December 2025 Newsletter: Rowling Tournament, Holiday Hours, & More!
Dear Marble City,
Thank you for what has been an incredible year at the gym. Let’s accelerate into 2026 with loads of holiday cheer, great workouts, your supportive community, and fun days ahead at the gym! As much of the world slows down with chasing their goals they set at the beginning of the year, let’s hit the gas harder and finish strong.
Overview
• Coach Jess leveled up
• Rowling Tournament / Holiday Party
• Split Jerk Workshop
• Holiday Schedule
• December Member of the Month
Coach Jess at the L2 Course
Let’s give a huge shoutout to Coach Jess who travelled to Cookeville in November and attended the CrossFit Level 2 Certificate Course at CrossFit Mayhem in Cookeville, TN and earned her CrossFit Level 2 Trainer credential (CF-L2)! 🥳
The Level 2 course is designed for coaches to increase their depth of understanding of the CrossFit methodology, program design, and implementation. Much of the weekend is spent coaching other coaches and receiving valuable feedback to further enhance the skills that can be brought back to the gym for classes.
Jess has been coaching with us for just over 2 months now and is making progress personally and for those in her classes. Way to go, Jess!
Rowling Tournament / Holiday Party
When: Friday, December 5th @ 6pm
Where: Marble City CrossFit
Who: You and a buddy for this Team of 2 friendly competition
Cost: FREE - bring your own drink of choice & we’ll provide pizza
How to Sign-up: On the sheet above the gym's water fountain — it’s not too late!
Overview: Get ready for our Christmas Rowling Cup! Show up a little before 6pm and get situated with putting your drinks on ice or getting your snacks set-up at one of our tables. This cup competition is March Madness style. Once it is start time, you and your partner will alternate 3 frames each (6 frames for the team) for bracket seeding and then go head-to-head to make it the final. You will try to land exactly on 100m each time you row. If you land on 100m, you receive a perfect score of 0. If you are over or under 100m, your score is the difference. Lowest score advances in a Best of 5 format throughout the knockout stage.
Seeding Stage: Alternating with your partner, every 40 seconds for 6 Rounds to 100m. Reset after each frame. A judge will write down each round's score on the scorecard so you can just focus on trading on and off the rower. After the seeding stage, we'll break for intermission while the scores are tallied and the knockout bracket is prepared on the whiteboard.
Knockout Stage: Each round of knockout play is a Best of 5 series. Teams must always alternate partners regardless of who has the hot hand at the moment.
Cup Final: Best of 7 series
Prizes: Winning team gets their names permanently etched on the gym’s trophy. Best Dressed team takes home a gift card.
Split Jerk Workshop
Coach David is hosting a Split Jerk workshop on December 13th at 7:45am. Come learn proper footwork, technique, and positions with drills and exercises to help you feel more comfortable on this Olympic lift. David has been coaching weightlifting for several years now and would love to help you level up! See you on the 13th. The workshop is free for all members.
Holiday Schedule
Mon, Dec 22: Regular Schedule
Tues,
Dec 23: Regular Schedule
Wed, Dec 24: 8:30am and 9:30am (Christmas Eva WOD)
Thurs, Dec 25: Closed
Fri, Dec 26: 8:30am and 9:30am
Sat, Dec 27: 8:30am and 9:30am
Mon, Dec 29: Reduced Schedule (7:30, 8:30, 12:00, 4:30, 5:30)
Tues, Dec 30: Reduced Schedule (7:30, 8:30, 12:00, 4:30, 5:30)
Wed, Dec 31: 8:30 and 9:30am
Thurs, Jan 1: Closed
Fri, Jan 2: Reduced Schedule (7:30, 8:30, 12:00, 4:30, 5:30)
Sat,
Jan 3: Regular Schedule (Nutrition Workshop at 7:45am)
December Member of the Month
Matt Sweeney
Name and Any Nicknames:
Matt Sweeney. Everyone just calls me Sweeney
Where were you born and where did you grow up?
I was born in Crossville, TN and lived there till I was 11 then moved to Cookeville and grew up there until the end of my high school days, now I live in Knoxville after graduating from UTK.
How long have you been CrossFitting and how did you find your way into Marble City?
I have been doing CrossFit for a little over a year now. I stumbled into Marble city due to the fact I was bored of going to a regular gym and wanted more structure and competition.
What keeps you coming back to Marble City?
There are so many things that keep me coming back to the gym. The main thing is the people there. I am blessed to be able to train with amazing people everyday who always support and push me even harder.
What does Marble City mean to you?
For me, Marble City means passion. CrossFit has generated other passions for me and even brought back my competitive side. I lost that a little when I was done with baseball. CrossFit has allowed me to become a better athlete and compete again all due to Marble City. Passion and welcoming are two of many words I would use to explain Marble City CrossFit.
How has the gym impacted your life?
The gym has impacted me by giving me a structure. I go at 6:30 every morning where I never imagined I would be doing that. It gets me ready for the day even when I throw up after the workout. It’s made me want to be a better person and work harder everyday as well.
Can you share a memorable experience or achievement from your time at Marble City?
A memorable experience I have is when I was throwing up after one of the workouts and Clay was smiling at me. I thought to myself wow this guy is trying to kill me. It was during hero week a couple weeks ago and I didn’t think I was going to survive
What are your current fitness goals?
My current fitness goals are to maintain being in shape as well as try to win the workouts more. One day I would love to participate in a big qualifier or even the games. I think it would be really cool to just be there.
Program your dream workout:
2 mile run with 3 rounds of chest to bar 15 reps, 135 power clean 5 reps, 2 rope climbs, then end with 2 miles all with a weighted vest.
Favorite and least favorite lift?
Favorite lift- power clean, least favorite is overhead squats.
How do you spend your time outside of Marble City? Do you have any hobbies?
Well I do have hobbies a lot of them, so in the summer I love to wakeboard, foil, and go fishing. Really the lake in general if I go missing I’m probably on the lake. In the winter I snowboard, and deer and duck hunt all the time. I have also just picked up fly fishing which I really enjoy.
What are you currently recommending? (Books, movies, shows, food, etc)
I have completely cut out bread and noodles. I wake up and feel 10 times better with way more energy. I never feel heavy either from eating too much bread and noodles. It has allowed me to cut down while also build muscle.
Any advice for new Marble City CrossFitters?
My advice would be to go all in for the CrossFit. Accept that you are gonna get defeated. Being defeated is not a loss it’s a learning curve on how to be better. We never loose in life we learn. With that being said put the time in for that hour and go hard. Listen to all the coaches because they are there to make you better at CrossFit, but most importantly a better human. There are many coaches in life, but the ones at Marble City are slim to none in this world.
