If you are in a new city and looking for the best coffee, go find the barista school.
That was the advice I recieved from a coffee-connoisseur friend, and he was bang-on.
Bua has been a school of coaching for many years and with the launch of Flo, has officially become the host to one.
Flo has been in the making for many years, and it took a few things for it to officially come together.
First, I needed a partner.
As Bua has grown, coach development has become a huge part of my role. In all honestly, I might have just continued to do it within Bua forever if it wasn’t for a partner coming along.
James is a special dude. He gets it. He studies the game. He cares deeply. And we get each other. I tend to be happier as a collaborator and I’m very grateful to have James as a partner-in-crime. I think we can do great things together.
Second, we needed some sort of game-changer.
With the collaboration with Atlantic Technological University, we have that. A Level 6 Certification in Functional Fitness Coaching allows people who train at our style of gym to go directly to the coaching style that they fell in love with. No work-arounds. No 1980’s fitness instructor course. No PT certs. Straight to coach.
That hasn’t existed before now. And with the potential to build towards a level 8 degree course in the future, this will truly change the game.
(Also, a huge shoutout to Neil from ATU, an old friend and former CrossFit gym owner himself. He also gets it, and paved the way for us to build a course that gets to the heart of the role.)
Third, we needed a customer to exist.
And this one was tricky.
Apart from running coach certifications, our main focus at Flo will be on coach development. That is, working with people who are already professional coaches. It’s the work I have been doing every day of my career for over a decade.
Up until recently, I’m not certain there were enough professional coaches out there who:
a. were aiming to master their craft
b. knew they were not the finished article
c. were ready to invest in their own future
I have a feeling that we are just about, perhaps, maybe, at that point right now.
More and more coaches are taking their role as preventative healthcare professionals, mental health providers, and movement specialists more seriously. They are seeing the impact they can have and want more.
These are the people I look forward to working with.
I truly believe that our industry has the ability to shape a huge chunk of the population into a healthier, higher-functioning, more purposeful group of people.
Drop a few highly-focused, growth-minded, high-ownership individuals into any team see what happens.
Now, imagine that at a population-level. As coaches, we can lead that charge.
We simply need to be excellent at what we do.
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