Our Coaches

After leaving engineering and the corporate life to become a fitness trainer in 2004, Patty’s life has been transformed by the community he serves today.

And since 2004, his CrossFit Vancouver community has grown from being a one-man operation into a federally-recognized and provincially accredited vocational school for fitness – the first of its kind.

Everyone who works at CrossFit Vancouver is like family to Patty – one he even grew up with in Gaspe, Quebec, while he worked with another as an engineer 15 years ago. “They are a very special group and I am honoured to be their leader,” Patty said.

The ultimate goal for Patty and his family is to professionalize the fitness industry. “Our business model is designed to give opportunity to those who are bright and passionate about helping others and making a difference in the community, but above all it elevates those who display courage and character in the face of the realities of the free market,” he said.

He added: “Every one of our coaches has been put through the ringer, forced to prove themselves, and all have become independent contractors who own their own business, and their character has been shaped by the free market. Our coaches are not paid a salary or an hourly wage; they are paid based on their performance.”

Today, Patty’s coaches are living the vision that Patty laid out for them when he opened CrossFit Vancouver in 2004. “Our business is a fusion of a co-op and a law firm. Our top coaches earn six figure salaries, competitive with professional salaries; they work less than 35 hours per week and have at least 4 weeks of vacation per year,” he said.

This system is different than what is traditionally found in the fitness industry, where an average employee works as a personal trainer for 3 to 5 years, then quits and has to find a “real” career because he either doesn’t make enough money to ever afford a home and raise a family, or he is burnt out from his demanding schedule.

“We have been working to change that. Our school’s system is set up to train and mentor apprentices, so the knowledge they gain is passed to the next generation of coaches. We are also working with other affiliates from around the world, building a system and figuring out larger patterns across the industry in order to keep people motivated and keep them fit for their entire life. This continuity is the key to building excellence across the industry,” Patty said.

He added: “I am very proud of what we have accomplished so far, and it is just the beginning. My role is to constantly find ways to improve our product and provide opportunity for others in the fitness industry so we can transform the communities we serve into fit, healthy, and happy places to live.”

After a debilitating back injury and subsequent back surgery, T-Bear found CrossFit Seattle in 2004 while working as a engineer with Johnson Controls.

“When I first started CrossFit I could barely move let alone dead lift any type of weight. I kept talking to Coach Glassman and more and more the CrossFit methods made sense to me,” T-Bear said.

T-Bear’s commitment to his own recovery is representative of his coaching style. “I am chameleon-like. I’ll adjust all the time to motivate, inspire and challenge my clients,” he said.

Often people use an injury as an excuse why they cannot start a fitness program. Someone once said to T Bear, “Excuses are the purest form of psychological masturbation.” He agrees. “Trying is lying. Pick up the weight, put it overhead, repeat,” he urges.
T-Bear has the unique perspective of knowing first-hand how to recuperate and bounce back after a serious injury. His coaching can assist any dedicated and motivated individual to be successful in his/her personal goals through proven and progressive methods. His breadth of knowledge comes from great mentors and coaches, such as Greg Glassman, Mark Rippitoe, Kelly Starrett, Robb Wolf, and locals like Aaron Rizzardo, Teri-Lynn Fraser, and Dr. Jeff Almon.

The Bear is CrossFit’s “Kid at Heart” and likes to make things fun, whether it be teaching handstand push-ups or just chillin’ with his favourite comfort items: espresso in the morning, anything Mac throughout the day, and a scotch or pinot to cooldown.
Of coaching, T-Bear says, “For me, the best part of being a CrossFit coach is the pleasure of meeting and getting to know our community of athletes and their characters. I love it.”

His ideal vision of the future can be summed up this way: “A Big CrossFit facility with a golf course to the south, a beach to the west, a restaurant/bar/vineyard to the North, and my big pad with all of the amenities to take care of my ADHD,” he said.

Wikipedia definition: A shepherd is a person who tends to, feeds, or guards sheep, especially in flocks. The word may also refer to one who provides religious guidance, as a pastor.

Sheppy grew up in the thriving metropolis of Cobourg, Ontario, where he honed his skills as an athlete and a high-ranking boy scout. Next to CrossFit, the best job he ever had was working as a counselor at a Camp in Muskoka for three summers during High School.

After discovering CrossFit in the spring of 2006, Sheppy describes his life as, “getting progressively better everyday.” He added: “Its uplifting to be part of such an awesome community.”

Sheppy’s coaching style is patient and encouraging, with an emphasis on fairness and honesty. “I consider myself a conduit for the method. I’ll take no kudos for my students because they are doing the work. They deserve the kudos,” he said.

Sheppy believes in practicing what he preaches, with a particular emphasis on nutrition and wellness. As an example, his three favourite things in life are meat, sex, and exercise. When asked, “What about love?” he says, “Yes, I love all three.”

Sheppy is the school’s Head Coach for all of the apprentices.  Known as the ‘apprentice wrangler’, Sheppy oversees student progress, PCTIA requirements, monthly meetings, coaching symposiums, and international collaboration with our online learning platform.  On top of that, Sheppy coaches the Endurance Program at CFV every 6 months along with Andy and Dan.

Born and raised in Pickering, Ontario, Andy started CrossFit in his garage in 2003, turning himself into the Greek god he is today.

For 10 years before that, he had worked as a lighting director in the Toronto film industry, rubbing elbows with the likes of Brad Pitt, Samuel L. Jackson, and the Rolling Stones.

During this time, Andy also tried his hand at academia spending a total of two years at University of Windsor – one year in General studies, and one year in “Inebriation 101″ studies.

Tired of the “feast or famine” atmosphere of the film industry in T.O., he moved to Vancouver in 2006, where he found CrossFit Vancouver. Andy found himself spending more and more time around the CrossFit barn. It was a natural transition to turn his favourite hobby into a full-time career.

Andy has been heavily involved in sports and fitness all of his life having participated and competed in backcountry skiing, climbing, track and field, volleyball, basketball, endurance races and trail half-marathons. However, none of these sports has given him stamina and focus like CrossFit.

“I don’t see CrossFit as working out. For me it has always been a sport. We play for points (be it time, rounds, or weight totaled). I want to beat the guy next to me, I don’t want him to fail, mind you, but I want to beat him. Same goes for my previous performance. Every time out I’m trying to get stronger, faster, and more efficient. Add competition and camaraderie, and if Crossfit isn’t a sport then I don’t know what is,” he said.

When coaching, Andy prefers to focus on the details, like proper form. “Spending time learning and refining the ABC’s of CrossFit, the details, will pay dividends down the line. Once you have these down, you can form some pretty cool sentences, paragraphs, even poetry. Movement can be poetry. But this can’t happen without an understanding of the ABCs,” he explained.

Tony is a senior lecturer at Simon Fraser University in the School of Kinesiology. Tony helps explain in definitive terms why Crossfit works.

Tony writes articles, study guides and exams for our Apprenticeship Programs while also contributing to the programming at Crossfit Vancouver.

Dash came to us from her native land of New Zealand in 2009. She fell in love with both CrossFit Vancouver and a Canadian man (T-Bear), and so she stayed in Canada, recently earning permanent residency.

She spent a year as an apprentice coach, but where we especially needed her skills were as our administrative and financial officer.

With a teaching background, Dash is orderly, organized and knows how to keep everyone in line. She ensures this place is up to PCTIA regulations; she takes care of payroll each month, and finds the time to handle all of our administrative duties. Nobody works harder than this girl to keep this place running smoothly; she is utterly invaluable to CrossFit Vancouver.

Kermit was one of CrossFit Vancouver’s earliest members. She competed with the CrossFit Vancouver team at the CrossFit Games back in the early days at the Aromas Ranch in both 2008 and 2009. She competed also for the CFV team in the Canada West Regionals, 2012 and 2013.

In short, the community has watched Kermit grow up. She has transformed from being an awkward young girl into a confident mature woman.

Today, Kermit continues to be a staple around this place. She spends her days at a 9-5 job in Surrey, and then coaches part-time on Fridays purely because she loves the community. And the community loves her – Kermit’s Friday evening classes are always bustling with energy.

Emily is an Associate Coach at CrossFit Vancouver, as well as the school’s Media Director.

She arrived at CrossFit Vancouver in the fall of 2009, after completing her Master’s Degree in journalism at the University of Western Ontario. When she arrived in Vancouver, she was in a bewildered state, confused about how to use her seemingly useless degrees, and lost about what her next move in life would be. CrossFit Vancouver provided her with an answer. It was truly love at first sight.

She became a Junior Apprentice Coach, as well as Patty’s personal assistant, at the beginning of 2010. Thanks to Patty’s devotion and patience – he spent tireless hours working with Eunice one-on-one – she rose through the ranks and graduated to the Senior Apprentice level in 2011 and an associate coach in 2012.

On top of her role as a coach and assistant, Eunice has also put her journalism degree to work during her time at CrossFit Vancouver. She works full-time as a staff writer and assistant editor for the CrossFit Journal.

As an athlete, Eunice was a national level gymnast as a child, a sport she left when she grew too tall. She played NCAA basketball for one year, and then played on the varsity basketball team at the University of British Columbia for two years. She started rowing in her later university years, and won a national rowing championship while rowing at the University of Western Ontario.

As a CrossFitter, she competed with the CrossFit Vancouver affiliate team at the CrossFit Games in 2010. She tore her Achilles in December, 2010, which kept her out of CrossFit competition as an individual in 2011, but she returned to California with her team in 2011. In 2012, she placed 3d at the 2012 Canada West Regional competition, missing out on individual qualification to the CrossFit Games by one placing.  In 2013, Emily returned to the Regionals in 2013 as an individual competitor, only to pull herself out due to injury.  Not one to back away from a challenge, Emily trained hard all year to reach 2nd place on the podium at the 2014 Canada West Regionals, and finally get that individual competitor ticket to the CrossFit Games.

After spending a couple years in the often destructive bartending industry, Chesty had had enough of the endlessly long nights pounding beer and fried food. So he said goodbye to Yaletown Brew Pub and began a personal rehab, eventually making his way to CrossFit Vancouver, where today he is a Senior Apprentice Coach.

“Sex, drugs, and disposable income turned to fitness, fitness into what made sense, sense into CrossFit,” said Chesty.

Chesty can be described in one word: Relentless. From his patience and diligence with his own students to his willingness to put in the hours and help around the school, he’s been caught pulling all nighters and sleeping on the couch in the lounge on more than one occasion. This has  led to rumours that he may, in fact, live at CrossFit Vancouver.

The charming Chesty simply loves coaching, loves helping people get back on track, the way he did in his own life. “CrossFit has given me the best set of tools to continue my growth as a coach and become an amazing athlete, not to mention an ever-growing and improving physique to compliment my handsome face and charm,” he added.

As an apprentice coach, Chesty is rapidly rising through the ranks and is becoming one of the mobility gurus around the school.

Reto is a long-time CrossFitter and Apprentice Coach at CrossFit Vancouver. He spends his days working as an engineer and his evenings working out and helping coach at CrossFit Vancouver.

CrossFit truly is a hobby for Corfu, who is also competitive sailor. “The first workout I saw featured 100 pull-ups; this scared the shit out of me and resulted in my almost immediate addiction to the lifestyle,” Reto said.

“I turned 30 and every time I went skiing I was sore for days afterward. My lame program from Men’s Health – 5 km jogs and hot yoga – was not helping. I figured it was near time to hang up the skates, hit the couch and accept my inevitable journey down the long and frightening road to decrepitude,” he said of his life before CrossFit. Now with CrossFit, he adds: “Now I play harder than I did when I was 23.”

Reto as a coach is calming and patient. He might even seem too calming, almost boring sometimes. But when you get to know him, he has a lot of love to give, and he’s even kind of funny. He jokes, “I love CrossFit Vancouver’s unwavering commitment to the belief that redheads are a genetically superior species.”

When Dan arrived at CrossFit Vancouver, he was a slim endurance athlete training for an Ironman. He was also weak as a kitten.

Once the Ironman was over, he decided to turn his attention to CrossFit and today is one of the strongest, most powerful, most technically-sound men at the school. He competed for the CrossFit Vancouver affiliate team at the CrossFit Games in 2011 and at the Canada West Regionals in 2012, 2013, and 2014.

Not only has his tremendous physical growth has been witnessed by everyone at CrossFit Vancouver, his emotional growth has been pretty dramatic, as well. He came in shy, closed off, and politically correct. Today, he has opened up to everyone, and a truly unique, real person shines through.

His loyalty and commitment to the school, as well as his technical knowledge of the sport, is unmatched. As a Senior Apprentice Coach, Dan coaches in the early mornings, then takes off to work as an engineer during the day, and returns in the evenings to do his own training.

Tom came to us as an out-of-town apprentice in September 2012 from Ontario. A former pipe fitter, he wasn’t sold on the idea of working in a union environment his whole life and had recently discovered and fallen in love with CrossFit.

Looking to make a change in his life, he came to Vancouver with the expectation of staying for four months. But he never left.

Tom has made a niche for himself as a knowledgable and loveable, if slightly grumpy coach at CrossFit Vancouver.  His Skill Development 101 program has helped people to tackle their ‘goats’ with a long-term training plan.  As well, Tom coaches the Competition Team, and organizes our ‘In House Comps’ to juice the community vibe.

On top of being well-researched in the area of strength and conditioning, Tom can swing a hammer – he’s our facility manager who takes care of physically fixing anything that gets damaged around the school.

Audrey is Patty’s saintly wife. After falling in love in six days back in 2011, the two were engaged within six months. A year later, in the fall of 2012, Audrey began her apprenticeship under Andy in the early mornings.

On top of coaching, Audrey is involved in school education programs, corporate sales and business development, as well as single-handedly developing our not-for-profit organization in honour of Lt. Andrew ‘Nutts’ Nuttall, our beloved former coach who lost his life fighting for our country in Afghanistan.

A former real estate agent, Audrey is one of those people you meet and you can’t possibly say anything bad about. But don’t mistake this for her being a push-over. She has an uncanny ability to simultaneously be the sweetest and the feistiest person you’ll ever meet all.

Audrey is also a professional trumpet player, who works part-time with the symphony.

CJ found CrossFit while working as a Carhop at White Spot. “A guy came in looking for a specific type of food, I think it was Paleo. Now I know that what I gave him was not Paleo,” CJ remembers. “Then I asked him what he was training for, and he told me to check out the CrossFit Vancouver website.”

Pretty soon, CJ was hooked.

CJ is a father of 3, a husband, and a practicing RMT.  This leaves him limited time to coach at CrossFit Vancouver, but when he’s there he works his butt off to help anyone he can. Whenever someone needs a class covered, or a holiday hour covered, CJ steps up to the plate, time and time again.

He has a quiet passion for CrossFit. “What I love about CrossFit is the camaraderie and the community. It’s like a giant family. We celebrate each other’s victories and we support each other when we fail,” he said.

He added: “What I like about coaching is seeing progress. The highlight of any coaching session for me is seeing a student nail a lift or a movement.”

Caroline joined us in as an apprentice in January, 2013. A former professional contemporary dancer who spent two years dancing in New York City, Caroline’s body awareness and mobility is second to none.

She’s already one of our top athletes, having represented Team CrossFit Vancouver at the 2012 and 2013 Canada West Regional competitions. With her always happy, all smiles all the time personality, she is both impossible not to adore and the most low maintenance person to have on any team.

“Already a coach of human movement, her passion and understanding of CrossFit will be a tremendous asset as she develops into a great coach,” said her coach Sheppy.

Sheppy calls Meagan: “A real sweet heart.  She has a great way with people that is very engaging.”

Meagan is a part-time apprentice coach, as she works full-time during the day as an X-ray technologist (RTR).

She found CrossFit while living and working in Dublin, and it immediately resonated with her. “I love the wealth of knowledge from the diverse group of coaches, and I love the community and the bonds that form during these crazy workouts and the many laughs in between,” said Meagan, whose sports background included figure skating and synchronized skating at the national level.

She joined our team of apprentices in hopes of exposing others to this great sport, ultimately to improve their lives the way hers was improved.  In 2014 Meagan competed as a part of Team CFV for the Canada West Regionals.

Sheppy calls Meagan: “A real sweet heart.  She has a great way with people that is very engaging.”

Meagan is a part-time apprentice coach, as she works full-time during the day as an X-ray technologist (RTR).

She found CrossFit while living and working in Dublin, and it immediately resonated with her. “I love the wealth of knowledge from the diverse group of coaches, and I love the community and the bonds that form during these crazy workouts and the many laughs in between,” said Meagan, whose sports background included figure skating and synchronized skating at the national level.

She joined our team of apprentices in hopes of exposing others to this great sport, ultimately to improve their lives the way hers was improved.  In 2014 Meagan competed as a part of Team CFV for the Canada West Regionals.

At the age of 18, Sean is CrossFit Vancouver’s youngest apprentice.

He found CrossFit through the Take a Hike Program, a program aimed to help inner city kids. Charlie coached Sean for about a year. “He was so keen. He was coachable and he really listened. He just loved CrossFit,” said Charlie of his young apprentice.

After proving himself to Palmer over and over, Palmer decided to take Sean on as an apprentice coach last year. Today, Sean helps Charlie with the same youth program (Take a Hike) that led Sean to discover CrossFit.

Fabi has been a physical trainer since 2009, constantly searching for new knowledge to be a better coach.  She met CrossFit in Brazil in 2012, and sought out the best place to train and study–which is how she found CrossFit Vancouver.

In Brazil, there were few boxes to train at, and none in Fabi’s home town of Rio de Janeiro.  Fabi came to us for 6 months, and has now been here for 2 years.  Her energy, enthusiasm, and commitment to knowledge are infectious at CFV, and she is well on her way to becoming a truly great coach.