My name is Dan. I’ve been at Tradewinds for, I think it’s over five years, but basically from the beginning. I work as an accountant, basically at an investment firm, and have been there for about seven years as well. I’ve been in Winthrop for over 20 years now, and was very happy when I found Tradewinds and started this fitness journey, we’ll call it. So, I was someone that I played sports in high school, loved them. Went to a very small high school in Vermont, so I was able to play all sports at the varsity level. Then went to college at Northeastern, and quickly realized I could not play any sports at any kind of level. Intramural was so I really started missing it even back then.
Then when I graduated from college and started, there was a few leagues I played with where I was at Deloitte. I worked in an accounting firm, and we played in some league there. But as it got further and further away from that and high school, I just really missed, and so I was looking for things. I actually tried martial arts. I tried a couple other things, and I enjoyed some of those, but I never got that feeling of the combination of competitiveness, teamwork, all of those things together. When I started at Tradewinds, I really got a lot of that. It sounds odd, because it is kind of an individual sport, but yet, you still get some of that teamwork mentality and definitely the competitiveness. And that’s not to say that you have to be the best athlete by any stretch to feel that. I think that’s an important part of it, is that you can feel that at all different levels.
You’re really competing with yourself, but kind of with others as well. So, when I first started, definitely physically, there were some challenges. A lot of that had to do with myself. I wanted to be as good as anyone else here, and that wasn’t going to happen. To be honest, it still hasn’t happened, but that’s okay. I kind of have gotten used to that. I was able to challenge and push myself and still be competitive with other people. But learn to be okay with the fact that I wasn’t going to be the best athlete here. But, again, everything worked with the coaches. Everything was okay in terms of It’s challenging, but it’s very rewarding. Not to get sued by Nike, but just do it. Just go in and do it. You’re going to love it for a million different reasons, and if nothing else, which I think there will be a lot else, you will physically get in much better shape. And a lot of things come with it, because there’s also a lot of mental health benefits. I think, one, just from the workouts, but also from just being in the classes and competitive juices and all that kind of stuff. I think it’s really helpful, has been for me, and I think it will be for everybody.
So, just to wrap up, I definitely want to say thank you for letting me say what I had to say about being at Tradewinds and giving my story about how this has helped to improve my life, both physically and mentally, I really hope that it can help inspire someone else to want to do that, and just take the chance. Just do it.
Coach Andy is an Owner and Head Coach at Tradewinds. He grew up in traditional martial arts and uses that rigor and discipline in his CrossFit training. The more technical the movement, the better, with his specialty being the olympic lifts, especially the snatch.