By Cody Thomas
No matter the problems that our great nation faces such as war, unemployment, hate crimes, and poverty there is one day Americans stop and remember the thousands of Americans who lost their lives on September 11th 2001. It has been 12 years since the attack and it feels like it happened yesterday to most Americans. Most can remember exactly what they were doing at the time those planes hit the World Trade Center. Across the nation millions unite no matter the circumstances that divide them to remember the fallen.
One University’s baseball team took the memorial to a new level by devoting a new cross-fit workout to show their support and honor the fallen. Campbellsville University’s baseball team (located in Campbellsville, Kentucky) held this unique memorial by scratching their regular practice time so the entire team could take part in the workout created by assistant coach Chris Lewis and Will Brindza, a former player of Lewis’ and a division one player at Pacific University of California.
“This is an opportunity to pay a small amount of respect to those who lost their lives on 9/11,” Lewis said. “Our EMS, fire fighters, public officers and United States military sacrificed their lives, and that means so much to me.” Brindza who owns a cross-fit gym in Oregon sent word of the workout to Lewis. The workout consisted of a one mile relay, push-ups, burpees, box jumps, pyramid press, kettle bell swings, wall ball, and body squats. Lewis brought the workout to the attention of head coach Beauford Sanders and after listening to the details, Sanders was brought to tears.
“I was so thrilled to hear of the idea Chris came up with,” Sanders said. “It shows the type of man he (Lewis) really is and that he cares for more than just the game of baseball.”
The workout incorporated the casualties throughout the 9/11 attacks and that was how many repetitions the players and coaches would do to remember the fallen. 2,823 people lost their lives on that horrific  day in September 12 years ago at the World Trade Center not counting the plane crashes in Pennsylvania and at the Pentagon.
The players ran the mile in pairs with each pair carrying the American flag and once the mile was finished each pair entered the Hawkins Athletic Center to begin their cross-fit workout.
Even Mother Nature couldn’t stop the memorial. With rain and lightning in the area players who had yet to run the mile went to an indoor facility to complete the team’s workout.
“I can’t even think about how the families of the victims feel on this day,” mentioned Sanders. “Those people who died and the service workers who went in to help, knowing they may not make it out alive, risked their lives and showed a great amount of courage. I can only hope I would have done the same thing if I was in that situation.”
The conditioning program caught the eye of Assistant Athletics Director Jim Hardy who fell in love with the idea. “I think it’s important for all of us to take time and be reminded of the events of 9/11,” Hardy said. “The baseball team is commended by the athletic department and university for the creative way they have incorporated the remembrance of the victims on one of the greatest tragedies in United States history.”
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