The TYR Cup offered followers with a greater technique to watch group competitions.
Final up to date on October seventh, 2024
CrossFit group competitions may be powerful to look at. It’s an opinion shared by many commentators in CrossFit media.
Not less than, that’s what I believed till I watched the TYR Cup final month in Huntington Seashore, CA.
Remind me: The TYR Cup on the inaugural TYR Wodapalooza SoCal was a team-style exhibition that includes two teams of eight athletes, all of whom competed as people on the current CrossFit Video games.
OK, so possibly a part of the rationale the TYR Cup was so entertaining was as a result of I knew all of the all-star particular person Video games athletes on the ground. In distinction, I’m not typically that conversant in a lot of the group opponents on the CrossFit Video games.
Nevertheless it was greater than that.
The TYR Cup’s leisure worth for the spectators went properly past athlete familiarity. There are definitely some issues the CrossFit Video games organizers (in my view) can be taught from the TYR Cup to make the Video games group competitors extra watchable, particularly from a spectator standpoint. Listed below are 5 of the largest takeaways.
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Have Fewer Athletes on the Flooring
Positive, the TYR Cup had the luxurious of solely that includes two groups, and this format won’t be sensible for a CrossFit Video games Crew occasion. Nevertheless, it may very well be logistically potential and helpful to characteristic some smaller match-ups, just like the TYR Cup did with their one-versus-one and two-versus-two contests.
Underdogs Athletics coach Justin Cotler, who watched the TYR Cup and mentioned he discovered it “modern and entertaining,” had an analogous thought.
- “I believe from a strategic standpoint, it will be very cool to have a group competitors that went again to 6 athletes, the place the occasions had been a mixture of one-versus-one all the best way to three-versus-three. I believe that may carry much more curiosity to the group competitors [at the CrossFit Games],” Cotler mentioned.
Create Easy Exercises
A CrossFit Video games group competitors can oftentimes seem like a complicated cluster of athletes understanding with little or no course. Merely put, there’s simply an excessive amount of occurring.
When you do want to check high-level expertise, I might argue probably the most entertaining occasion on the TYR Cup was Occasion 9, the place groups chosen only one man and one lady to go head-to-head in opposition to only one different competitor in three quick dash checks: 50/40 calorie Echo bike, 50 bar-facing burpees, and a 500-meter Assault run.
The occasion would possibly sound boring on paper, however the simplicity and relatability of the checks made for an extremely thrilling showdown for viewers.
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Enhance the Skill to Observe the Race
Additional, the TYR Cup was straightforward for me to comply with as a spectator.
You knew which group was within the lead always — a prerequisite to any sport being spectator-friendly, in my view — versus the CrossFit Video games, the place it’s usually laborious to decipher the place any group is at.
Joakim Rygh, the long-time coach at CrossFit Oslo, which had three groups competing on the 2024 CrossFit Video games, had this to say: “Spectators wish to comply with races. An enormous factor that made [the TYR Cup] enjoyable to look at was that you might actually see each groups on the display always.”
- “To make CrossFit extra TV-friendly, I believe we have to do much less close-ups of the athletes and extra full screens the place it’s straightforward to comply with when athletes are closing in and passing,” he added.
Additional, the reside stream on the Video games must be higher at retaining spectators knowledgeable about how the race is enjoying out.
- “I believe there are loads of methods to point out extra cut up instances…particularly on the endurance occasions,” Rygh mentioned, including that CrossFit wants a “reside scoring system the place it’s straightforward to comply with the place everyone seems to be….[that would] make it much more thrilling.”
Inform Tales to Construct the Race
Rygh additionally thinks it will be useful to inform extra tales in regards to the groups within the build-up to the competitors, as this offers spectators extra of an emotional attachment to the athletes.
- “An enormous factor [at the TYR Cup] was that you simply both rooted for Crew World otherwise you rooted for Crew North America,” he added.
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Condense the Timeline
Lastly, one other huge distinction between the TYR Cup and the CrossFit Video games group competitors was that, as an alternative of occasions spanning all day, the TYR Cup was condensed into two hours every day.
Spectators don’t essentially wish to park in entrance of a reside stream all day ready for the following occasion; they’re arguably extra prone to put aside a two or three-hour block of time, the best way they do for an NBA or NFL sport.
Rygh agrees.
One of many keys that made the TYR Cup so interesting for spectators, he mentioned, was the very fact that there have been many occasions in a brief period of time.
- “Two to 3 hours with occasions going back-to-back made it simpler to comply with, and I additionally suppose it’s simpler to take that block out of your night to look at than to unfold it out in the course of the day,” he mentioned.
In the end, Rygh thinks CrossFit would profit from “discovering methods to make the competitors extra time efficient.”
- “You might presumably do the final three occasions [at the Games] inside a two-and-a-half hour [window],” he added.
One Closing Thought
It’s no secret that the group competitors on the CrossFit Video games is a little bit of a sideshow — or an afterthought — to the person competitors. And with the rise of superteams in recent times, the place not everybody trains on the similar affiliate, followers have change into arguably even much less loyal to the groups.
To develop extra of a fan following, Rygh thinks it’s price contemplating having every coaching camp put collectively its personal group.
- “I believe doing this could create extra [of a] following and I additionally suppose that every coaching camp would prioritize [the team competition] extra,” he mentioned.
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Featured picture: Scott Freymond
