CrossFit L-2 certification
CF L1 Olympic Weightlifting Certification
L1 Precision Nutrition Certification
First Aid/CPR
After years working as a mental health counselor and dedicating myself to nonprofit work serving underserved communities, people with disabilities, and Spanish-speaking populations, I understood something fundamental: mental health doesn't exist in isolation. The body and mind are inseparable. CrossFit showed me what that really means. These days, I coach athletes in a variety of ways. I run the gym's OnRamp program, provide one-on-one coaching whether you're 13 or 75 or anywhere in between, and I've established after school fitness programs with Santa Cruz County schools where students build confidence while earning PE credits. I've coached youth soccer athletes in sport-specific strength training and teen football athletes during their off-season.I'm studying for my CrossFit Level 3 certification. And I show up every day seeking my own growth edges, knowing there's no finish line.
II came to CrossFit the way most people do: desperate and skeptical. A back injury in the early 2000s stole something from me: the ability to move freely, without pain dictating the terms. I tried everything conventional medicine offered. Nothing worked. So I learned to live smaller, to accommodate the pain, to accept limitations as permanent. Until 2015, when I walked into CrossFit Watsonville looking for... something. Maybe just a way to stay in shape despite the chronic pain. What I found was a way back to myself. My body got stronger. The pain I'd carried for over a decade began to fade. But more than that, I discovered what happens when you stop negotiating with your limitations and start dismantling them instead. Then came 2020 and a spinal fusion surgery that could have ended the story. My physical therapist certainly thought it would, told me to say goodbye to CrossFit, to lifting, to the life I'd rebuilt. Instead, I proved that lifting was exactly what I needed. It made me stronger than I'd ever been and helped me rehab faster than anyone expected. I wrote a new chapter while coaching others through their own battles.
Knowing that I get to play a small part in helping another human accomplish a goal, or overcome a fear, and become the best version of themselves, not just for now, but for the long run? That's why I love coaching CrossFit. Because it teaches you to stop believing the limits you've set for yourself. And once you do, everything changes.
