Four years ago, Daniel Wall was more into power lifting.
But as the Eisenhower girls basketball coach grew older, the former athlete craved to find new avenues of competitive athletics and to “go to battle.”
So Wall’s wife, Nicole, asked him to try CrossFit — a fitness regimen of varied functional movements featuring cardio endurance, gymnastics, Olympic lifting, power lifting, etc. at high intensity.
CrossFit has taken America’s fitness circle by storm the past decade and it was about to consume Wall, too.
Though the high school basketball coach wasn’t sold at first.
“Nah, CrossFit is kind of weird,” Daniel told Nicole initially.
Then Wall joined his wife for a CrossFit workout at a gym. After getting a workout in and seeing that it was “on another level,” he was sold.
“Man, this stuff’s crazy,” Wall recalls thinking.
Fast forward four years and Wall — who now teaches CrossFit classes as a Level 1 trainer at Southwest Barbell and Fitness (located at 810 SE 2nd Street in Lawton, just north of Hwy 7) — is practically a CrossFit guru.
Wall, his wife Nicole, Maurice Mayfield Jr. and Jennifer Thompson all took part in this past weekend’s Ghost Thrusters CrossFit team competition this past weekend at Goldner Fitness Center on Fort Sill with four divisions — scaled men’s and women’s and RX men’s and women’s.
More than 30 teams competed in the competition put on by Stacey Oliver, and several athletes represented two local gyms — Southwest Barbell and Fitness and Blackdog Cross Fit.
Nicole — who was 27 weeks pregnant with the Wall’s first child during the competition — and teammate Jennifer Thompson took third place in the women’s scaled division.
“My wife is fearless,” Wall said. “It was really neat to get to watch her in her element. Even though she had a gift with her, she pushed very hard just like she always does.”
The Wall’s love for CrossFit has given the couple an opportunity to do something they both genuinely enjoy together.
“A lot of CrossFit is about how much can you suffer in a workout,” Wall said of his wife, who became 28 weeks pregnant as of Monday. “She can suffer with the best of them. She’s very competitive and I appreciate her so much.”
Wall and Mayfield — who is the head golf coach and a football coach at Eisenhower —competed as teammates in the men’s division and more than held their own against the young guns in the field.
“Mo’s a beast,” Wall said of Mayfield, who is a former Division I football player at New Mexico State. “You’re talking about a guy who squats 500 pounds and deadlifts every bit of that at 45. There were some 22-year-old cats at the competition and we were going toe-to-toe with them.
“To do that with a close friend was a special deal.”
Bringing CrossFit to the hardwood
After basketball practice with the Eisenhower Lady Eagles on Monday, coach Wall was on his way to a Bible study.
The workout would have to wait.
Some days, Wall’s CrossFit workouts are 6 a.m. at Cameron due to his hectic schedule.
Typically, the quartet trains five days a week when not in high school sports season.
Now, Wall has begun to incorporate CrossFit with his girls basketball team to help the Eagles soar to new heights. The team has found such workouts are much more efficient and can reap greater rewards.
“I love the high-intensity training aspect of CrossFit,” Wall said. “Instead of I’m gonna go to the gym for an hour and dabble in this and that and that.”
The CrossFit style workouts have been a core part of the Eagles’ offseason and preseason programs, and the girls have relished the change of pace.
“The girls love it,” Wall said. “We’re careful as far as teaching the proper technique and proper form. That’s always key, but they get to compete against each other. It’s been really beneficial to our program.”
Wall — who has helped revive the program and led the Lady Eagles to back-to-back Class 5A state tournaments to try and keep pace with the Ike boys — is about to have a whirlwind basketball season.
The roller coaster has already begun as Ike hosts Yukon tonight for its third scrimmage.
While Nicole knows the sex of the baby, Daniel is waiting until the due date, Jan. 29, to be surprised. They’ve decided to name the baby, Judah.
With the due date coming in the middle of basketball season, Wall will be quite busy to say the least. But he knows the CrossFit workouts the team has implemented will pay big dividends.
“It’s a totally different group from last year, but our effort and intensity has been wonderful,” Wall said. “We’re developing some leadership right now and we have plans on finding ways to reload.”
