Sevan Matossian (00:01):
Bam. We’re live. Who’s the blonde girl?
Caleb Beaver (00:04):
I’m not sure, but your mic is on the wrong setting. Oh.
Sevan Matossian (00:06):
Do you see the blonde girl in the waiting room?
Caleb Beaver (00:08):
I do.
Sevan Matossian (00:09):
Who’s that?
Caleb Beaver (00:12):
I’m not sure.
Sevan Matossian (00:13):
Hold on my mic. I see Matt Shinda Decker. This is, do you know that show? Romper room?
Caleb Beaver (00:19):
Romper room?
Sevan Matossian (00:20):
Yeah.
Caleb Beaver (00:21):
No, I’ve never heard of it. Oh,
Sevan Matossian (00:24):
Who’s the blonde girl? Who’s the blonde girl?
Caleb Beaver (00:31):
Is this headphones set up?
Sevan Matossian (00:35):
Ecker thinks he’s going to text me the answer and give it away. Oh,
Matthew Souza (00:40):
What are we talking
Sevan Matossian (00:41):
About? See the blonde girl down there?
Matthew Souza (00:43):
I see her. Yeah.
Sevan Matossian (00:44):
She scares me a little bit. Who’s that?
Matthew Souza (00:46):
She should scare you. She looks like she’s, she looks like she’s a lawyer in that
Sevan Matossian (00:51):
Office. Oh, she does look like a lawyer. Holy shit. What did we say about Sch Decker?
Matthew Souza (00:58):
Oh shit. I brought the big guns.
Sevan Matossian (00:59):
Here we go. Caleb, there might not be room for you.
Caleb Beaver (01:01):
That’s okay. I don’t want to deal with the blonde. She’s scary. She’s just scary.
Sevan Matossian (01:09):
Wait. Oh, she go. Hi guys.
Matt Shindeldecker (01:12):
Hey. Hey.
Sevan Matossian (01:14):
What’s up? Who’s that? Who’s that girl? Chrissy.
Matt Shindeldecker (01:17):
Chrissy is our GM and head coach at the prison.
Sevan Matossian (01:23):
Alright, she’s waving. She seems safe.
Matthew Souza (01:26):
That’s what she wants. You
Sevan Matossian (01:26):
Think? Okay, here we go. Everyone. Brace yourself for impact. Hi, Chrissy.
Krissy Impullitti (01:32):
Hello.
Sevan Matossian (01:33):
What’s up, girl?
Krissy Impullitti (01:34):
I’m good. How are you? That was very funny commentary. I was trying, not a lawyer. Not scary.
Sevan Matossian (01:42):
What else? Prison though. Prison. You spent time in prison, it sounds like.
Krissy Impullitti (01:45):
That’s all right. I got a little spiciness, but nothing
Sevan Matossian (01:48):
Crazy. Judgment. Free zone. Everyone spent a little time in prison. Safe space. Matt, what’s up, Debbie? What’s up?
Krissy Impullitti (01:58):
How’s it
Sevan Matossian (01:58):
Going? Good. So stoked to have you guys back on.
Matt Shindeldecker (02:02):
Yeah, this is awesome. Thank you for it. I know. I don’t think a week goes by where we don’t get a message, a text message, a phone call. Hey, I was watching the Savon podcast, and man, I want to be a part of your program. How do we start? So what you’re doing plainly, quite frankly, is probably more publicity than we’ve had in the two years of partnering with others.
Sevan Matossian (02:25):
Hey, I said it to you on the show, and I meant it when the first time I had you on, and I heard your story as you got off the show. I was like, Hey, dude, I’m a little bit envious because your life seems like it has so much purpose in it. You wake up every morning, you told us your story, basically let us know how the world puts you where you are today. And in that position, everything that happened in your life has made you capable, eminently capable of handling and doing what you’re supposed to be doing. And I am sort of a single issue guy as I have three of my own that kids are, oh, she’s a fed. We saw that, Chrissy, I see it. I saw it. I’m a single issue guy. And it’s kids first. It really is like, that’s kind of the filter I put it through. What can we do to, I don’t like the word help because it’s so ambiguous, and I think a lot of people who think they’re helping are actually hurting people. But your mission to empower, to empower kids and help them, put them in a situation to build confidence and identity and regather and recoup their understanding of themself
(03:43):
Is what you’re doing. Can you tell me in a nutshell, either you or Debbie, what you guys are doing? It’s CrossFit Crave, right? That’s the mothership, Jim. Okay.
Matt Shindeldecker (03:51):
Yep. That’s the mothership, Jim. So CrossFit grave, we’ll turn 15 this year. We’ll sign our 15th year next month, I think.
Sevan Matossian (03:59):
Dang.
Matt Shindeldecker (04:00):
We’ve been working with our probation department locally in our county for six years. Basically, it’s court ordered CrossFit. We started a program where the kids come to the gym four days a week for an hour. They have their own class. And these kids are, a lot of people work with, I’ll call it at risk, which is great, but these kids are the risk because they’re already in the system. They’ve committed to crime, now they’re going through rehabilitation. And the judge that we partnered with court orders a select amount of kids to come to the gym to work out. And like you said, and we’ve talked before, it’s obviously, it’s the methodology, it’s CrossFit, but it’s combined with community that makes this program successful. Meaning recidivism rates across United States, the rate at which adults and juveniles re-offend. So they go through their court ordered time, they get out of jail, whatever it is. In the adult world, it’s measured three every one, three, and five years. Meaning do they come back into the system at some 0.1, three or five years after post parole, if you will, 88% of adults re-offend in that five year timeframe. Damn,
(05:22):
70% or more, like 75% of youth do the same thing because they’re dropped right back into the program or right back into the environment they came out of. If you look at predictive values, if you drop someone back into the same home predictively, they’re going to come back. They’re going to turn out the same way. But we’ve been able through community and the methodology and the work that our coaches and what Chrissy’s doing in the prison is reducing that to about 23%.
Sevan Matossian (05:57):
Whoa. Hey, there’s another implication there too, right? That punishment doesn’t work. That’s right. Now, by the way, I’m not suggesting by any means that bad people aren’t taken off the streets. Please. I am not suggesting that. I’m just suggesting that it’s not working. If the goal is to get them back and to be productive members of society, for me, the most powerful piece of the whole thing, and it should be talked about every day, someone in the CrossFit space, is that you have the parole. Oh, we have an echo. No, I don’t know where that’s coming from. Did someone open up their YouTube browser maybe? Nope, not you, Chrissy. Let’s see. Maybe it’s Matt.
Matt Shindeldecker (06:40):
Is that
Sevan Matossian (06:41):
Better? Yeah, much better. Thank you. Oh, no, no, no. Still there. Lemme see. Matt. Matt mute. Matt and Debbie for a sec. Yeah, it’s coming from something you guys have going on. You have two, maybe you have a phone open or I’m not sure.
Matt Shindeldecker (06:59):
Is it still there?
Sevan Matossian (07:02):
Yeah, maybe come out and come back in.
Matt Shindeldecker (07:05):
Okay. I’ll do that quick.
Sevan Matossian (07:08):
Chrisy, what’s up with you? So Chrissy, did you say you work in the prison and you are, how did you meet Matt?
Krissy Impullitti (07:16):
So my gym is like half a mile up from the jail, and Debbie and Matt were in town. I just happened to be there working out on my own, and she knocked on the door. We started talking. I’m in the recovery space, so that with Matt’s situation or life, talking about my recovery and stuff, it just kind of segued into how I want to help at risk youth and here I am.
Sevan Matossian (07:47):
So you were to CrossFit gym a half a mile away?
Krissy Impullitti (07:49):
Yeah. I don’t own it. I just coach there.
Sevan Matossian (07:54):
For me, the most potent part of the program is the fact that the parole officers have to also work out with the clients. And for the first time ever, a couple weeks ago at Greg’s house was the first time in three years that everyone who’s on the Avon podcast got in one place together, and we worked out together. And although we’re all very close, it changed. That even changed my relationship with Susa and Caleb and Hiller and just working out with people. It acceler for some reason, working out together really hard, accelerates the intimacy of the relationship. Some people say it’s group suffering, and that’s why it works in the military with those, whatever the seals do that week that they do, that create hell week. But for some reason, would you say that also, do you see that when you said that to me, I’m like, oh, that’s it. That’s the piece. It’s having the parole officers work out
Matt Shindeldecker (08:58):
With the kids. Yeah, it absolutely levels the playing field, right? Because these kids are constantly monitored through the court system. They’ve got ankle bracelets on, an officer picks them up and takes them to counseling, takes ’em to doctor’s appointments. They’re constantly monitored, and you drop them in a CrossFit setting for an hour, and now they’re on equal playing field. So that shared suffering that you have inside of that hour that CrossFit gives us, it’s that there creates the bond that shared suffering. When I get up off the floor after fishing 24.3, and that correction officer, probation officer, or police man, woman that arrested me helps me up and say, Hey, good job. Completely level playing field. Did you go back to what Greg has always preached about, Hey, it doesn’t matter if you’re a garbage collector or an attorney or a doctor inside of that hour. All of that goes away, and that’s where rehabilitation starts.
Sevan Matossian (10:03):
I want to talk about how this spreads to other gyms. So Christy, so tell that story again. So you’re at a gym a half mile away, and how do you find out about this program?
Krissy Impullitti (10:13):
Debbie walked in.
Sevan Matossian (10:14):
That’s it. And was she there to work out or was she there to just share the program?
Krissy Impullitti (10:19):
I mean, Debbie, you can say how you ended up there, but I was working out with
Sevan Matossian (10:25):
My, were you a coach there?
Krissy Impullitti (10:26):
Yes.
Sevan Matossian (10:27):
Okay.
Krissy Impullitti (10:28):
With my friend Melanie, who also helps with the program. And Debbie walked in and we talked for a bit, and here we are.
Sevan Matossian (10:37):
And Debbie, were you going there to share the program with that gym a half mile away from you
Debbie (10:42):
There? A half a mile away from the detention center.
Sevan Matossian (10:44):
Oh, okay.
Debbie (10:45):
Okay. I’m there with the intention of finding quality coaches with a heart to serve, to hire, to go into the juvenile detention center, to coach the youth and the security guards there. When we started this program inside of the juvenile detention center, we’ve already been working for years with kids who are on probation and doing that. Our state came to us and asked us to start CrossFits inside of the juvenile detention centers because they’re three hours from us. We had to hire local coaches. So sometimes in life there’s a pressure to do things because it expected or because of titles. So near this detention center, there were some coaches who had surface level impressive titles within the CrossFit world, but no heart to serve, no heart for others. So we went and talked to them and introduced them to the team within the detention center, and 48 hours before the program began, they text and said, we quit. It doesn’t have the CrossFit HQ name on it. We’re out. And so that
Sevan Matossian (11:53):
Was the reason that was They gave,
Krissy Impullitti (11:55):
Yeah. Yeah.
Matt Shindeldecker (11:58):
Unfortunately,
Sevan Matossian (11:59):
We’re both like people the same. I don’t dunno even know how to process that. Why would that matter? I know this is AOR digression, but why would that really,
Debbie (12:08):
Yeah, they’re not in it to change recidivism or to change lives. They were in it for notoriety, which I’m 100% grateful that they quit because it would have been a complete disaster had they went forward.
Sevan Matossian (12:20):
Notoriety, meaning that they wanted credit for it publicly.
Matt Shindeldecker (12:24):
Yep. That’s what it boils down to.
Debbie (12:27):
Yep.
Matt Shindeldecker (12:28):
Well,
Sevan Matossian (12:28):
That’s why I have you guys on the show
Debbie (12:32):
Because my name is Debbie Wagner with Expanding Horizons and not Debbie Wagner with hq. That made a difference.
Sevan Matossian (12:41):
That’s fascinating to me. I mean, I’m going to have to process that. Really. I’m am not. I have to process that. Yeah. And what does it mean heart to serve? What does that mean to you, Debbie?
Debbie (12:55):
What most, I would say 99% of CrossFit coaches do. You go into change lives. You’re not going in again for a title. You’re going into create relationships and change lives and for your life to be changed. Yeah.
Matt Shindeldecker (13:10):
I think, and since you’ll recognize this, I think we all, at least for me 15 years ago, found CrossFit because we needed to change our lifestyle. What direction are we going in? I’d lack the community, which I never thought I would find in a CrossFit gym until I walked into it. Then fast forward that to say, okay, I want to have ownership because my internal value, I wanted to share that externally. And how do you do that? You join a gym or open an affiliate. Right now, you’re taking what you started with and trying to share that with people, the effectiveness, you know what it does, give it six months, what will it do to your life? And that’s kind where we’re at. That’s how we started. And then you can finish with Coach Chrissy. Hey,
Sevan Matossian (13:59):
Here’s our guy. Chrissy, what’s your day job?
Krissy Impullitti (14:02):
I’m a stay-at-home mom and a
Sevan Matossian (14:03):
Coach. And how many kids do you have?
Krissy Impullitti (14:06):
I have three.
Sevan Matossian (14:07):
Wow. How old are your kids?
Krissy Impullitti (14:09):
I have an 8-year-old son and then twin 4-year-old girls.
Sevan Matossian (14:13):
Oh. We’re in a very similar boat. Did you know that?
Krissy Impullitti (14:19):
No.
Sevan Matossian (14:20):
I have twin 7-year-old sons and a 9-year-old boy. Oh,
Krissy Impullitti (14:25):
Look at that.
Sevan Matossian (14:26):
Yeah. Crazy. Wow.
Krissy Impullitti (14:27):
Right. So you live a crazy life too.
Sevan Matossian (14:29):
Wait, your twins are younger or older?
Krissy Impullitti (14:32):
Younger.
Sevan Matossian (14:33):
Younger. Okay. Same with me. Wow.
Krissy Impullitti (14:35):
Are yours identical or fraternal?
Sevan Matossian (14:37):
They each had their own bag. Fraternal. Yeah,
Matt Shindeldecker (14:41):
That’s right.
Krissy Impullitti (14:42):
Mine had their own bags, but one placenta, so we’re identical.
Sevan Matossian (14:49):
Oh, is that how that works? I thought Gypsy. Oh, I’m trying to think of my wife. I don’t remember her birthing two placenta. Oh yeah, she did. Yeah, she did. Because I remember them because, and then each of them from the placenta, like that disc thing, and then the umbilical cord comes out of it. Yeah, we had two separate ones of those.
Krissy Impullitti (15:12):
Yeah, that’s the big indicator between fraternal and I learned a lot about twins in my family. And I had,
Sevan Matossian (15:19):
So there’s two umbilical cords coming out of one placenta. Is that how that works? Fascinating. Crazy. Did you save that thing?
Krissy Impullitti (15:28):
No,
Sevan Matossian (15:29):
No. I got mine. I kept them. Did a bag somewhere back there? No, they just dried up. They just dried up like snakes. They’re like dead snakes. They’re just like a snake skin. They’re just dried up. And I coiled them up and saved them. But I would love to see a placenta with two snakes coming out of it. That’s wild. Hey, did you see it? Did you see it?
Krissy Impullitti (15:50):
I saw it through a picture. I had a photographer in the delivery room.
Sevan Matossian (15:56):
Were the umbilical cords, different sizes? Did one kid have a really robust umbilical cord? One kid had a little weenie one.
Krissy Impullitti (16:01):
Yep. Yep. So I had to be, every other week I had to go get a C-section to monitor that. They were sharing nutrients as opposed to one dominating the other.
Sevan Matossian (16:12):
Not a C-section, but A MRI. Oh, yeah. Sorry. Ultrasound. Sorry. Ultrasound and ultrasound. Ultrasound. I was like, how many C-sections did you have? Okay. Wow. Fascinating. God. Because one of my kids kids’ umbilical cord looked like a joke. I was like, you ate through that. I mean, it was nothing. Okay. So you have kids, so you’re there and Debbie comes in there and what does it mean to you? A heart to serve? I’m assuming she kind of opens with that line.
Krissy Impullitti (16:43):
Well, I mean, it was just casual conversation. I’m seven years sober. I fell into CrossFit. You were just talking about to change my lifestyle, saved my life. And throughout that whole conversation, I was talking about how I wanted to work in the recovery community, like something like Phoenix does with CrossFit. And then she was like, well, by the way, this is the program we’re doing. It’s up the road. Are you interested? I was like, yeah, let’s go. Let’s do it. And almost a year later.
Sevan Matossian (17:23):
And do you actually have a program there with a handful of kids who are in the program at your gym?
Krissy Impullitti (17:31):
They do not come into my gym.
Sevan Matossian (17:33):
You go to the detention center?
Krissy Impullitti (17:35):
I go to the detention center twice a week. It is a full blown affiliate. If you look on crossfit.com, you’ll see it. I think they need to put a little asterisk. That’s a detention center.
Sevan Matossian (17:47):
Yeah, it’s hard getting into this one. It’s hard getting into this one. Yeah,
Krissy Impullitti (17:50):
Drop in. Yeah. Why are there wires? Yeah. So yeah.
Sevan Matossian (17:58):
Hey, just on a complete side note, my wife used to teach yoga to a lot of different places, and she would go to juvenile detention centers too. She said it was really depressing just in the way, it was just the facility, the actual building, all the doors you have to walk through, doors locking behind you. She even taught some at San Quentin. Really? Which is the big prison. Yeah. Breathing and yoga classes. It’s a man. We could do a whole show on just your experience and what you feel as you walk into that center. Hey, what did the gym owner say? Debbie, do you talk to the gym owner first before you go in there? So they’re not like, Hey, are you trying to poach our coaches?
Debbie (18:42):
Yeah. So I had contacted the gym owner, Chrissy’s gym, and just said, Hey, I’d like to come visit. We’re hiring for this program. Are you interested? Or do you think you’d have coaches? Because of the timing, the classes are midday. So if you have a nine to five job, you’re automatically not available to be able to do this. So he told me when to go in. So I went into the very first day of the program inside the detention center by myself. Because remember the other coaches had quit 48 hours before. So a little emotional meltdown in the parking lot. Can I do this right. These
Sevan Matossian (19:17):
Are your why, because you had only been teaching it outside. That was the first time you’d gone inside. You’d only been teaching it at CrossFit Crave.
Debbie (19:24):
I had been inside to tour before, but this time I’m taking 15 PVC pipes in and I’m going in to coach kids who are number one. They’re bigger than I am. And they were excited, but they’re they because they’ve had heavy trauma and you just don’t know how it’s going to go over. But it was fantastic. And there was a break of about two or three hours between that and the next class that I was going to do. So I drove the half a mile to Chrissy’s gym and said, Hey, just want to drop in and meet you guys. And by the way, here’s the program we’re doing. That was on a Monday and on Thursday she was inside the facility with me
Sevan Matossian (20:03):
And Chrissy, how long had you been coaching?
Krissy Impullitti (20:06):
Two years.
Sevan Matossian (20:07):
And when? So she comes in there and do you know she’s coming in there? Did the owner of the gym tell you? No.
Krissy Impullitti (20:17):
He had sent an email asking if we were interested, but I didn’t know she was coming in that day.
Sevan Matossian (20:24):
God, it’s so cool. And how long have you been doing it?
Krissy Impullitti (20:27):
It’s almost a year. It’ll be a year at the end of May.
Sevan Matossian (20:31):
Hey, Matt, or I guess Christie, why doesn’t your gym, or is your gym also the owner in the process? It seems like it’s very positive impact on the gym for the community and financially to also start onboarding people who’ve been released from the juvenile detention center or people who want to bypass it. My understanding is that some of these kids get sentenced to juvenile detention centers and they can choose the option, Hey, do you want to try a 13 week program instead of going to juvenile hall, you can go to match a CrossFit crave. Is that something that your gym’s going to do?
Krissy Impullitti (21:08):
It’s not in the conversation right now. I totally, totally run that for them, but that’s not something that’s been discussed yet.
Sevan Matossian (21:18):
Go ahead. Go ahead, Debbie. The
Debbie (21:20):
Main reason we are not further along in that discussion is my bandwidth in this and working with county governments, it takes a bit to get connection with the judge and to work through the funding and the paperwork and all of that, but it’s highly supported by the director of Use services and the governor here in the state of Ohio. It’s just you can only do so much in a day. And we’re working right now with 120 ish gyms across the US and Canada to do the same thing,
Matt Shindeldecker (21:48):
To have programs at their CrossFit affiliate not in a prison. So one of the things I wanted to touch on, we contact the owners to make sure that they understand. We’re trying to supplement their coaching staff. We want to make that coach a professional coach. And our goal isn’t to take them from the affiliate, it’s to enhance the hours that maybe they’re not open or they’re not working. We can supplement those hours by driving to the correctional facility. She’s our GM at that building plus coaching classes. She can make extra money and still not lose the affiliate that she came from. For example, the next two facilities we open are going to be managed by current CrossFit affiliate owners,
Sevan Matossian (22:41):
And those will be an additional juvenile detention centers similar to where Christie is based
Matt Shindeldecker (22:48):
A hundred percent. So we make it a point, we really try to say, Hey, Mr. And Mrs. Affiliate owner, we want to enhance the ability to allow your coaches to earn some serious money outside of walking into the affiliate only if you are ready for it. And it’s okay for them to do that. So we have to have that conversation first.
Debbie (23:12):
And the other thing is that we require coaches to go through a mental health seminar that we’ve developed with a psychologist, because in coaching in general, not just in this demographic, there’s so many things to coaching besides movement and so many things that your athletes are working through in addition to coaches working through. But to be able to have that connection and help beyond movement, we need more training than what we have found was given currently. And so that’s another thing is all of our coaches and I see Maddie B’s on here. Oh,
Sevan Matossian (23:45):
I was going to ask you that. So that’s what he’s referring. And what’s that seminar called?
Debbie (23:49):
Coaching Beyond the Game. It’s an eight hour seminar, and we just gave our last one last Saturday.
Sevan Matossian (23:55):
Is there a page where people can sign up for that?
Debbie (23:57):
Yeah, the next page. The next one will go live today for registration, and that’ll be in June.
Sevan Matossian (24:02):
And what’s the website?
Matt Shindeldecker (24:03):
Yeah, if you go to expanding Horizon cf.com.
Sevan Matossian (24:09):
Why would Matt take this? Why did he take it?
Debbie (24:12):
Because he’s in Florida and we’re working with his affiliate to start a probation program at his gym.
Sevan Matossian (24:19):
Okay. Hey, I want to try to get the lay of the land here really quick. So there’s CrossFit Crave and CrossFit Crave is a place where they come with their probation officers and the people. There’s also a second program or within, I dunno if second program is the right word, then Chrissy also does the same program you guys do at CrossFit Crave, but she does it inside of a facility. And those are both in the state of Ohio and where else. And then you mentioned this 120 number, is that 120 number affiliates that have contacted you that are somewhere in the process of either having, now of those one 20, are those people gyms that are looking to have people in or they’re more looking to do what Chrissy does?
Debbie (25:05):
No, not yet. The reason
Sevan Matossian (25:07):
Is Chrissy, one of a kind is that the only juvenile detention center where you go into
Debbie (25:11):
Christy is history right there,
Sevan Matossian (25:13):
Christie.
Matt Shindeldecker (25:15):
I like
Krissy Impullitti (25:15):
That.
Matt Shindeldecker (25:17):
For the state of Ohio and right now the country, because it is a full fledged CrossFit affiliate that’s in the prison system that is operated by coach Chrissy
Debbie (25:29):
With CrossFit equipment. It’s important to know they have barbells and dumbbells. They don’t have machines. And prior to this, machines were the only thing allowed inside juvenile and adult prisons in the state of Ohio. So state legislation changed the law there to be able to open this facility.
Sevan Matossian (25:50):
So Christie, you walk in there and how many clients do you have?
Krissy Impullitti (25:54):
It’s capped at 15 now.
Sevan Matossian (25:57):
So it could just be you and 15 people. It could be a huge class for you.
Krissy Impullitti (26:01):
Yes. Okay. So I now have, in the beginning it was just me and my good friend Melanie. She was with me on Mondays and then Thursdays I was by myself. I now have a gentleman named Scott that works with me on Thursdays. So both days we kind of just divide and conquer.
Sevan Matossian (26:20):
One hour class.
Krissy Impullitti (26:22):
One hour class. Yes. The thing is with this program, it’s just constant curve balls. I have the boys walk in, I have to gauge what I’m working with. I
Sevan Matossian (26:32):
Have You mean their mood? You mean mood or how old?
Krissy Impullitti (26:34):
Definitely mood. Definitely
Sevan Matossian (26:36):
Mood. Okay.
Krissy Impullitti (26:37):
The ages range from 13 to 20. Right. I think my youngest was, in the beginning we had the graduates. So the boys that were done with school would come and work with me, and they were very committed. They were very into it. Our first release was, his last name was Davis. He went out, he went to a gym. He plans on going into the military. So our first release was a very successful story.
Sevan Matossian (27:09):
So sorry, I misunderstood. Release when you said that’s not someone who’s kicked out of the program. That was someone who was in the program for how long?
Krissy Impullitti (27:16):
He was
Debbie (27:17):
Two
Matt Shindeldecker (27:18):
Years or two years he was in. He had been shot six times and delivered the same back to who was shooting him. So he was in there for a shooting, basically. He’s lucky to be alive. He was in the program for two and a half years. He was in the prison for two and a half years. And then a year ago during his last call it 10 months, we started the CrossFit program and he started working with Chrissy
Sevan Matossian (27:44):
And Chrisy was the only teacher he ever knew. She’s the first. Okay. She’s
Debbie (27:48):
The first. There were some coaches with her, but yeah.
Sevan Matossian (27:50):
Okay.
Matt Shindeldecker (27:51):
She’s the only CrossFit coach he knew. So with the state,
Sevan Matossian (27:57):
Sorry, real quick, Debbie, when you did it at a juvenile detention center, did you go into the same one that Chrissy went into? No. Okay. But you never met this dude? He wasn’t there.
Debbie (28:04):
I met him, but again, because of the three hours drive time to and from, we get up there maybe once or twice a month because of our coaching schedules and things like that. So Chrissy is in there twice a week every week without fail.
Sevan Matossian (28:19):
Okay. Sorry, Matt. So Christie has ’em for nine months or 11 months
Matt Shindeldecker (28:23):
Whenever they’re released. So when a prisoner that’s in the system is done, its time or her time or his time pay the restitution. Now it’s just like, Hey, you get out of jail. Right. So the reason this works so well is because we need that athlete that’s in the prison to have a community to go home to. So we work with a local CrossFit affiliate for this. This one was in Youngstown, Ohio, called up the affiliate and said, Hey, we’ve got a young man that’s going to be released in a month. Would you like to take him into your affiliate? The state of Ohio will pay his membership to your affiliate for the next three years. Three months. They will pay that. And then you’ll have another athlete
Sevan Matossian (29:10):
For three months, did you say, Debbie? Yep. Three months. Three months. Okay.
Matt Shindeldecker (29:13):
So then we bring the affiliate owner in to the prison to meet, to work out. So they’ll join the class, they’ll meet the individual that’s being released, and they’ll start to develop that connection in that bond. And then he gets out of jail. We drop him into the CrossFit affiliate. So that ecosystem we all talk about, right? We’re trying to increase the ecosystem. We know the reason for the success inside, whether it’s an affiliate or the prison, is because of the community that the coach develops the relationship, the coach develops with the athlete and they get excited about CrossFit. It’s sometimes the first time they’ve ever had someone say, Hey, you did a really good job there that these kids may have never heard that before.
The above transcript is generated using AI technology and therefore may contain errors.
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