The Sevan Podcast - Shelby Neal | Challenging the Best

Episode Date: July 1, 2024

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bam we're live good morning am i in the right chat am i in the right place good morning good morning coach ken good morning good morning good morning casey good morning maddie what's up thanks for the membership dude alan what's up dude you guys You guys are awesome. Awesome, awesome, awesome. Non-stop, non-stop fun over here. Shelby, what's up, girl? Hey, how are you? I'm amazing. I'm stoked. I'm happy.

I'm excited. You're one of my favorite of all time. Really? Dude, I love you some Shelby Neal. It's good to see you again. Yeah, good to see you too. What'd you say? We missed you in the east you weren't there yeah yeah i was watching from i was i was watching from home rooting rooting for you

could you tell i was rooting for you yeah yeah i can always tell hey how how were how were the boys how was how was the how were rios and will brandstetter did you meet him the dudes with the cameras filming for the Sevan podcast? I did, yeah. I forget who I met now. I know what he looks like, but I forgot his name as soon as he told me it, and I feel terrible. And Suzu was there too, Matt.

I think I met Suzu. Suzu, yeah. I like that. Suzu. I met Suzu. Suzu's a good dude. He was awesome. Shelby is a beast with a big heart. Hell yeah. Welcome back, Shelby Neal.

Hey, you look great, right? You happy? Yeah, at Easter. Yeah, and now. You look good now, too. But in the East, you were a beast. And now you look good now, too. But but in the east, I mean, in the east, you were a beast. Yeah, we were we were pleasantly not surprised, but just, you know, happy with the performance. It went great. Like we were kind of thinking, you know, anywhere from like fifth was possible to, you know, just under the cut line.

In my head, at least that's what I was thinking is like that's definitely a possible place for me. And then to get fifth is like, wow, that's like best case scenario. Like we just executed perfect, like everything we thought best case scenario that could happen just happened. And then there we were top five. It was sick. Hey, how old are you, Shelby? I'm 24 now. And you were on the show once before.

And we did a long interview. Tia Claire Toomey, Alexis Raptus, Emma Lawson. Crazy. Those girls were in your division. Yeah, yeah. Then Danielle Brandon, Haley Adams, Brooke Wells, Paige Semenza, Chloe Gavon-David, Carolyn Stanley. Mm-hmm. Amanda Barnhart, Fee sagafi dude lots of great athletes yeah and

uh carolyn prevo and hey and a lot of those people didn't make uh caroline spencer and a lot of these girls didn't make it yeah yeah annika greer too uh annika greer and in in your you're sitting in fifth place in between Danielle Brandon and Hayley Adams. Dude, you've got to be stoked. I know you're not supposed to compare yourself, but let's just do it for a second. I was pretty happy. It's definitely – it was, like, slightly unexpected, but, you know, we were trying to do our best, so not unexpected. Five foot two.

Yeah. When you're out there, do you feel shorter than the other athletes smaller than them you're like oh i thought mass move mass i'm uh i'm pretty big like even though i'm five two i i i'm like average weight i'd say a little even above average like i'm like 150 so i definitely move weight pretty well even though i'm like maybe shorter so for five two you got good body composition uh for this boy yeah i'm very like dense i think a lot of people think i look small but i'm like very heavy like a bowling ball bowling ball shelby no we're not gonna go with that okay uh 2000 2016 2000 2015 Is that the first year you enter the open? Perhaps.

Yeah, that sounds about right. And so that was nine or 10 years ago and you said you were 24. I, well, I'm 24 now. I was 15. Yeah. Yeah. If we do the math. Yeah.

Crazy. Then 2000 and then 2016, 17, 18, 19, 20. You take a break. 20 you take a break did you take a break in 20 what happened in 20 you know i don't even know i don't remember honestly i think it was like covid or something like that oh i like you even more usually the athletes like well 2020 and then they have a 15 minute story i like you okay and then 2021 uh back on the horse. 2022, back on the horse. 23, 24. This year, you're obviously going to the games. And last year, you went to the games.

So this is your second year. Yeah, not a rookie anymore, which is pretty cool to make it back two years in a row, I'd say. In 2022, you just missed it. Yeah, two spots out, but only a few points out. It was like between me, Kelly Clark, and Rebecca Fuselier, and we all were fighting for it, and then Rebecca got it, and I was two away. I kind of didn't do too well in the last event,

but two spots out, like whatever whatever less than 10 points out very close yeah that was the year that it was like 243 240 242 243 244 like the points so yeah though you you three three of you were all one point away from each other and only one of you could go yeah it was like whoever won that last event or beat the other was gonna end up sneaking into the fifth spot did you go back after that and look and be like dude if i would have just like not scratch scratch my butt right here i would have finished across the finish line one second sooner and been going yeah yeah i definitely look back at it i'm like oh like it sucks but it definitely like lit a fire under me a little bit because I remember distinctly doing that event and just watching, just watching, like, out of the corner of my eye, like, seeing Rebecca

and just, like, letting her go. You know, I just let her go. I let Kelly go. I didn't, like, I didn't believe in myself and believe that I could catch up to them. Like, once they were kind of, like, slightly out of reach, I just let them go, and I deserved seventh, to be honest. Well, that's very humble of you.

I'm going to make a little bit of a presupposition here, but I think that Tia and Alexis and Emma, they go to the games. They go to semifinals, and they're like, okay, I'm going to the games. I just have to execute here, and then I'm going to the games. And there's not a lot of questions. For them, it's like a little more tension than maybe the Open or the quarterfinals, but they know they're going to the games. When you went – so let's start at the Open.

When you did the Open this year, did you know for sure you were going to the quarterfinals? Yes, yeah, for sure. You were like, hey, I'm going to get through this and go to the quarterfinals. And then when you did quarterfinals, you know hey i'm going i'm gonna do this i'm gonna do well i'm gonna make it i felt i felt pretty confident before but then with the only four workouts thing and us knowing where i was at after the first two workouts it was pretty you know we weren't in an amazing spot. And I think anyone would say that, like, they take 40. And I think I was like 27th or something after the first two

workouts. And so I looked at my coach, and I'm like, what's going on? Like, did we just like totally mess up? Like, we're looking at my score versus some of the scores we knew from the West and like, the East was just stacked. And, and we were just having a hard time, like fathoming how I was, where I was at. And so we, we had like kind of thought maybe like you'd be like 15th after the first two workouts, like a nice and a nice comfortable spot. So I was a little bit like shitting my pants for the workout three and four, like going in. And then we made it, you know, with comfort.

And then once they looked at all the videos and stuff, I made it into the top 20 going into semis, but quarters was definitely not. It's definitely, I think it's the worst part of the season. It's, it's super stressful. Like it's not really that fun. Like there's nothing, there's no fun in competing like at by yourself, like at your gym. Like I'd rather be out on the floor and like having fun, have the crowd and like that fun, have the crowd. And like that adrenaline of like being out there is much more fun than, than, uh, like doing it in

your basement or something. Did you say after two workouts, you were in 27th and then by the end, you said you were in 20th? Uh, I think it was like 24th. It was like 27th ish, maybe even like 32. Like it was like, and they were only taking 40 so that so you're getting close to the bottom yeah yeah they only took 40 and i was like maybe even like 30 let's just say 30 and then i moved into like 20th close to close to 25th 27th or something and then once they did video review people just started like dropping off the leaderboard like flies. And it was, yeah. So I moved into 19th, which put me in the last heat or the best heat for that first workout at semis. And, um, speaking of people, uh, getting penalties, were you a nail biting? Were you like, Oh man, all these penalties are coming. Yeah, no, I was definitely nervous,

but my first, the first workout was the one everyone was like getting penalties on and mine got approved pretty quickly so once i was like okay once that one's done like i don't see them penalizing me on a clean and jerk you know for that max rep event like i don't see it happening on any event but the gymnastics one and then that one also got approved pretty quick so i was like i'm i'm feeling pretty confident like i move really well i did it at brent's house and he was he's very like meticulous he was you went to canada and he's in canada you went to canada you went from the south you went from the south to canada yeah yeah um uh we'll get back to that in a second um so uh let me read some of these killers and killers in the East. Yeah.

You have siblings that look like you. No, no, no. She is very she's even unique in her own family, but not adopted. Allegedly. OK, OK, fine. Jocelyn Strong. Let's go. She goes to my gym.

Yeah, she likes you. Great things come in small packages. 2020 was the scandemic all right fair enough um uh isn't her coach a former games athlete is what's your coach's name david david yeah he went to semis on a team once and he's a former like canadian weightlifter okay uh and and a connoisseur of the tattoo yeah Yeah, oh my God, tons of tattoos. I think he might be getting a new one soon. We'll see. Jake Chapman, is Shelby drinking from a jam jar?

We have to get these games athletes some money. They can't afford glasses or cups. Yeah, living in poverty. Hey, that doesn't bother you, that rim? My wife tried to introduce those and bring those into our house. I'm like, no, no, I can't do that. You don't mind that little rim around on your lip. I love it I love it. Then you can put a jar top on it and take it to go Yeah, that's the way I think she likes it She likes it because she can put it in the car and not and drink it all day like something like a broth or some shit

Bone broth. Yeah. Okay. That's not I don't know about that uh uh oscar uh hi shelby i'm your fan you're one of the fans don't get all crazy i'm the mason mason jars are not the best for drinks but okay if you're on um and then okay so uh so then you go to semi-finals what is the and you made it to the games last year but the previous year you had you you were scarred a little bit because it couldn't have been any closer that you didn't make it oh my yeah right so this year you go and what's the what's the thought process um the thought process like i think david was pretty confident that if we just did what we practiced like we were going to be you know solid and go through semis without any issue and he was right that's what happened so that's good but i think the alternate scenario

of like maybe not executing a workout well or letting my mental stuff get ahead of me or uh not eating enough like stuff like that you know it's hard to predict how that's gonna go and like this is me and david's first season together so i think i was definitely like i think he believed in me i was a little doubtful of like is it all to come together like we you know foretold on the game day so you open the weekend with the 15th um is that unsettling or are you like okay that was damage control uh no i i finished that workout and i was like oh i'm feeling pretty confident we're qualifying for the games like i finished that workout and thought that's going to be my lowest placing and then i was right every single placing like after that was just you know a little bit higher a little bit higher and then we knew day three was going to be kind of a banger and it turned out kind of just as we thought which was

nice uh 15th and 12th to 12th on day one and two and then uh the last day had three workouts and you got a seventh that was that was the snatch ladder uh no snatch ladder was second oh okay that was the oh shit wow yeah holy cow okay so then you go into the snatch ladder what are your thoughts going into the snatch ladder did you know that that was your your jam i mean david is like your snatch was like really good like we practiced it went really well i mean i beat my score from when I practiced it. But when I told him my score, he was like, oh, that's really good. What was your score in practice?

I think it was 6. You have 531 at the event. I think it was like 604 or something, like 30 seconds slower. And are you a gamer? You basically said you didn't like the quarterfinals because there you know you if there was anything wrong with the quarterfinals it's it's not live you like the adrenaline of the crowd and the pressure is that is that who you are when you think of yourself get me get me on the floor with the other girls and uh and shelby will show up yeah i think it's nice visually being able to see where people are.

And I'm not really sure if that's like, if it plays to my strengths, or if it just plays other people's like weaknesses, if that makes sense. Like if other people have a hard time, I've at least noticed that a lot of people have a hard time like in person with people like they'll go their pace when they're alone. But then when they are competing against somebody, they'll often like slow down or they don't think they can keep up and I've been victim to that as well it takes a lot of years to like get over that mental hurdle and like believe that you can beat you know a name like Tia Claire Toomey you know it's very intimidating um just being Shelby Neal and trying to beat somebody with that big of a name and thinking, oh, crap, did I just kill myself?

Am I blowing myself up right now? So, yeah, I'm not really sure. I personally now, at the level I'm at now, I enjoy just going out there with everybody on the floor and having judges out there and just doing the thing kind of like a normal competition, personally. Who was in your heat in that snatch ladder? Were you in the final heat? Yeah yeah I sneaked into the final heat uh yeah Tia was there Emma Lawson

I think Emma Lawson by five tenths yeah it was like one second did you know you beat her when you crossed the finish line or you didn't know it's too close to tell no I literally finished and then I look behind me and there's like five other people. And I'm like, okay, like maybe like fourth, third or like sixth. Like I had no idea. We all finished like basically at the same time, except Tia was like 30 seconds ahead of our kind of group. Did you see her cross when you were out there on the final weight? I mean, yeah, she was kind of gone

like she was like not gonna catch her you know did you talk to these girls at all did you become friends with any of these girls yes yeah everyone's like super nice and everyone's always like who like who's who's not nice like who should we root for and I'm like everyone's nice like nobody nobody was mean sorry like I have not have anything bad to say about anybody I talked to Alexis and Emma a lot and they really like I don't know I really have like more respect for them they're just super awesome not that I didn't before they're just super awesome athletes and super nice people and I feel like our personalities we got along really well which was really cool and and even though you're young um Alexis is 25 Emma Lawson is 19 uh Haley Adams is 23 so so there are some other very young girls out there like yourself yeah

yeah it's cool kind of like a lot of people being around my age that's definitely nice to have it's easy to talk to them savon did you steal this format from the dave castro i'm loving his new shorts yeah his new shorts are great has dave reached out to you no i don't know if he's gonna he says he's gonna reach out to everyone what do you mean why wouldn't he reach out to you i don't know i don't know i'm just a little doubtful we'll see okay i think he's going to reach out to everyone. What do you mean? Why wouldn't he reach out to you? I don't know. I don't know. I'm just a little doubtful. We'll see. Okay. I think he's going to.

I need a heads up. I need like a two-week heads up. Uh-oh. It sounds like I was watching the one with Saxon Pancheck. It looks like Saxon got like 30 seconds notice. Really? Okay. Cool.

Yeah. Yeah. Some of us have jobs. And what is your job? I'm an engineer. I work at an orthopedic company, so we do custom metal orthopedic implant design, which is exciting.

Hey, when I was a kid, I heard the leading cause of... Are they prosthetics? No, not a prosthetic, like an orthopedic implant like take bone out put metal in in short term oh like um uh knee replacement or yeah yeah shoulder replacement like anything like that ankle replacement all right and what do you do there uh i design implants or i also do like process changes too so you're you're on a computer like with that has some like proprietary software and you're like hey we should we should change the uh implant to be like this yeah like we basically take uh ct scans from patients and we'll design

uh an implant based off of their anatomy because there's no clear device that will work for them on the market otherwise you know they'll likely get an amputation or they'll deal with some other like really large health complications. So we try to help them out because there's nothing else available for them. So have you ever met one of the people that gets an implant that you work on? I wish I think mostly the surgeons deal with like the patient side. We'll meet the surgeons quite often and sometimes we'll hear like stories about like how the patients are doing. So like we'll get videos of the patients like dancing or like tap dancing and we like fix their foot, save their foot being amputated. So that was pretty cool. So they're one-off, they're like custom prosthetics, a lot of them? Yeah, all custom.

Or not prosthetics, sorry. Yeah, implants. Implants. They'll be custom implants. Yeah, yeah. Like we design it off their anatomy. Like we take their CT scan and turn it into like a 3D model, and then we'll make an implant off of their exact bones so that it fits perfect. that it fits perfect so it'll get so it'll get sent somewhere after you you and your team have designed it and then they'll make they'll make a mold and then they'll pour the mold and they'll be like here it is uh no it's all 3d printed we 3d print metal wow yeah science do you have the machines there do you see them being printed yeah we have them we make them all in-house we do we have to work with vendors too to like machine them and do other you know post-processing on them

but for the most part we do all the manufacturing uh any anything weird you've done like have you guys ever made like like replaced a rib or uh no if you if you lose a rib you lose a rib that's not important okay okay and what's the weirdest thing you've done? A piece of the skull? Have you, have you ever done a piece of the skull? Yeah, that's, that's a pretty common one. Like, cause you can't just, you know, people, if you lose a certain chunk of, we don't, our, our company doesn't do that, but I've heard of that quite a bit. Like if you lose a certain piece, like they don't make every type of puzzle piece out there. Right. So they'll just design something that'll fit in exactly into that puzzle piece and then just like plop it in there basically.

And that's the basics of like what we do, I guess, is like cut bone out, you put metal in that fits the cuts that you plan basically. What's the turnaround time on that? And do you ever get rush orders? Do you ever get like, Hey, this person needs this now? Yeah. Well, like trauma patients, you know, they're literally bedridden, sitting in the hospital, waiting for something that'll let them get out of bed, essentially.

Like they might be in an X-Fix, which an X-Fix is kind of like, it's like metal outside your skin that's like going in and like holding it in place. And it's like super uncomfortable and doesn holding it in place and it's like super uncomfortable and doesn't seem like a normal thing that you would do honestly it's very weird it's like a temporary it's like a temporary implant it's it's an implant that's also outside the body so oh oh i've seen those like you see the screws hanging out the oh wow yeah it's like oh and it's like a giant it's like a cage almost like around your foot or your arm or wherever they put them, honestly. So, yeah, we try to like rush stuff for those patients, like design a little bit quicker.

But the manufacturing time, like the design time is about a week. And then like manufacturing is like anywhere from like six to 12 weeks. Is the printing process really slow uh no it's more just like post-processing takes some time like what after it comes out sanding off the rough edges or yeah treating the metal clean it like before it goes in your body and sterilize it so you don't get an infection and stuff crazy um uh so after quarter when do you know that you're going to go to canada with the great fukowski to do the uh semi-finals nobody can say his name right well i heard i heard he was on this show and he said that he met someone with the exact same last name and they said he's been

saying it wrong this whole time that his name is supposed to be fukovsky so i'm trying i'm trying well he hasn't told me that so yeah yeah he doesn't use it either okay but i'm trying to be different i don't know i've been hearing it like different pronunciations of it now i'm second guessing if i'm saying it right so you can say it anyway it's such a fun name yeah it's it's kind of like legendary like it's a good he's got a good name yeah um when do you know well let me go back even further how did you end up with that coach david how did you end up with his the same coach that uh brent fukowski has yeah so after rogue i reached out to brent um He'd helped me at Rogue with a random movement, but we'd also just talked quite a bit,

or just not even too much, but just little bits here and there. In person, at events? Yeah, like at the games and at Rogue. I just felt like a weird, I don't know, connection to him. I was like, I feel like we have something good going, and I'm looking for someone kind of in his shoes, I guess, someone with a lot of shoes, I guess.

Someone with a lot of experience but isn't really connected to like a bigger camp. I wasn't really interested in like being one of many athletes that coaches in like that community of like, I don't want to call any like particular camps out. But a lot of them have like multiple coaches and multiple athletes. And it's kind of, in in my opinion like a little bit strange when you're competing your coach has like two athletes that are competing against each other if that makes sense so yeah yeah when I worked when I reached out to Brent I was like hoping he would take me on as this as like an athlete and coach me um and then he said you know I can't really coach you if I'm also competing at the games however I could be your like mentor co-coach and you can work with my coach David and so I was like oh that's a that's well you know we'll see how it goes and it turns out it's like a great relationship like David's

awesome and Brent's more of like an assistant we call him the assistant to the regional coach because he has a lot um a lot to add but he he's not programming with me every single day. And Brent was approachable? Oh, yeah. He's like, yeah, he talks a lot. He's super easy to talk to. And when do you reach out to him? When was that that you reached out to him?

I want to say like two weeks after Rogue or something like that. I think he messaged me about something i can't remember what it was like i think i left an instagram comment on something and he responded i think it was about dubai i asked a question about dubai he answered in our dms and he sent me like paragraphs of like here's the here's what movement they're talking about here's a video of it like because i was like what is this movement like i've never seen this before and so he like like out of the goodness of his heart like just sent me a bunch of information about it trying to help me and i was like all right you know i've been meaning to reach out to this guy and he just sent me all these messages like let me see let me see if you know let me poke the bear let me see if he's interested in coaching and it worked and it worked yeah i'm yeah he's he's super awesome guy like he's just

in my eyes he's like just the golden athlete like i'm just trying to approach his his level of perfection so you so you so that's after rogue and rogues like in october or november something like that yes like october i think something like that's after Rogue and Rogue's like in October or November, something like that. Yes. Like October, I think something like that. Yeah. And then, and then the open, and then as you approach the open, is David already your coach for the open for 2024? That was already established. Yeah. Yeah. I think we, we had at least two years, two months in like 2023 and then continued into the next 2024. So yeah yeah it's been eight months or something is that is that maybe that's too long i don't know did you did you have a coach before then yeah yeah whitney galen i am we talked oh that's right that's right that's right and so and so what

do you how do you switch coaches what do you say to her we just had a conversation and like it was it wasn't hard at all it was very easy and she still coaches at my gym um in raleigh like she's the head coach there so we we like we're friendly we see each other all the time like she definitely roots for me and wants me the best for me she's like building her family and so she's spending a little more time with that and so that's kind of why we we like both mutually agreed it was like better to move on i guess and she she was a games athlete also a couple times yeah yeah three years and she won the masters division like two or three years ago in the 35 39 so super fit super well versed does does david have any other athletes besides you and brent uh he he does have athletes not like games level or semis level besides allison scuds that i know of i'm not he's

got like other team athletes i think maybe at the semis level um but yeah i don't trains over there with underdogs but david's her coach yeah at, at least the last thing I've heard, yeah. Okay. And then, so when does it come into – when do you realize, okay, what's the process of going to Canada? What's the thought process of doing it there with Brent? Well, it's kind of just like to get another rep in with David in a live competition because, I mean, he's a remote coach, right? So I've been doing remote coaching with him.

I've never actually met David. Like, I saw him at Rogue. Like, he looks familiar, but I had never actually met him. Like, I'd only met Brent. So it's like, okay, I need to meet David. So I went and visited David in Winnipeg for like two weeks and we trained together and that was good we hadn't done like that was that was prior to Rogue uh no I was after Rogue after Rogue okay yeah so I visited him and then we didn't have we hadn't done like

we hadn't done like a real competition together and And so that's what quarters was, was like a little practice of like game day with a new coach and a new environment. And also like practice skills, like all together with Brent and David. So, so, so you went out there for quarters. So,

okay. And so you went out there for quarters to, to see him. He was with Brent to get them like a practice, like in-person coaching. I, I'm trying to think somewhere I saw you carrying a yoke. Oh, here it is. him he was with Brent to get them like practice like in-person coaching I said what I'm trying to think somewhere I saw you carrying a yoke oh here it is is this there is this where is this is this there forh. One more foot. One more foot.

Good. Back. Back to the start. He was bullying me all week. So did you stay after quarterfinals for this, or is this before quarterfinals? This was after. So we got through quarters, and then we had, like, three days to train.

And the idea was just get a bunch of skill work in and get technical kind of in person rather than trying to do it remotely. It's a lot harder to do, like, technique work like that. Were you in the room when Brent did his quarterfinals? Yeah, yeah. I was oftentimes the guinea pig. It was me, Megan Sears, and Brent. And I feel like Brent – sometimes Brent went first. Sometimes I went first.

Sometimes Megan went first. And we would watch each other and then watch the next person go. So he has, like, a gym at his house. And there's not really enough room for two people to go. So we all kind of went one at a time. Who has a gym at their house, Brent or David? Brent. Okay.

Wow. And did you go by yourself up there yeah i did great and and and it all worked out because you're still with him because yeah yeah but it was but it was definitely a test right it was like it was the next level kind of commitment okay i'm gonna get to know these people. I'm going to see if I vibe with them, see if it's chill, see if I'm comfortable. Yeah, no, it was great. Like Brent's family is awesome too. Like his wife and Evelyn, his daughter are just, they're just so fun. And then also like David's girlfriend, Marley is just super nice. And like, I felt like I fit in really quickly.

Like, even though I didn't like know anybody super, super well, besides I feel like David and Marley, I knew pretty well from staying with them for two weeks but everyone else was like trying to learn and see if I fit in okay in the in the group and and then uh so Brent's in the west and you're in the east and does David come out to the east for you also does he do both does he because I saw him definitely in the west I think that was the first time I met him I met him there and then does he come out to the east also yeah he came out to the east brent was on vacation so he couldn't uh come which i totally understand like i took a week off too but uh yeah david came out for the east it was fun and that's the first competition you guys have done together i guess yeah in person and And did you like that?

As a coach and as an athlete relationship, you enjoyed that. You're like, yep, this is the guy. I chose the right guy. I'm the only athlete here he has. This is good. Yeah, yeah, because I know he's like 100% committed. There's no weird things going on where if I'm in fifth and the person who's in seventh you know is right on my tail like is he going to give us the same plan like i don't really get how that really works like once you're at a certain level you don't want your competitors to have the same

coach as you otherwise you guys are like only one of you is going to be on top you know i i remember I remember in the early years with Annie, the redheaded girl who won the games a couple times. Annie Thorstotter? Yeah, her. Yeah. She – I was always impressed because I think that she did not want to share her coaches. She had – I'm trying to remember the guy's name. Not Yami, but there was another one also the gymnastics one carl anyway her her team she was she was not comfortable sharing and i think that

she had to have i think she had to have a lot of uh hard talks with her coaches and i want to say maybe even carl split eventually because he wanted to help multiple athletes i mean i think they left on good terms but yeah it's it seems like that's more of an old school mentality that like, hey, my coach is my coach. I'm jealous. I don't know. But I mean, I get it. At the games, are you concerned at all that he's going to have to split his time between you and Brent, David?

No, I think it plays really well because you know you have a top top top top of the line male athlete and then you've got another games athlete uh like we're working together as a team right like where like if i go first you know i'm relaying to brent and david okay this is how it felt like this was our plan and either went perfect like go do that like whatever plan you're thinking is probably gonna be right or okay the plan didn't go perfect like go do that like whatever plan you're thinking is probably going to be right or okay the plan didn't go perfect like i wish i had broke up my chest a bar more i wish like be careful with the pig it's wet or whatever like whatever tip or cue like we're going to help each other and like pass it on to the to the other person you know we're not gonna

like hold that information you. Does that make sense? Versus if you have a bottom 20 female athlete going first, and then you've got a top 20 female athlete going second. It's kind of weird to pass along to your competitor, like, oh, you're the better athlete. Here's some tips that'll help you do better and beat me even more. It's just kind of strange to me. But whereas with me and Brent, there's nothing.

Why would we hold anything back we're not competing there's there's days um that uh you know you look forward to like your little kid and it's Christmas Eve and and you're excited for the morning or like your birthday coming or like a family vacation how does the CrossFit Games fit into like are you excited to go are you like i can't wait for it i wish it was tomorrow or no not tomorrow no okay tell me tell me about like your relationship with those days that you see on the calendar up ahead i i'm definitely excited for it i think i want to get some more training in because i feel like my body's been adjusting after semis and need some more time to get back into like to where it was. So I'm definitely thankful for some time.

I think semis I had the thought of like, Holy crap, I'm ready for this. You know, like we've been practicing these workouts over and over and like practicing the movements over and over. It's been three weeks. I'm ready just to do the thing with the games. You're not going to get that practice over and over. So I'm, I'm excited for it. But at the same time, I'm like, it's been three weeks i'm ready just to do the thing um with the games you're not going to get that practice over and over so i'm i'm excited for it but at the same time i'm like it's it's still a nervous event it makes you like get the butterflies a lot do you see yourself as a uh you're there's there's 40 women who walk the planet and they're the fittest women in the world and this gpp general physical

preparedness testing is uh is as legit as it can be no one's contesting it there's no one you know what i mean there's no one from orange theory or the olympics or or anything being like hey i could do that and beat those girls are you are you tripping that you're 24 years old and that you're just this girl who has a day job and hanging out and that you're going there to compete against the fittest women in the world that you're in that, in that mix. Yeah. It's weird. I feel like I just feel like disgustingly normal. That's a, you nailed, that's how I feel. I never used that word disgusting like that, but I feel disgusting and normal, but I think it's apropos to me. Yeah. So you just feel normal.

Yeah. I just feel really pretty normal person. I think it's apropos to me. Yeah. So you just feel normal. Yeah. I just feel really pretty normal person. I don't know. I just go get food and train. I train a lot. I guess that's like the only thing that's different, but, and I have to take PTO a lot for these dang competitions. Yeah.

Yeah. But, but you're not, you don't walk into a parking lot and someone's in your parking spot and are like, Hey, I'll just pick this car up and move it over there. You just feel like just a normal girl. I'm just, yeah, just a normal teenage girl. Still 18. Yeah. Like you look at the sink and you're like, fuck, someone has to do those dishes.

Yeah, yeah, pretty much. Pretty much. Is there a plan? How about the balance in your life? This is going to be your second year at the games. You're still young. Is, is, um, will there, let's say you go to the games this year and you do well and you leave healthy and you're like, wow, I, I mean, I, I feel even more confident than last year when I left the games. Yeah. Do you think about that, what the plan is moving forward to make the incremental steps to get better? And what's that look like? Do you mean as far as like –

Besides training. So, like, you switch your coaches, you're training a lot, you're taking time off. The big thing that sticks out to me is, like, your job. Like, is there a point that you're like okay if i'm gonna get better i'm gonna have to figure out how to move some things around yeah yeah i've definitely had that thought and i i think for a while i had that thought of like as i get better at crossfit it would be cool to be able to survive off of you know prize money or sponsorship money i survive you mean like pay for food and shit and like yeah like pay for rents and like you know

oh you don't live at home you you don't live at home uh i live with my parents right now but i'm trying to move out i'm waiting for my boyfriend just moved up to vermont so i'm planning on moving up there uh after the games and then i'll be paying rents, and that rents is very expensive. So you don't have a plan, but the thought has entered. Yeah, the thought has entered. But I think more recently, especially after quarterfinals, I had a really tough time focusing solely on CrossFit. And I entered Brent's kind of like domain like his house this is where he trains he's very comfortable here he's very

comfortable like pushing workouts and competing here and whereas I'm really comfortable back at home at my gym and so I felt kind of out of place like a little bit it was just not as comfortable at first and I my first workout didn't go very well and that was the only one I ended up redoing the next three I thought went good but it was definitely I was out of my element and I think a lot of it was because like Brent's very focused on CrossFit and kind of that's like everything that he's doing is like very focused on CrossFit that weekend and for me like I like to do the CrossFit event and then, like, go do something else. Like, I can't think about CrossFit 24-7 or I start to have, like, anxiety attack, panic feeling. I don't perform well.

Like, I feel sick. I can't eat. And so I was really struggling that weekend to, like, get fuel in and get good sleep and recover well. Like, I was hanging on by a thread. Thankfully, only four workouts. So I kind of, like, was able to get through it. Like I was hanging on by a thread, thankfully only four workouts. So I kind of like was able to get through it.

But by the end of the weekend, like even after I had finished the workouts three days later, I still couldn't eat. Like I was just really struggling with it. And so kind of my conclusion at the end of the weekend was, you know, maybe doing CrossFit full time isn't for me. Like maybe that's not my recipe for success. And I really enjoy like my job. And I really enjoy being able to like turn CrossFit off and go to my job and then turn cross my job off and go to CrossFit and just do CrossFit so

I think right now that's what I'm thinking my recipe for success is like having another job outside of CrossFit and that helps me like focus in on my training session and make it even better even though it does take away from other aspects of like recovery training etc so the distraction is a huge huge part of your success i i think so yeah i think it plays well until it's not a bad word and you're in your distraction is not a bad word and you're you're eminently capable of focusing that's not the problem yeah yeah it's almost like when you get off of work, it's like, oh, I can't wait to go to the gym versus like only having the gym. You're just like, oh, I don't want to go do this. This is work.

If I go to the gym, that's now the job that you don't want to do or whatever. Right. So if you're sitting at home twiddling your thumbs and you don't have a distraction, you'll start to feel like, fuck, maybe I should be working out. I should be doing accessory work. I should be rolling out like I should be doing accessory work. I should be rolling out. Like I should be working going this way. So if you have a distraction that like gives you a reprieve from that incessant pressure to push forward somewhere where,

where maybe you've already done as much as you can to get better that day. Yeah. Yeah. And I think, I think the volume that I'm doing now, I don't know if I'd want to increase it anymore. So it's like, I might be fine. if I take away my job I'm just gonna be bored yeah can you do your job from Vermont I can yeah I work quite like quite a bit remote now the job is here so I can go in person but once I move up there it would be all remote which is helpful uh makes makes it much easier to work a nine to five. Shelby, how does games prep feel this year versus last year, Dan Guerrero? I haven't gotten, I feel like we're still getting into it, you know?

Hey, what about being, I get the impression that you have a, from the previous interview that you have a good family life, that you're close with your dad, you're close with your mom, that home is good. That'll be a big change to leave. Yeah. Yeah. Have you ever not lived at home? I did in college. Like I moved away, but I mean, 30 minutes away, so really not that far. So really not that far.

Definitely, yeah. Yeah, I'm worried about that, like not having family and not having like my friends. Obviously, I've lived in the same area, so I haven't like – I've always had friends. Like they'll move – some will move away, but for the most part, there's people here. Why Vermont? Frank just got a job up there. Do I know Frank? Is he in the CrossFit space?

I don't know if you do you remember when Hiller was like trying to take a picture with Jack Farlow and he accidentally took a picture with me and Frank instead oh that's right that was awesome that was awesome I think actually maybe I took the photo like I was like why is Hiller asking for a picture with Frank? I'm so confused. Like, what's happening? Yeah, that was great. That was great. And I'm sitting there like, Frank, he thinks you're Jack Farlow.

And he just let it go on. Like, he just didn't stop him. What's Frank do? What's his vocation? He's also an engineer. Oh, okay. Okay, so it's like two dorks you guys are happy yeah two losers what do you what do you guys watch on tv what do engineers watch together like at night

when you're on the couch excuse me uh last night we watched ace ventura oh okay that sounds right that sounds right that sounds right look at look at andrew's like uh-oh sorry andrew happens to the best of us even you the great andrew hiller knows everything about crossfit it even happens i mean frank was very like he was happy he was like he thinks i'm the strongest man at the crossfit games hey and that's so cool that he let it happen uh Someone gave me $5 one time thinking I was homeless. I was squatting down behind a newspaper stand on a hot day. And my wife wanted to use the bathroom like at a Starbucks. So I like squatted down behind like a newspaper stand.

It was like so hot. It was in San Diego. And I – to like get a little piece of shade. And a guy came up to me and like started lecturing me on getting my life together and gave me $5 i was like all right thank you yeah i didn't i didn't say no i took the five bucks and you know what's funny is yeah later later on he saw me give the five dollars to someone else and he was so confused like late like like 20 minutes later i ran into him on another corner and he saw me give the five dollars someone else and the guy was so confused and i had a dog with me yeah how dare you do i look homeless to you today do you feel like

you're looking at me and you're like oh someone looks like a homeless guy i'm being interviewed by a homeless guy uh no you're fine it's close i i like the like the gray beard that's a good look thank you i look distinguished i wish i wish you would have been more adamant with your like no I like the gray beard. That's a good look. Thank you. I look distinguished. I wish you would have been more adamant with your like, no, not at all. I was trying to get my phone plugged in so it doesn't die on us in the middle of this. I'm excited.

God, you're one of the reasons why I'd love to go to the games. I'm excited to – I don't know. I'm still – I'm trying to figure out what kind of – getting access is always a little bit of a struggle because I'm a prima donna, and I want it to be exactly how I want to do it. Yeah, yeah. And they have restrictions. Are you trying to do the behind-the-scenes again? Yeah, I want to do the behind the scenes again? Yeah, I want to do the behind the scenes.

They have different warm-up areas and different restrictions for that. And I want to be able to go wherever Dave goes. And so there's certain staff areas that camera crew is not allowed to go. And I feel like that's the foundation. That's the underpinning of the behind the scenes to kind of see that stuff too. foundation, that's the underpinning of the behind the scenes to kind of see that stuff too. And so if I can't, if I can't get down there, I there's, there's plenty of other people just to, just to follow the athletes. Right. And so I want to, I want it to be, um,

yeah, I want to be able to get, go where the volunteers go and the medical go and where Dave goes. And so I just got to figure it out, but, but, but I'm in communications with them and they're being, and it's a great talk. I'm speaking with the chief marketing officer over there, Jenna Haka. And she's great. Yeah. She's totally, she's fantastic. Yeah. That's awesome. Yeah. I remember last year they were, they were kind of like if the media is too much, like you can tell them to leave, you know, like they were very vocal about it. And I felt like, I was like, what media?

Like, it's not like they're hounding us like there's only a couple guys here you know like yeah cool it was not too much at all like it was more like we were sitting in the whatever the briefing and you would chat with us and like a little bit while we're sitting between workouts like it wasn't yeah too much at all i felt like, I wish when they gave you that talk, they would, they would mix it up a little bit too. They would say, Hey, on one hand, you know, we know you're here to win and we know you're here to perform. And so if you need space from the media, um, uh, let it, uh, you can tell them, but on the other hand, we encourage you guys to get your head wrapped around the fact that like, Hey, this is part of it. You have one shot,

you're doing this. So if you are comfortable comfortable you should give people access because in the end you won't regret it like no one's ever like when people go back and watch the behind the scenes from 10 years ago they're ecstatic yeah you know what i mean they become they end up becoming historical documents or almost like anthropological like recordings of what it was like yeah more than just like the documentary you know it's a little bit about what's going on in people's heads and you get to see where people are walking and and just stuff like that that these nuances that you don't think you care about until you see oh my god every time they finish they had to go up a flight of stairs and those are things you don't get from a lot of stuff yeah it's all it all gets lost eventually

yeah or one year the the athletes always had to walk through the beer garden in madison and that was awesome and so people at home would have never have seen that but that part was crazy because they would walk through the beer garden and the crowd would go crazy right yeah and everyone pushed up against her were you there that year was that i don't know that sounds familiar but i think it was like I was a teenager so maybe it was less like cool for me were you competing you competed as a teenager I did yeah 2016 and 17

dang girl so that was yeah in your head are you CrossFit Games athlete yeah sure you are like so let me give you some other examples so you're Frank's girlfriend and Frank's your boyfriend And what city do you live in?

Raleigh And you live in Raleigh, that's North Carolina? Yeah And you're African American So there are these I had to get that in there Thank you So there are these things that you know you are, right?

That you are. You know you're Shelby. That would be like the one that's really attached to who you are. Is CrossFit Games athlete like – like I had to do a thousand podcasts before. Like I guess I'm a podcaster. Yeah, yeah. No, I think last year I was definitely like struggling with that title. I think last year I was definitely struggling with that title.

And then this year I'm a little less humble, which is good because I was disgustingly humble before. And now I think I'm trying to come into that a little bit more, be a little bit more proud of myself and acknowledge my accomplishments a little bit more. So I think I'm doing better with it. I'm trying not to let my head get too big because then I don't think that's also good but well uh I love you to death I'm a huge fan um uh you're encroaching on taking some of my fandom that I give to Colton Mertens you are so cool um you're the least normal normal person I've ever met and uh and I really appreciate you coming on ma'am. Yeah. No, it was great. It was awesome Fastest 50 minutes of my life. Oh, yeah, I know it went by quick All right. Uh, i'll be in touch. I'll keep bugging you. Thanks for making time

I know you have a busy schedule and uh, and we'll see you soon. Okay, cool. Thanks, simone. Thank you. Shelby. Bye. Bye Huge fan dang huge fan okay I have another podcast now rooting for you Shelby let me see shit the other podcast started two minutes ago

sorry a couple minutes late okay I'm gonna go over and i'm gonna introduce you guys to brett hoffer and brett hoffer has made the examples for the uh video contest and um and i'm so excited to show you guys. So I'm going to do an entire show right now on the video. I'm going to get off. I'm going to pick my nose.

I have this really dry booger up in this nostril. And then I'm going to fire up on another channel with Brett Hoffer. You guys should see it on the YouTube account. And so I'll see you guys all in about uh three minutes all right thanks everybody bye