Member Of The Month – January 2025
Our January MOTM award goes to the wonderful Baller – AKA Sarah Ball!
Baller, Ballbag, Paula, just a few of the names Sarah goes by, and ‘Sarah’ is never one of them! Haha! Paula is a great one, the amount of people who think she is called Paula due to the fact we all call her Baller… hopefully this blog should set things straight! And “Ballbag”… well, read to the end of the blog to find out more about that! 😉
Baller is such a consistent attendee of the Breakfast club, i.e. the 6am CrossFit class. She is a mum, in full time work and she still gets up “in the fives” to come and train. She is always so friendly and supportive of everyone, she has a calm demeanour and makes every newbie feel welcome straight away. Not only that, she has been getting stronger on the barbell, moves well, she’s learning new skills such as butterfly pull ups and is on her way to a bar muscle up too. She is always around to help out or take part in the M Squared events and she is also a regular on the socials too. She is an absolute pleasure to have around, wonderful to coach and she fully deserves this award. Have a read on to find out more about her…
M – How long have you been doing CrossFit?
SB – I started in 2017, moved over to M Squared in 2019 and haven’t looked back since. I was doing outdoor boot camps prior to CrossFit (which is ironic as I now hate running, cried on the mile loop once). I was having PT and loved the weights so figured CrossFit would fix that.
M– What class time do you usually attend and why does that work for you?
SB – I’m a Breakfast Clubber. It’s the only time of the day I can usually train and even before it wasn’t, I still picked it. Breakfast club is usually the same crowd, day-in-day-out; we’re all clearly morning people as we’re able to be in, moving and have a sense of humour all by 6am. I genuinely love it… From your alarm going off knowing in about 25 minutes you’ll just be doing whatever’s on the board whether you want to or not, someone’s already having a joke and we’re all just wondering if Stef’s actually on her way (haha). It’s always nice to get to another class though, you can go weeks without seeing some faces.
M– What is your why? Why do you put yourself through it each day? Do you have goals you want to achieve?
SB – Thinking about the ‘put yourself through it’ each day, if anyone’s heard my mouth when I am going through it, apologies!!! I couldn’t imagine not training. I’ve made some incredible mates over the years where I’ve trained so sometimes I come more for the social. You train with people you wouldn’t typically cross paths with in everyday life and we all seem to bond because we train – regardless if you love it or hate it we’re all just getting it done and you never leave a session feeling worse than when you went in (unless you did Kalsu at the end of Jan, just saying!)
My why is more for the mental side of it than the physical, breakfast club is like my morning coffee. If I don’t start the day with training I feel rotten, it’s just ingrained in me. Unfortunately this means I will rarely have a lie in. It’s also good for my little one to see working out as part of an everyday routine, he actually told nursery I work at the gym cleaning windows! At least he knows I go even though he has the wrong cleans! My goal is simple, just to keep showing up.
M– What advice would you give anyone wanting to start CrossFit but is either unsure or nervous? We get people all the time saying they need to get fit first or they could never do what we do? Any advice for those people?
SB – Sign up, don’t over think it. Literally no one else in the room cares what your experience or physical ability is, I’m sure everyone who starts thinks the same. Even moving between gyms – I felt really nervous joining M Squared despite having done CrossFit for two years, there really wasn’t anything to worry about. You honestly couldn’t find a more supportive gym; coaches and members.
The coaching is brilliant, if you’ve been elsewhere you will recognise this straight off after joining and if you’re new to it completely, we’re really spoilt; each coach has their own strengths, techniques and wittiness. For the members, I know at a more conventional gym people don’t even make eye contact but here just get comfortable with high 5’s/fist bumps and people screaming your name (or for some maybe not your name *Paula*) to push through, get your lift or just finish the workout. Outsiders don’t really get it they just think we’re CrossFit W@nkers but there really isn’t any place else I’d rather train. IMO, of course any exercise is a great release BUT find someone in our gym who doesn’t love throwing down a barbell and tell me they don’t feel better for it (with 10’s on of course ;-)). Aside from the actual workouts, the gym socials are always a laugh, would recommend.
M What is your biggest achievement so far in CrossFit and what are you most proud of?
SB – Getting MOTM after 6 years!!! I mean, PB’s are few and far between these days although I have broken new PB’s on everything since having Joey, which is nothing short of a miracle given I’m usually running off rubbish sleep and kids half eaten food the last couple of years 😉 I’m proud that after 8 years I’m still progressing, I have finally just got my head around butterfly pull ups for example. Even going to the Hyrox or Mdurance classes, I hate cardio so for me they are truly awful, I’m always so happy afterwards that I’ve put myself out of my comfort zone.
I think I’m just proud I get there, I prioritise it when life can be demanding. It’s totally the people who make it though, so keep being the lovely, dry sense of humorous people that you are!!!
M – I’ll try! 😉 Love this Baller, such a mega person and mega blog. Now if you want a giggle… have a watch of this video that got made during lockdown where the name “Ballbag” caused a bit of confusion! haha! Thanks Lou England for resharing with me and it’s Lou who is to thank for this particular nickname!!
