like I struggle with it. I I would like to time block better, but in reality, the way that my brain works and you know, like how intense my ADD is ever since I was a kid is just like, oh, squirrel, like you know, it's I'm always jumping from thing to thing. And so I think the the best thing for me is I try to follow the tasks that um my wife Becca works with us as well. I mean, if it wasn't for her, we'd be very, very disorganized and and lacking a lot of systems. So she's operationally like a force, and she puts systems in place, and then you know, I begrudgingly follow along, which is it's better for me, honestly, to follow. Um, but like we, you know, we use a task thing like Asana, and so I try to stay on that. Uh, you know, we recap that in our stand-up meetings every week, and then I also I use like a a little planner that I really like. This is actually the first time I brought this out of the office. This is a small one, but it's called an uncalendar. And usually I have like a bigger one, but these things are sweet because they've got day, week, month goals, notes, and then like data. And then with them you kind of set them up how you want. So like you're able to take notes, do whatever, like what needs to be done this week, and then you know, that's just like your weekly schedule. Um, so I'll show that to you. There you go. Show the fans, yeah. Show the fans. Um all five of them. But yeah, there's there's uh a bigger one that that's kind of like chunked up even more. So like Monday, this would be like one Monday, right? So you'd have like three sections. So for you, for example, you'd be like, all right, gym things I need to do, personal training, you know, consulting podcasts, like I need to do these things, and then you know, your big things are like you gotta take them, take them down up here. But then when I to hop onto a um hop onto like a call or something like that, I can quickly just take notes and then you know, roll with it. So yeah, big fan of that.
SPEAKER_00Nice. Have you been doing that or is that something new that you're this is something I've been doing adopt.
SPEAKER_01Okay. Um yeah, been doing been running with uncalendars since uh I was a teacher. Yeah. Oh wow. Yeah, so I I like those. I just I'm trying to be better about sitting down and actually spending five minutes at the start of the day to write out all the things I do or need to do because then it it genuinely gets done. And I mean I'll also set up myself with like just some, you know, home runs where it's just little things of like, you know, I just write a sauna and like check a sauna, just make sure you've like got eyeballs on it for the day, see if there's anything that you need to move along or you can check off, and then boom, like I've done a task, right? Like just sometimes you just need to get some momentum going in the day, right?
SPEAKER_00Yeah, so um, yeah. Like your job's just so like things are just coming in all the time, but make it happen. Um, how many athletes are you working with now?
SPEAKER_01Uh good question. I mean, we probably have like 20, something like that, I guess. Oh 20.
SPEAKER_00Yeah. Nice. And so I know that most of your clientele is in the CrossFit functional fitness space. Yep. Um I I see you guys have a skateboarder on the team now. You have a so we so we did, we did.
SPEAKER_01We actually kind of exited the skateboarding space. We were really trying there for a bit. I just that that space is so gate kept. Like, it's like, what have you done for me lately? And there's no rhyme or reason. And honestly, it feels like a lot of the um like skateboarding sick. I grew up, I grew up skating a lot. Uh, I still love watching it, but a lot of the companies you talk to, they're very mismanaged when it comes to you know making money. It's like it's more about taking care of the guy that you know or like their homie that's like, oh yeah, this guy's been riding our deck for you know eight years. It's like they're we're gonna turn him pro next. It's like, okay, well, what about the younger kid who's got 300,000 followers and is like skating really well and pumping out parts and is a way better skater and has way more eyeballs for your brand. They're like, yeah, no, that's not gonna happen. And so it was just it was just one of those things where like the the kid that we were working with, his name was Roman Hager. He's uh he's a stud, dude. He skates so well, he's got huge engagement, tons of following. Um, and and it's just like it was like terrible trying to knock doors and knock on doors and open it up for him. Um and so yeah, it was it was one of those things where it's like we couldn't we felt like we couldn't gain ground for him. So it kind of just you know, it just ended up not really being our thing. Um, and that's what we do. It's like we knock on doors, we make that stuff happen. And so, you know, it's tough to not necessarily find success when you're when you're grinding for it, but also um, you know, we can't we can't do everything for everybody and be in every sport. And so it's one of those things where it's like, all right, maybe this one isn't for us and we'll focus on what we focus on. But the big thing that we're you know developing right now is uh flag football, which is wild because you know, you're like flag football, really. The numbers of flag football are insane. Like they're they're they're like taking over soccer numbers in the U.S. And it's wow. As a soccer person, I like I mean I I love soccer, I grew up playing it, played it through junior college, World Cup's going on right now. I think it's the best event in the world. Like, I think it's everything that's right with the with the world is the World Cup, right? Um and the beautiful thing about flag football is it's so universal like soccer, right? All you need is a football and like two socks to put in your shorts. That's true, right? And so I remember like one time I was abroad somewhere, um, I think it was like Argentina, and we showed up to a place and there was a couple kids outside barefoot kicking around a you know a flat soccer ball with like a couple stray dogs, and we just like walked up to them and started playing, and like they played us in and it was dope. And we couldn't speak to them. I I don't speak Spanish. Uh and it was so cool. I was like, this is why it's the you know the beautiful game. Um and so flag football has that same accessibility. Um, but you know, we know this guy, Frank, who owns a uh he owns a league in Orange County, California, and he's got from like third to eighth grade, I think he's got eighty, three hundred girls playing. Wow. And if you go through high school and include boys too across like his leagues and camps and stuff, he's got 20,000 kids. Wow. And you're like, that's insane, you know? Football is America's sport. I know baseball is like America's pastime, but football is the thing, like it owns a day of the week. And so all of a sudden you're telling people, hey, you can play it, it's cheaper, you can play it younger, you don't have any like concussion worries for the most part, you know. Um, and you kind of already know the game because you've you've been conditioned to it, and girls can play it, you know. Obviously, there's the uh girl here and there that plays tackle football, but you know, girls can be super competitive in it, and now it's starting to come out into colleges too, so there's scholarships, people are going nuts for it. So it's really, really cool.
SPEAKER_00That's amazing. Yeah, that's cool. You're you're getting in early and kind of putting bets on flag football.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, yeah, helping like helping break ground. Yeah, and Daniel's doing a large, a large amount of that. I mean, he's been all over, he's been at the draft, and you know, uh our girl uh Izzy Jurace. I mean, she's the number one player for Team USA, which is arguably she's the number one player in the world. Um, and I mean Daniel's done a phenomenal job. She's already got partnerships with US Bank, Red Bull, Under Armour, Toyota.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, it's some big names.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, it's really cool. Yeah, she's she's an amazing human being. So yeah, it it it kind of lends itself pretty it's easy when your clients sew badass, it makes makes life fun. Yeah, so yeah.
SPEAKER_00Is uh I didn't know Under Armour is still uh in business. Oh yeah.
SPEAKER_01Dude, they are they're coming. Are they in the five football space? Oh yeah. Okay, uh yeah, they're they're the ones investing a lot. They're they're very smart to do it, and now you see other businesses reacting to that, right? As soon as Under Armour planted their flag in that, you know, Adidas is reacting, Nike's reacting, um, you know, and there's some other other big brands that are that are coming. Uh yeah, it's it's sweet.
SPEAKER_00It's cool. Um what uh what about your certain clients that that make them so great to work with? You said that this flag football player, she's like awesome to work with.
SPEAKER_01Just a just a salt of the earth, hardworking, humble human being. Yeah. I think that's a big thing, man. Like at the end of the day, you gotta be fun to hang out with because you gotta hang out with the person a lot and work with them. Um and if they're fun to hang out with and they bust their ass, they're inspiring, you know, it's it's easy to go to bat for them.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, I feel like that's a lot of your clientele.
SPEAKER_01For sure. Yeah, yeah. We we have some really awesome people, and they all have their quirks, right? Like, you know, they can they can get into situations that they probably don't want to, but um, you know, at the end of the day, they're only human and we have some we have some awesome people.
SPEAKER_00That's sweet.
SPEAKER_01Yeah.
SPEAKER_00Um We kind of touched on the world of skateboarding and trying to make deals with them, and now we're talking about flag football and CrossFit. Have you found that like certain industries are easier or harder to work with? Obviously, you're very familiar with the CrossFit space, but um, I know you've been dabbling a little bit in golf, and um I think I saw a baseball player on there. Yep. Um, have you found that like you said skateboarding was tough? Are some of these other industries kind of hard to work with as well?
SPEAKER_01Yeah, there's definitely some that are it's interesting when you have a when you have athletes that have a batting average, right? Or or something that allows them to make money off of a team or an organization, right? So if you're a pitcher, for example, right? Josh Hader, we've done work with, phenomenal dude, salt of the earth human being, hell of a pitcher, one of the best closers in the game. And, you know, we worked in partnership with CAA because CAA, they're just really focused on his contract, right? That's where they make their money. It's a hundred million dollar deal. You know, Josh is all good. And so, you know, when you're when you're looking at those types of players, right, or or that that type of sport, so many of those guys in baseball are just so stoked to get free things. They don't they don't care so much. It's because it's either they're either struggling, you know, double-A minor guys that are just like, please help me make my dollar go stretch further, like if I can get free clothing or free supplements or whatever, I'm just gonna take it because they're just trying to grind and make the bigs. And then if you're in the bigs, you have a minimum, it's good, you know. You're you're or if you're on a big contract, you don't care about this little thing. So you'll just accept free stuff because you're like, whatever, who cares? It's all a game. I already won the game of life. I made a hundred million dollars, you know. Yeah, so you know, then brands are like, Well, what do you mean? We have to, you know, we wanna you want us to pay this person to do this marketing thing. Like, we just got a hundred baseball players that we just gave stuff to, and you're like, no, we're focusing on one person. If you're gonna utilize their NIL, like they need to be compensated for it. Uh, so it's kind of like sometimes you have to like condition and and teach these brands how how they how it can work. Um, so yeah, it it can be a little tough sometimes, or or on the flip side of that, right? You can have a player that wants to they say they want to build their brand and do these things, yet they're not that motivated to do it because they've already got the huge contract. So it's like, well, I don't really need to waste my time. And I totally get that. I wouldn't do it either, honestly. I'd be like, I'm cool on social media if I had a hundred million dollar contract. So yeah, that's and that's like Dustin Vedroya, right? You'd like never had Instagram. Um I mean he made a hundred and like thirty million dollars on his last contract, so it's like why?
SPEAKER_00Who cares? You know, do you like investing in some of these, like maybe those players who are in the double A or single A and make their way up and you know, with the thought that like, oh, they could be big time in the future and you want to invest in that call out to you?
SPEAKER_01I would say from a financial standpoint, like a business standpoint, you know, that that's like finding a needle in a haystack because there's only so many like Shohei Otanis and things like that that genuinely make crazy amounts of money on their marketing, right? Um, so yeah, if I mean if you had a Shohei or a Bryce Harper or whatever, yeah, I'd I'd love to invest in that person and bring them up. Chances of that happening are very slim, and I also don't have a lot of time. So I have to feel really some type of way to to go after and and help that person. So yeah, I'd I'd like to say that, yeah, I've got more charity in me than that, but I at this point I don't have I've got to focus on the things that actually move the business forward because I'm responsible for you know keeping money in athletes' pockets so they can put food on the table and keeping our employees you know. know, hired.
SPEAKER_00Yeah.
SPEAKER_01So.
SPEAKER_00Um was Jason a part of Lab when he won the games? Hopper? Yeah. Yeah. Um when something like that happens, do brands just come knocking down the door to pin their name to him? I would say five years ago, yes.
SPEAKER_01Nowadays uh it's a little bit less than that. You know, like the thing is we've done a very good job with with his portfolio of brands. Like we've we covered a lot of bases um and he makes you know good money for himself and he's able to you know really focus on training. And obviously in in those contracts you know there'll be bonuses and and escalators and things like that for that performance. And and so he gets he gets paid well when that happens. And there's been cool experiences and there's been some you know some contracts that have come along but you know it it's it's a little different now than it was five, six years ago, right? When when CrossFit was super hot. You know, it it looks a a little bit different. But yeah I mean there's still opportunity for sure. Gotcha.
SPEAKER_00In negotiating these contracts obviously you're you're probably doing a lot of back and forth these companies where did you is just like school of hard knocks with learning how to negotiate and write contracts or where'd you kind of learn your negotiating skills?
SPEAKER_01Yeah I mean I think as a kid they my mom always said I could sell ice to an Eskimo. So at the end of the day like any type of business is just sales really right you're just selling a service you're selling yourself whatever uh selling an athlete um and so I think it's a little bit of that just just natural instinct uh I mean obviously I've read a lot of things and studied the actual art of it um but then you know a lot of it was I used to sit on the phone and listen to Jason go and I would just sit quietly with muted and I don't even think he told the other people that I was on the phone but I would just listen and then we get off the phone and he would quiz me you know what'd you think about this how would you approach that why you know um and then you just develop the skill set from there. So yeah just it's I mean at this point it feels kind of like a language that I could I could teach um but you know I've got a 200 day streak on Duolingo with Spanish and so I'm like I've got I'm I'm I'm like I'm I could teach a language of this like there's there's just so much that goes in that it feels like I can compute because you say like oh you know you're going back and forth but when I'm talking to these brands it's like there's so many like little things that I can touch on right off the rip that if they're attentive and and they know the dance too like those things can happen very quickly. If they're not as informed then you you there's more massaging and you need to teach them how it works and then you know go through and find out what's fair for both sides. Because at the end of the day like our goal is to create partnerships not just like flash in the pan deals right so in reality it's like I'd rather take less and have longer term and and build together than you know screw some brand over and you know get a bunch of influx of cash and then have that disappear and all of a sudden it's like okay well your unit rate's way down because now we don't have anything for six months you know yeah so have you had any home run partnerships like companies you really love to work with that have just been awesome for you and your athletes oh for sure yeah I mean like there's there's a few there's like somewhere you know Rad Rad and Danielle Brandon it's like they're synonymous with one another it's it's probably the most proud thing I've been a part of um you know we're super thankful for brands like Tier that come in and invest in the space and continue to invest in athletes and um help them chase the dream and and they're so competition focused and and like they they love winning and athletes love winning and it's like so there's a lot there that we're thankful for I mean even local gym reapers um you know rock over there he's he's invested you know time energy money into into building these events and making them cooler um so that's been super special to be a part of um and then like you know when we're over in Germany at Adidas HQ you know it's like we're in Adidas soccer jersey about to go you know cheer on the men's national team is let's go it's like it's like that type of stuff is just like unbelievable. I'm just riding my bike around Adidas HQ. I'm like what the hell like you know a young Cooper would have cut off his left hand to do this. You know and even down to like the other day uh you know a week before the men played Australia Adidas hit me up was like you want tickets to the game and I'm like uh yeah dude I want tickets to the game that's sick and we got four tickets to the game and we went and we were four rows from midfield on the hash and I'm like this is lit like I get goosebumps thinking about it's like literally dreaming dreams coming true because that is like so what I'm about uh it's like I I cannot believe that my job allows me to do stuff like this. You know it was it was just unbelievable. So that's awesome. Yeah there's there's a few there's a lot of like pinch me moments where I'm like damn this is so sick.
SPEAKER_00That is so sick. Yeah um Warkup was did you go to in Seattle?
SPEAKER_01Yeah I mean Jeff electric oh my god electric dude I just like I just my dad texted me there's a flyover and dude when the flyover happened I was ready to like fist fight 56 Australians and I love Australians like I felt prouder than I've ever felt like it was it was unbelievable and I think I yelled something crazy when somebody was filming like you know USA by a million MF or something and then my dad's like hey man maybe you should calm down like sorry dad not happening like I was I was like we're gonna win by a thousand goals.
SPEAKER_00Yeah yeah it was it was just like the greatest thing ever it's so cool yeah that's incredible when when you were talking about the World Cup um I went to a World Cup game in Vancouver okay and it wasn't even USA playing yeah but I I almost cried just like looking around like this is so cool.
SPEAKER_01Oh it's like it's like it's it's truly emotional. It's the greatest it's the greatest sporting event I swear to God is is everything in right that's right with society. It's like healthy competition it's cheering on those that aren't even your you know patriots or or co-patriots right like like I don't care I I watch every game and I'm like I'm rooting for the teams you know and and um yeah it's it's people having wholesome fun and not being you know idiots and and fighting and whatever and I think for a lot of people it's it's the reality that politics don't actually matter as much as we think that they do and at the end of the day like we're all just out here trying to do our thing and support and have fun and it's just it's just the best dude it's so good. Yeah and this World Cup has been exceptional. I mean the stars are showing out I mean Cape Verde like I was texting a buddy actually it's like it's like I used to teach a bunch of Cape Verdian kids uh when I taught eighth grade math um and so they you know it's like Rhode Island's like a melting pot of ethnicity so it's very cool you know you know they'd come in and like I'd have like Guatemalan kids and Honduran kids and and Cape Verdians and you know whatever um and like they would sometimes we'd have like days where they could bring in dishes from their their place and it was like the greatest day ever because I was just eating for free and it was delicious. But you know they were able to take so much pride in that and so it's like I know who like Cabo Verde is right like I mean I have a um whatever that game is where you like move the little beads along and it's in a circle. Sorry? No it's it's like it's just like handmade um Mencala. Yeah mencala yes I have like one that says Cabo Verde like my student brought it to me from that island when they went home over the summer like you know and and so I know about that island and the fact that I'm like oh wow they qualified that's crazy. That's a small island and uh you know they come in and it's like dude they teach you that it's like it's okay to like dream and like hope you know like that team it's like you have a 41 year old goalkeeper who's lights out and it's like it's never too late for a human being to like have their moment you know it like it makes me want to cry. And then it's like you know Holland it's like the dude the dude is an absolute weapon and one of the best strikers in the game but he also doesn't forget to have so much fun doing it you know and then it's like the US it's like you can dream they're like why not us? You know uh and so I just think it's it's the most like special thing ever. I mean even down to like you know the Iranian players it's like they were dealt a pretty tough hand and it's like yeah I get it you're like at war with that country and so you have to take safety precautions but at the same time I'm like you know those guys had to fly in like the day of the match like that's not ideal. You know and they're still out there going for it. And you know they don't that they probably I would I would probably venture to say that 98% of them don't agree with how their government rolls and like the the shady things they pull and they just want to play soccer you know and and here they are just balling. And you know obviously they're out now but it's like that stuff's inspiring, you know?
SPEAKER_00It is so and in a lot of these countries like obviously we're spoiled when we grew up in America totally and so spoiled with everything we have here but for a lot of these countries it's like they don't got much going on for them. No but if they can qualify for the World Cup yeah and be proud of their country for you know whatever it is you know maybe they disagree with what they got going on with the country maybe they aren't super developed but like they're in the World Cup. Yeah and they got a chance to show off their country on the world's biggest stage. Totally so dope.
SPEAKER_01It's like a religion man it really is it's the best it is the best so I think my new life goal is to go to every single like World Cup moving forward. I'm just like I just gotta be there. I think it's a great life goal. Yeah I got at least just like check out a game or two. Especially I'm like I got a daughter coming in November super excited about that. I'm like she'll be three and a half at that point I'm like she's gotta be absorbing soccer football whatever you want to call it like and and then right after that right that's 2030 and then 2031 is the Women's World Cup in the US which I'm huge women's world uh world sorry women's national team fan like growing up my dad was super into it so I mean it doesn't really I don't discriminate it's like girl sports guys sports absolutely love it so I'm like I'm going to that I want to go to Morocco Portugal Spain then come around the US catch some games there and then we'll see where it keeps going. I don't know if I care about going to the Middle East in the summer if it's super hot but you know I'll I'll go to the other cool places and you know we'll get after it.
SPEAKER_00Like it yeah is lab management gonna bring on some soccer players or what?
SPEAKER_01Well I mean we had one I would definitely take on I think I would take on female soccer players over male unless it was the right person just because I think females are cooler they're more badass athletes.
SPEAKER_00It's cool yeah I dig it yeah it's awesome um man that was a great little soccer tangent we went on I love the game big game this evening dude so big I'm so excited um England versus Mexico I'm kind of sad the England one actually I was I was kind of rooting for Mexico were you I was um yeah I was I was I'm a Mexico fan okay I was going for England on that one but I mean I was it also would have been one of those things where I'm like I that would have been really good for the Mexican you know country like that that would have been awesome for them.
SPEAKER_01And and they they were playing lights out so that was a phenomenal game. I wish that game was just like further along in the tournament you know so yeah that was God could you imagine playing in that Aztec stadium yeah it'd be pretty crazy at 8500 people wow yeah yeah like Mexico's one of those places where Mexico doesn't have too much going on no but you got soccer yeah that's something they can hold on to tourism and soccer yeah and the cartel manufacturing cartel great drugs rock off um you spent some time in England oh yeah tell me about Oxford come on oh dude I so man so I went to junior college right I played soccer there my sister played soccer at the same junior college and the reason why I went there I was gonna go out to the University of Utah it's like the one place I got in I did not really care that much for school and I was just gonna go out to ski my dad was like look man you you've been fortunate enough like we saved you some money you can and then the stock market crashed you can go to junior college in Utah and have zero debt coming out of school or you can go to Utah for four years and you'll have like you know at the time like 70 grand in debt. Which one you want? I was like I remember you like literally put an easel up and I sat on the pool table and he told me I was like I like the one with zero debt and it was probably the best decision I've ever made um and so I went to JUCO then I ended up you know not going to Utah because I was like man I I think I don't need to just bump class to go ski. It's probably not going to be good. I'll probably burn my money so I went to UMass Amherst transferred over there and uh my GPA reset when I went from junior college because I graduated officially from junior college and then entered as a junior so my GPA was 4.0 but I was at this point I was a junior in college so it's like I kind of understood how it worked. And you know I I uh I couldn't switch into the business school that was like a new rule that year you couldn't you couldn't transfer in and go to business school as a junior if you weren't already a business degree and I was like some regular liberal arts degree. So I was like all right I guess economics is the thing like that's the closest I can get I don't know anything about econ whatever I'll learn. So I'm in all freshman level classes like you know 101 microeconomics 102 uh you know macroeconomics whatever and so it's like the courses are easy at that point and I'm a junior and I've got like a 3.97 GPA and I'm like you know I should probably go to a like I should probably study abroad uh to try to like bolster my resume you know and I was like where could I go that's cool and I looked at you know I'm looking around I'm like oh Oxford you can apply you have to submit a 10 page paper I was like I've only ever written a five page paper and I think I failed it so that's probably not going to work but maybe I could go to like University of College Cork in Ireland. Like that looks cool. The photos are very green whatever um and then I went to the student affairs office the study abroad and there's a guy named Dr. Calpin and he ran it for UMass. He used to run it for University of Georgia he was an English guy who went to Oxford University and he's like what's your GPA and I was like 3.97 and he's like oh you want to go to Oxford and I was like yeah and he's like here fill out this form I'll just backdoor you through UGA I was like okay so I filled out my name and address and my t-shirt size and he's like you're in good I'll I'll send you the info and I was like what? Okay and so I was studying abroad that in my fall semester of my senior year at Oxford at Keble College because it's a bunch of colleges that make up the university. So I was at Kebel College um and I you know was there living with a bunch of UGA kids doing the same thing who are just like psycho fans for football like SEC is just different which was kind of fun to be around but uh you know I I remember I was sitting there one day in the like first one or two days sitting in Kebel College in like the quad area and some kid walked by with lacrosse gear like over his shoulder and I was like you know just like screamed at him across like hey get over here he was like um and I'm like yo like where are you going? And he's like lacrosse practice and I'm like you guys have that over here because I when I looked online it was just uh dudes would play the women's version of lacrosse like no pads or whatever. And I was like I'm not doing that I I grew up playing lacrosse like I'm whatever. And he's like oh yeah we got it I was like yo I need to know the details so had my mom ship my stuff over I borrowed some stuff put it all together and I played lacrosse for the University of Oxford which was dope because then it was like I was able to meet legitimate students that weren't just studying abroad across the entire university um and play for Oxford like you know I've got an Oxford jersey with like my name on the back and it's like oh ULC with like the crowns and stuff it's it's gangster and super gangster. It was sick like I it was dope because I was able to come in and kind of be a stud because it's our game right like like we like you know Native Americans invented this game. And so I I immediately was able to come in and start you know starter scoring whatever and and it's just funny it was all good until we played like University of College London and then I played like an actual good American and the dude just like ate my lunch and I was like I've been found out. But it was great for a bit um but yeah I got to travel around England playing lacrosse which was so sick. I mean I even went back and played um I played in like the the alumni game versus Cambridge uh I flew back for like a weekend to play in it because I wanted to and I like hit an open workout at the same time like sleep deprived just like I gotta get all this done like two days. And then uh yeah I mean even when I was over there I got to also play soccer for Keble College for you know a couple games rugby uh I was coaching CrossFit while I was over there and I was coaching the um University of Oxford's rugby team which like one of the guys at the time was dating Taylor Swift which was like interesting to be like you know coaching these this dude and he's like a totally normal guy and um yeah it was just like oh that that just makes sense it's Oxford uh that's so random yeah yeah and then I also went on the ski trip like so um there is this it's called anytime Oxford plays Cambridge it's called the varsity match okay it's like the only thing that matters like the only thing like you could you could go undefeated in the other games but if you lose your varsity match it's like the season's a failure and that's why it's so it like important when they play each other in rugby soccer and rowing because those are the big things uh you know like they go down the River Thames in London and it's like everybody's out there for it. Um and so I went on the varsity ski trip which was up in teen in Valdezair in France and it was Cambridge and Oxford and then I got to there was a rail jam and I like grew up freestyle skiing. So I rented uh freestyle skis in France and I participated in the varsity rail jam and me and the Oxford snowboarder won it for Oxford which was dope. So like I had like a medal for that I remember like popping champagne bottles and I was like dude that I don't this is like this is peak living like I am just doing it and it was it was awesome. So Oxford University totally scam my way into it the last thing I'll say is they uh you know the the 10 page paper thing is real like you have to write a 10 so you have tutorials each week and a tutorial would be like just like this you'd be sitting down with like the like the world's you know most renowned person in that subject like one on one the biggest would be like one on four. And like you meet with them once a week for an hour or two and you write a 10 page paper on whatever it is the topic is and then you have to like defend the paper. And you do it you'd have like two tutorials. So like you're writing 20 pages a week and I remember I did my first tutorial for Dr. George Pitsikakis he was like this greet dude and like the first day he's like hey I took the liberty of just printing the textbook for you and he's like here you go and he like puts it in front of like the four of us and is like he wrote it okay got it um I had no idea what it was it was like gibberish it was like environmental economics at to like the you know a stupid degree that I have no idea what's happening and I I passed my first paper in failed it was like oh god and then I quickly realized like wait a minute well if the dude wrote the book on the subject and I only reference him and never try to go outside those parameters he can't argue with himself he's gonna agree with me on everything because it's his points right boom a and I was like fucking cracked it. Uh you're just rubbing this guy's back oh my god buddy you're so smart 100% you loved it so that moving forward I'm like dude like that to me that was the biggest thing because like I don't know about you but unless you're like an accountant a lawyer a doctor like you know or or something very like engineer something very specific that you need the school system for I think a lot of s the school system is just about figuring out how to make things happen one way or another right uh and that's what I think you know that experience taught me was like you know immerse yourself in things it's gonna be super fun you know don't act like you know everything because people are going to expose you to a bunch of cool stuff and you know if you can finagle and figure yourself through like a tricky situation you'll be better for it. In reality I don't know anything about environmental economics I don't think it matters it doesn't it's not has nothing to do with what I do but I did learn how to like finagle a situation and make somebody who's way above my wavelength of like academia think that I got it and it opened doors for me you know yeah so it worked.
SPEAKER_00Um in the words of Andrew Walker he said don't let school get in the way of college yeah sounds like that's what you're talking about. Totally makes sense yeah I love it that's a good one yeah so um dude sport has been like a huge part of your life yeah and you've like done so many sounds like you've played every sport under the sun um what does it mean for you now like going about your day where where does sport fit in and fitness and I mean that that's what your whole business is based on is sport and fitness.
SPEAKER_01But yeah um for you personally what's that look like I think for me personally sport is is honestly like everything because it's a it's a it's a lesson and then it's a teaching tool but it also is it it's it's something that keeps me motivated because I get to be a part of a small part of multiple teams right if you look at every athlete like a team uh and then like our team as a whole at lab management I get to be a part of a team that every single year we're striving to for greatness right to win whatever and when it whether it happens or not doesn't matter you reset and go again and I think that to me is is like peak existence because you're striving for greatness whether you achieve it or not doesn't really matter it's more about the journey of the striving for it. Um but it it just it allows me to tap into the best part of myself which is like always around competition right like you it's a it's why people do the CrossFit open because it pushes them to do something special right it's why you go do a marathon or a high rocks or a 50k or whatever the hell it is you do, right? Indoor soccer on a Thursday night, which I still like I still play um competition forces you outside of your comfort zone and either turns you internal, right? And you have to fight your own demons and and battle through things and and pour it out there and then come out the other side better for it or it turns you external in which case you need to work with a subset of people and you need to work towards a common goal together. And I I think a balance of both is like probably the best thing you can do for yourself, you know? Yeah. Like if more people competed and and played on teams, I think the world would probably be a better place.
SPEAKER_00Yeah. It's like the the man in the arena. Yeah. I forgot how the the exact saying goes, but um yeah it's like just being in the arena and doing the things there's like nothing more glorious than that.
SPEAKER_01Yeah you feel alive. Yeah. I mean truly and and you know don't get me wrong like there there's gonna be like depths of despair and like disappointment but there are also gonna be like super high highs and it's pretty pretty freaking awesome. So I'd take the lows for the highs for sure.
SPEAKER_00100% dude I played uh this past Fourth of July weekend played spike ball for probably an hour and a half on the beach and was just I haven't competed in a long time in that sense. It was awesome. Yeah it's an adrenaline dump it oh absolutely and it was like nothing else it was almost therapeutic it was like nothing else in the world mattered except scoring the sex point. Yeah yeah you know it's like we we deal with so much all the time your phone's buzzing all the time it's like for this one hour for this whatever X we're gonna this is all that matters is totally score more points than the opponent.
SPEAKER_01And it's emotional regulation really like it just allows you to pour yourself into something and like like you know just almost like emotionally throw up like get it all out you know and that's how I feel about indoor soccer still like on Thursdays like we go in there and we get stupid competitive and honestly I probably say things I shouldn't say and I'm like sometimes I'm like I'm ready to fight somebody and I've I've toned that down a little bit but I go in there to compete and to try really hard and to work my ass off and I leave there really happy every time regardless of if we win or lose like don't get me wrong I prefer winning but if we get into an intense game and we lose by three goals but like we're trying really hard and everybody's like giving their all I can't help but be fired up leaving there and just you know I felt like I r reduced all the stress that had built up throughout the week um and so it's like yeah spike ball if it's spike ball on 4th of July on the beach who cares it's like yo I'm gonna lay out for that ball because this could be legendary and I'm gonna feel amazing afterwards.
SPEAKER_00And that's exactly what it was. Yeah it's like I haven't I I'm pretty I'm pretty level headed I'm pretty even keen like most of the time playing spike balls getting fired up. I was yelling and hooting and hollering and we were going all over the place for points and feels good.
SPEAKER_01Yeah it's amazing I'm I mean I remember doing spike ball in uh Alabama on Lake Martin and it was like it was just it was just stupid competitive and it's like we're none of us were even that good but it was just super fun, you know? So I I mean I get it. Yeah people need to compete more.
SPEAKER_00Yeah yeah are you following any sort of workout routine or are you just kind of doing whatever feels right on any given day?
SPEAKER_01Yeah I uh no I follow a pretty like strict routine I I personally it's like I always wanted a garage gym growing up I got that now it's cool I I absolutely cherish it I probably take better care of that thing than I do any other part of the house. Um but yeah I'll do like a a cut it's I mean it's very specific like on Mondays it's it's it's a bodybuilding with a with a press on Tuesdays it's interval running probably just around my neighborhood or maybe on the greenbelt uh Wednesdays is a squat day plus a Metcon because I still love to do some CrossFit Thursday's soccer Friday is a uh hinge in bodybuilding and also like our run club country mile run club um and then Saturday will be either like a high rocks day just in the garage or a long run or whatever whatever you know and then Sunday's rest day. So Thursday and Sunday are kind of rest days like I only play soccer on a it's a 40 minute game and you know you're seven in and out but it's cool because you get to do sprinting and cutting and agility work which I think is missing in a lot right so um yeah I still get to touch that but man if you don't touch it for a while and you come back to it that is like you're you're devastated it's brutal.
SPEAKER_00Well yeah cross fit crossfit and high rocks both are so up and down forward and back yep not even really left to right.
SPEAKER_01Yeah and so those dynamic movements where you're turning backpedaling or turning and cutting and it'll beat you up man it'll beat you up but it's it's so it's so good for you. So I yeah that's like that's that's the uh structure if I'm traveling I'm probably just running a little bit more because you know it's sometimes tough to get access to a gym or whatever. But yeah I mean I really like it. I love being out in the garage at you know 7 15 in the morning and I've got my own music and the dogs sit there with me and you know I wake up before that and have a cup of coffee and just kind of sit there in silence and then go out and do it and it's it's I just like you know it's it's a solo endeavor for me in that and it's my it's like my time you know try to not be on my phone. Um yeah don't have to really talk to anybody and it's great I I train with people run with people whatever but um oftentimes like 85 to 90% of the time I'm by myself and I I just kind of enjoy it because I'm always accessible and on and being approached at all other hours you know so yeah. Nice if you uh if you miss your workout does that bleed into your workday um I usually won't miss my workout like I just I just won't. That's great. Yeah like it's it's like if I miss it in the morning I'm going to hit it in the afternoon or evening. You know it does it screw up my workday a little bit because it's like it's still in the back of my mind that I have to do it. Yes. But unless I'm like oh I'm buried or I'm in in in the sense of like physically buried like I will get something in it's just like a non-negotiable yeah.
SPEAKER_00That's good. Yeah. That's awesome. Did you make up your own that routine is that just something you figured out?
SPEAKER_01Yeah I think it's what's works best for me because it's like we competed in in CrossFit for you know it's like I did CrossFit and then I competed in it and just was doing competition training. It's like you train four hours a day. That was like a lot of what I would do in Providence. Um and then when I was a sales rep for X Endurance it's like you're in the gym all day so you only got three hours to kill between classes. Like all right we'll do a whole training session. So I think after a while it was just body couldn't sustain that because it's like CrossFit is so great if done properly and you know and at the right intensity and load whatever um CrossFit as a sport not as not as sustainable. Like that stuff is just I mean it's you're you're getting crushed. So um but that's not the methodology right it's it's a different thing and people can't really separate that unless you're like you know or are inside it. But um yeah I just felt like I did a lot that probably beat me up a little bit and you combine that with you know years of lacrosse and soccer and freestyle skiing where you're jumping and crashing and eating it. Um I think my body was just like yo dude let's chill so the whole like you know bodybuilding strength work some crossfit some running is a is a really good really good place for me to be in. And so yeah I think I've just kind of refined it. Um and then I'll just uh I really like following like this uh the Ibex track that Christy has it's Christian Pats just solid yeah I don't want the guesswork of programming for myself but yeah they've got like a lift run track that's great and so then I just retrofit in soccer and some other stuff.
SPEAKER_00Nice. Yeah yeah um man circling back to kind of the the world of CrossFit um the sports side of CrossFit has kind of gone through some some ups and downs over the past few years. Have you felt like that's affected lab management what you guys are doing at all have you guys had to change anything or kind of alter how you approach companies with this I don't want to call it like uncertain state of the sports side of CrossFit but you know hasn't been exactly smooth sailing. Totally um and I guess maybe if you could also touch on like this new wave of high rocks is coming in and maybe it's a trend maybe it's here to stay but uh yeah how's the how's the state of the fitness world affected lab management?
SPEAKER_01Totally yeah it's it's so I mean as far as like from a from a you know getting down to brass tacks like from a revenue standpoint it makes it a little bit rockier like we've we've managed to maintain and pivot on things and and do pretty good there but you know CrossFit has absolutely taken a little bit of a downturn and ideally you know there are some rumblings of things happening where hopefully it'll you know elevate the sport again and just the methodology as a whole I think you know that magic within the gym walls has not disappeared right it just needs to be uh you know honed in again and and structured and and pointed in the right direction um but with the emergence of high rocks you know we were a little bit slow to the take there we knew about it we knew other people were getting involved I just honestly it's it's this weird thing where CrossFit did a really good job for a long time of building athlete brands but they're not so good at it now or they just don't they're starting to invest in it again but when you turn that machine off it takes a little bit to get going again like the momentum uh so athletes kind of had to take that honest upon themselves um but then high rocks is hot as far as a volume of people participating kind of like what the open used to be like but the but the athletes aren't as cool right so they're so the brands aren't there but you know brands are piling in to support but the athletes aren't aren't as developed yet and high rocks doesn't necessarily care about the athletes you get it's pretty evident or sorry they don't care so much about the elite athletes because they're focused on the a hundred thousand people doing the high rocks right fair enough right yeah um so the business model is just like a little different but at the end of the day I'm like from a personal standpoint as long as it gets people moving it's like who cares? It's better for them they're getting healthy. But we've absolutely been like yo CrossFit athletes you need to do on HyROX because it's good exposure for your brand in a different kind of arena. Yeah and like a lot of the Adidas athletes like Adidas wants that so like they do it. But we did bring in a Hyrocks athlete just to make sure we're playing ball and her name's Gabby Moriarty she's a stud out of the UK and like just hit a deal with Lululemon with her and that was cool. She's one of the first Lululemon Hyrocks athletes so yeah badass. She was just in Sweden um competing in E15 so we had our agent Deb over there with her which was sick. And then you know as far as like pivoting and and trying to stay up with the times I think that HyROX it's a very good introduction to a lot of functional movements uh which can then lend itself to CrossFit. Now I will say being on the inside of the CrossFit side of things like there was a lot of um feedback around HyROX is like oh you mean known and knowable CrossFit it's like well who cares man like at the end of the day they're kind of eating your lunch right now you should partner with them and you should figure out how to like you know make a high ROX one of the events at the CrossFit games right agreed partner with them. Same with like USA tri iphon partner with them right it can be in a pool and then a bike and a run right it can be safe and but you can expose all these triathletes to CrossFit and CrossFit to triathletes right and same thing with high rox like I don't I don't know why it's like you know high tides rise all ships like we could we could learn something from them and we should um and so I think high ROX is this great uh initial first step towards CrossFit or vice versa because it's just like okay if you're CrossFit you can do all those stations no problem you just need to run a little more right yeah it's like it's pretty simple um and that's why we started we took over the global partnerships for AFEX which is this other event um that is taken off in the UK and EU and is coming over to the US and it's kind of this bridge between high rocks and CrossFit and the way that it works is you've got a strength station right you come in like in every annually the workouts change. So they're the same workout throughout the year but then they change year over year which I think it keeps it a little exciting. I think high ROX will probably have to adjust the workouts at some point um but AFX has a strength piece right so you might be doing a one rep max trick press a three rep max back squat and five rep max deadlift then you have a rest area like 15 minutes then you go and you do this endurance piece which was like a max run around the stadium you do like a 1k run 1k row alternating for like 20 minutes right so you're gonna send it it's like a you're gonna do a 5K it's gonna hurt and then you're gonna have a 30 minute recovery zone and then you're gonna have a Metcon which are like kind of like rudimentary movements right hang dumbbell snatch burpee broad jumps sandbag carry box step over ski or things that everybody can do right and and that's it your three scores are your score and you're done um but it's kind of hierarchy it's kind of cross fitty people are really liking it it's gonna explode we've got some big brands that are about to pour into it Adidas is backing it like we've got you know Celsius and Optimutrition are going to become global partners in it like it's it's gonna be big um it's very cool it's fun it's like two and a half hours it's an immersive experience and it's going to be a great thing for people who've done a high rocks to then challenge themselves like okay you you you went and did the high rocks and you learned how to run well what about if you learned how to back squat because that's good for you you know and all of a sudden you you learn you challenge that whole thing okay cross is not as scary anymore so it's almost like another step along the way to CrossFit. And if you're CrossFit AthEx is like a no-brainer but yeah you're gonna have to freaking get your engine up a little bit because the endurance piece is going to kick your ass you know yeah so it's cool. Yeah but I mean the the whole fitness space it's everybody starting events and doing these things but to me it's like high rock still has some upward trajectory. I think at some point it's gonna hit a ceiling they're going to have to ideally pivot before then so that it can keep climbing. I think if CrossFit's smart they'll end up doing something high ROX esque that gets those people in the door because if you go to a high rocks and then you go how can I train sled pushes wall balls burpees kettlebell carries XYZ like well it's a CrossFit gym. Yeah you know and then you know you go into the CrossFit gym it's like okay you do that well you've got high rocks classes too boom you get all of it you know yeah so yeah I think it's a it's a it's a kind of an it's weird it's like a it's a rocky time but it's also like an optimistic time yeah in the space.
SPEAKER_00And I think too like just the more the merrier like the more opportunities that people are presented or the more yeah the more opportunities people are presented like the more they're gonna work out and the more they're gonna do things and like health and fitness will continue to climb which I think is great.
SPEAKER_01Totally yeah chances to compete push yourself outside your your zone but then also like that thing is a catalyst to get you into a CrossFit gym or a or whatever gym right in F 45 berries whatever just go be healthier it's good for you.
SPEAKER_00Agreed. Yeah um sweet dude what's next for uh for lab management in Cooper Marsh huh?
SPEAKER_01Well we have the CrossFit games uh lab management person like you know as a from a business we have the CrossFit games we've got AFX coming into the US uh and then you know building towards the Olympics with flag football um personally I've got a baby moon this week that I'm excited about going to Maui um and Daniel's having a kid on Thursday so scheduled yeah wow so homeboy's gonna be stressed and yeah it's the first day of the baby moon so I was like man we probably could have put timed that better because I'm I need to make sure I'd get some work in while I'm out there and take care of some things but um yeah we should have scheduled the baby moon better not them they they scheduled their time just fine. Um and then yeah we've got our kid coming in November so if we all go swell there and we'll welcome a baby girl in in November, mid November and yeah it'll be dope. Congrats thanks man That's amazing thank you thanks thanks for having me. This was dope.