TYLER MATTHEWS
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Everyones Big Brother
9.15.21
Alex and I are beyond thrilled to be bringing back “Athlete Spotlight!” With the focus on surviving through the pandemic and then our move, we are finally feeling settled into our new Chateau home and getting back into a better routine! Yay!! So without further ado we would like to acknowledge a very special person who we feel is well deserving of the spotlight, Tyler Matthews! You are so very special to Alex and I and the rest of our community. You are welcoming, humble, genuine, happy and sweet to us all. We are inspired by your amazing dedication to supporting others along with being such a true friend. It is beyond crazy how uplifting you are Tyler and we all cherish your big brother hugs. Love you so much!
Tyler Matthew’s Personal Testimony…
I am your typical 40-year-old-former-kinda-good-athlete, married to my beautiful wife for 18 years (yep, we were kids), with two daughters, now 10 and 13. Life is really full, and certainly not without its challenges, especially since COVID hit! If you're reading this, my hope is that at least part of this resonates. Since my football playing days almost 20 years ago, I've tried everything from your typical gym membership to P90X to training for marathons, everything in between, and it was the same old story: go hard for a couple months and then fall off the wagon, rinse and repeat. My good buddy Zane Martin had been telling me for months I needed to check out Chateau, kept talking about the culture, the coaches, and how cool the people were. He told me, "Forget what you think you know about CrossFit. This place is different." On February 4, 2020, I randomly popped in, saw, felt, and heard the culture, was signed up 10 minutes later and enrolled in the 5 AM glass the next morning.
It was rough getting up that first day at 4:15 AM, and for sure, I thought I might pass out after my first WOD. I hadn't worked out hard in probably a year, maybe more, and I'm sure I went too hard on day 1. 19 months later, CrossFit is easily the most rewarding yet humbling sport I've known. I still can't do a bar muscle-up, can't do hand-stand walks and I’m still trying to figure out snatches. But as awesome as the workouts are and as good as it feels to relieve stress and get in shape, it's the community and culture Zane talked about that intrigued me, and he was right on. The coaches watch like a hawk, keep us safe, correct us when we need it but encourage us the whole way. I remember Keri telling me early on, probably on snatches, "Ok, I think you're ready to add some weight, but let's see." I still have days where my body is asking me what I did to it the day before, no part of me wants to pick the bar up, and then I see my crew spread out across the gym, going for it. Every morning, I can hear Alex, D, George, Devin, Rolin, Rikki, someone saying, "Come on, Ty, one more. You got it." It's the people that make it what it is.
As someone who has struggled mentally in the past with work stress and the pressures of life, the Chateau community has played a huge part in getting me through the past 18 months. Alex, Keri and all you coaches who have poured into all of us, thank you for the community and culture you have built, for persevering and keeping us going through it all. It still feels like I'm just getting started, but I'll be forever grateful for being welcomed into this, and the relationships built. Can't wait to see where we all are at in the next year!
Love Ty