⚔️ Battle of the Camps Rosters Are Set

September 22nd, 2026

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Good morning and welcome to the Morning Chalk Up.

In today’s edition:

  • 🌴 WZA SoCal Brings the Star Power: Sprague, Hopper, Lawson, Garard, Medeiros, Brandon, and more headline four loaded teams at WZA SoCal’s new Battle of the Camps.

  • 👑 The Crown is Getting a Bigger Stage: Sixty next-gen athletes will compete alongside the pros at the WFP Finals in Copenhagen this December. The goal: give the sport’s future stars the competition, connections, and experiences that can help them make the jump to elite competition.

QUOTE OF THE DAY
❝

Ultimately, it’s about trying to build the next generation of athletes…we also want athletes to create friendships that continue well after the event”

The Progrm’s John Singleton on why The Crown is important.
COMPETITIONS

Gymreapers WZA SoCal Roster Complete for New “Battle of the Camps” Competition

Credit: Scott Freymond

The third annual Gymreapers Wodapalooza SoCal is just days away, and this year a new competition has been added to the weekend: the “Battle of the Camps,” replacing previous years’ TYR Cup. 

If you missed it, the elite showcase, set in Huntington Beach, CA, features four teams this year instead of two, with three training camps and one that isn’t.

The prize purse totals $214,000, including payouts for all four camps and the $10,000 Lazar Djukic MVP award. Here’s what the distribution looks like:

  • 1st place: $120,000 

  • 2nd place: $48,000

  • 3rd place: $24,000

  • 4th place: $12,000

Who’s Competing?

Team Brute

  • Emma Lawson – team captain

  • Janie Cheverie

  • Aline Wirz

  • James Sprague – team captain

  • Dallin Pepper

  • Jayson Hopper

Team PRVN:

  • Olivia Kerstetter – team captain

  • Kyra Milligan

  • Maddie Sturt

  • Jay Crouch – team captain

  • Colten Mertens

  • Ricky Garard

Team Training Think Tank

  • Anikha Greer – team captain

  • Lydia Fish

  • Hannah Black

  • Noah Ohlsen – team captain

  • Travis Mayer

  • Chandler Smith

Team Outcast

  • Arielle Loewen – team captain

  • Ellie Turner

  • Danielle Brandon

  • Justin Medeiros – team captain

  • Bill Leahy

  • Tudor Magda

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SPEED READS

💰🔑 Build Your Gym Into a Sellable Asset: Many owners discover too late that years of revenue don’t necessarily create a valuable asset. The gyms that command meaningful sale prices have strong systems, clean financials, favorable leases, and — most importantly — can thrive without the owner running the show.

📅🔥 The Countdown Is On: CrossFit has announced the dates for the 2027 Open, giving athletes their target as the road to next season gets underway.

🔥 🚒 Fit for the Unknown: Firefighter and rescue diver Laine Byg relies on CrossFit’s functional, constantly varied training to prepare for a job where no two emergency calls are ever the same. For her, training for the “unknown and unknowable” isn’t just a slogan — it translates directly to saving lives.

ICYMI: HYROX Rulebook Amended, Refunds Issued, and Joanna Wietrzyk Apologizes. (Rx article) 

MEMBER EXCLUSIVE

Next-Gen Athletes to Compete Alongside Pros at WFP Finals Through New Partnership With The Crown

Credit: @theprogrmcrown / Instagram

The Crown, an invite-only competition showcasing the next generation of athletes, has partnered with the World Fitness Project (WFP), giving its young competitors a place on stage at the WFP Finals in Copenhagen, Denmark, this December. 

Remind Me

The Crown was founded by The Progrm’s John Singleton in 2019 to give teenagers an exclusive experience: part competition, part bonding, and ultimately a “stepping stone” to elite competition. 

He hosted one event that first year, drawing 100 of the fittest teenagers in the world to Spain. 

COVID-19 then put the event on hold, but the Crown resumed in 2022 with Nike on board. That year, they invited 10 of the best next-gen athletes to train and compete at the Nike Castle in Palma de Mallorca.

  • “We ran it this way until 2024, but two years ago we realized, ‘OK, this is great for 10 athletes, but how do we make this experience bigger so it can reach more athletes?’” Singleton explained. 

The solution was to partner with various events and launch the Crown Series.

Since then, the Crown has hosted events alongside existing competitions, including The Iberian Throwdown in the Canary Islands, the Gothenburg Throwdown in Sweden, and the MAD Fitness Festival in Ciudad Real.

Notable competitors in the Crown include 2025 16-17-year-old CrossFit Games winner Dennis Olsson, 2026 CrossFit Games team athlete Bjarni Leifs, and 2026 CrossFit Games rookie Bergrós Björnsdóttir.

Worth noting: While the Crown Series has always been invite-only, next year, next-gen athletes can apply to participate. 

HIGHLIGHTS

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