Audrey Lewis
May 12, 2016
Dates set for Tarpon Basketball Camp
May 12, 2016
One of the biggest, fastest and strongest all-around athletes in Louisiana is a local gal who calls the bayous of Lafourche Parish home.
Larose native Alyssa LaFont is one of the premier CrossFit competitors in the state – an honor she earned after finishing in a tie for first among Louisiana competitors at the 2016 CrossFit Games Series South Central Regional.
By finishing so high at the prestigious event, LaFont will now be able to compete for Team Louisiana this week at the 2016 South Central Regional in Dallas – her first time representing the state in a competition.
For LaFont, being one of Louisiana’s best is a great feeling. She said she’s grateful to have found the sport, which is one of the fastest-growing in the world.
“I have loved every second of being involved in CrossFit,” LaFont said. “There is always something to improve on that keeps me striving for more. I love the everyday challenges that you come across in this sport.”
For LaFont, competition and athletics are in her DNA.
And the path to CrossFit started when she waltzed across the stage for high school graduation.
LaFont was a multi-sport star at South Lafourche High School – a standout on the Tarpons’ swimming, girls’ basketball and track and field teams throughout her prep career.
But when she graduated in 2011, life away from organized sports proved harder than she expected it to be.
LaFont said without school sports, a part of her was missing, and something just didn’t feel quite right.
“I missed the competition,” LaFont said. “I couldn’t fill that void anywhere else.”
LaFont said she was very conscious about her image out of high school and was an avid long distance runner who was on a strict diet. After a while, that got old, which caused her to tweak her plans.
“I was very conscious about my body image and how much I weighed,” she said. “I did this for a while before I realized that strict dieting and always worrying about my body image was not the lifestyle that I wanted to live.”
LaFont’s next challenge was bodybuilding. She said that sport was OK, but still wasn’t quite right.
She still wasn’t quite getting that rush of adrenaline that she was used to.
So next was CrossFit – the all-encompassing sport which gains more of a following every year.
LaFont said she found the sport online, but didn’t have a place locally to try it out.
“I watched people do it online for about a year,” she said. “I knew I wanted to try, but I never knew how to actually begin.”
That transition became easier when Stone Wall CrossFit opened in 2013 – a move which brought the fast-growing sport to the commu-
nity.
LaFont said she gave it a try shortly after Stone Wall opened its doors.
She compared her experience to love at first sight. After two years of searching, that competitive zest which had disappeared from LaFont’s life was now back again. She said it was a feeling she will never forget as long as she lives.
“The first time I stepped into the box, I knew CrossFit was going to be the fitness routine that would give me the competitive drive that I felt when I was playing sports growing up,” LaFont said. “I knew this was what I was looking for.”
LaFont said the biggest thing she likes about Cross-Fit is the diversity within it – the fact that on any given day, you might be doing something you’ve never done before.
In CrossFit competitions, competitors run, lift weights, swim, paddle, do pullups and a whole litany of other exercises that push one’s entire body to the limit.
LaFont said her first days with the sport were a struggle – just like anything else that’s done without experience.
Most competitors do Cross-Fit as a way to stay in shape and/or maintain a healthier lifestyle. LaFont said the common skills that most of the best competitors have is an inner drive – a desire to continuously evolve.
“Every good CrossFitter has determination, motivation, commitment and a hard working personality,” LaFont said. “You don’t have to have an athletic background to perform well at CrossFit. It’s a sport that’s meant to include everybody in the sense that there is always a way to scale a movement up or down to a person’s ability.”
She said the biggest key that enabled her to progress was finding that open minded approach and developing a willingness to learn all of the skills and techniques she was not familiar with.
“I definitely wasn’t always good at CrossFit, and even to this day, I still have so much room for improvement,” LaFont said. “At the beginning, I was not able to complete many of the movements that are in CrossFit. I had to learn gymnastics and Olympic weight lifting for the first time. I had to spend countless hours working on movements inside the gym and even in my backyard.”
That hard work started to pay off.
As LaFont started to improve, she got the desire to compete. She started at local competitions, earning several podium finishes.
She slowly worked her way up the ladder, leading to the lofty finish at the CrossFit Games Series.
In that event, LaFont was No. 26 overall – enough to be in a tie among Louisiana competitors.
At the South Regional Floor, she will partner with Jeff Germond, Chad Becnel, Jodi Kennedy, Phil Guillot and Kelsey Briner to make up Team Louisiana.
The team will be working together to try and reach the big one – the CrossFit Games, which will be held in California in July.
LaFont said she and the team are ready to give it their all.
The local said while in Dallas, she will be competing for herself, the state and every, single person who has supported her along the way – a list that she said is too long to name.
LaFont said she also hopes to serve as a model to anyone – young or old – that their fitness goals can be reached with hard work and dedication.
“We have grown so much as a team since the first time we all met,” LaFont said. “I am excited to see how we perform in Dallas. The amount of support I receive from the members at Stone Wall CrossFit, the community and my family is what helps keep me going. There are many times that I feel the want to give up, but I would never want to let my supporters down.
“My support system makes me strive for more and to keep inspiring people in every way that I can.”
Pictured are members of Team Louisiana – a six-person troop that will lead the state in the 2016 CrossFit Games Series South Central Regional this weekend in Dallas. Local competitor Alyssa LaFont (fourth from left) is one of the folks who will be representing the state during the event. She said she’s excited for the opportunity to compete.
Alyssa LaFont powerlifts during a CrossFit meet – an event which she said is one of her favorites in the sport. She and five other competitors will represent the state in Dallas, Texas this weekend.
