THE FRONT ROW WITH JASON ELLIOTT: Vesser: On top of the world, for a little while at least

In a perfect world, the July training sessions for Tia Vesser at Coeur d’Alene CrossFit might be considered fine-tuning for her bid to be a world champion.

As everyone knows by now, this isn’t a perfect world right now.

VESSER LEARNED she was the top-ranked woman in the world in her Masters age group (50-54) heading into this year’s CrossFit Games — scheduled for July 27 to Aug. 2 — in Madison, Wis.

“I was really excited,” Vesser said. “I was a little shocked at first, but proud of myself. I’ve worked on a lot of skills and really filled some gaps, so I was proud of myself.”

On April 16, the CrossFit Games were canceled due to the coronavirus pandemic.

“I’d also kind of prepped myself with the COVID thing going on and other stuff getting canceled,” Vesser said. “As soon as they canceled March Madness (the NCAA men’s basketball tournament), I knew things could get a little testy, so I prepared myself that they were going to cancel it. But when they did, it was a punch to the gut that it happened still.”

Members of the Coeur d’Alene CrossFit gym surprised Vesser with a parade a few days after The Games were canceled on Fourth Street in Coeur d’Alene.

“It was amazing,” Vesser said. “CrossFit CDA are some of the most inspiring, uplifting, supportive people I’ve ever been around,” Vesser said. “For them to all come out and support me, knowing how hard I had trained for The Games was really special. I’m not sure if even a podium finish could beat that feeling.”

Vesser competed in the CrossFit Games in 2019 in Madison, finishing seventh in the women’s Masters.

“It went pretty well,” said Vesser, who was ranked fourth in the world heading into the 2019 event. “It went kind of to my expectations. Being a rookie, I was OK with that. The nerves kind of got to me in a couple of things. But I was happy with that.”

She added that work in other skills helped build her confidence heading into this year’s event.

“I really worked on my gymnastics,” Vesser said. “That’s where my weaknesses were before. And I really worked on my bar (barbell) workouts. I think that’s what really put me over the hump and got me where I was this year. After last year, I just learned to control my nerves a lot better. My confidence going into the Games, I worked on that for this year. I also had some gaps, and it really taught me what I needed to do to get better when I get back there.”

CrossFit events can vary from weightlifting, running, as well as some ocean swimming and climbing.

And about how she got into weightlifting ...

“My love of weightlifting started with the legendary Ed Troxel, Van’s (Van started the Lake City High football team) dad,” said Vesser, who graduated from Kennewick High in 1986. “My freshman year in high school, the girl athletes worked out downstairs in the basement with universal equipment. Completely old-school. My brother, meanwhile lifted in a big weight room upstairs with the rest of the football players. I asked Ed why there were no girls in his power weights class. Ed, being as awesome as he is, invited me into his class for the next year. By the time I was a senior, we had about 10 girls in his power weights class. He was one of my biggest influences.”

At Kennewick, Vesser competed in volleyball, basketball and softball, as well as cheerleading all four years.

“We didn’t specialize back then,” Vesser said. “Cheer practice was before school, athletics after.”

WHILE SHE might have been unable to train at the Coeur d’Alene gym due to its closure during Governor Brad Little’s guide to reopening businesses, Vesser continued to find various ways to continue to train.

“You just do what you can,” Vesser said. “All you can do is control you. You have to work around your obstacles. When the gym closed, they still let people check out equipment. There was still opportunity to train, but we had to figure out the best opportunity to do that.”

“My program is something called ‘CompTrain’, so they still had some workouts that you could do from home,” Vesser said. “You had to get real creative, but we had some equipment at home that we were fine with training with as well.”

Vesser, 51, is a physical education and weight training teacher at Canfield Middle School.

When schools closed in March, Vesser used some her own training in CrossFit to pass along to her students.

“I’d write up stuff for the kids all the time,” Vesser said. “Every Sunday, I’d write up some programs for the kids, but not everyone did it. But a lot of the kids did stuff on their own like biking, swimming and running. There were a lot of kids that were really active, so I was really happy with that.”

That, in turn, helped motivate Vesser on her path.

“I got a few emails from some students and parents that knew what I’d done,” Vesser said. “They were really good for motivating me as well.”

And while it’s still a year away, Vesser added she’ll give it another try in the 2021 Games, also scheduled for Madison.

“I’ll be 52, and there will be some ladies that will come in at 50,” Vesser said. “It doesn’t seem like a big deal, but as you get older, it’s kind of a big deal. But I’m going to try and see where I’m at.”

Jason Elliott is a sports writer for the Coeur d’Alene Press. He can be reached by telephone at (208) 664-8176, Ext. 2020 or via email at jelliott@cdapress.com. Follow him on Twitter @JECdAPress.