However, the sport itself does little to ensure that those occasional athletes and workout enthusiasts are portrayed as they are. Competitions in various areas of strength and conditioning are held in every major city, but the target group is often clear: top athletes, power animals and endurance thoroughbreds are in the foreground. The average person often searches in vain for places to compete with like-minded people. This is countered by the Dutch Throwdown. We at wodstore were there and took a step towards an international community. You can read what particularly impressed us here!
The thought behind the Dutch Throwdown:
As the name suggests, Dutch Throwdown is based on Dutch soil and deliberately does some things seriously differently. Elite athletes, i.e. those who exert themselves at Wodapalooza, the Granite Games or similar events, are excluded from the outset. This has nothing to do with the fact that they should be excluded. The athletes in the elite category are simply not the intended addressee. Beginners of all ages enter the arena here.
The structure of the Dutch Throwdown:
The Dutch Throwdown itself is divided into two annual competitions. A team edition and one for individuals, i.e. lone fighters. Within the team competition there is, among other things, a division that has moved to "Parents and Kids". This is where the young talents compete with the old hands together and against each other. At the same time, the team section still has a pure "kids' corner" in which adolescents can burn off steam in a competition created especially for them.
Workouts for everyone:
Both competitions, whether team or individual, rely on a wide range of requirement profiles. These are transparent and provide realistic tools for self-assessment, even for a beginner who has been practicing functional fitness for a few months. However, a hard limit is set: professionals have no place on the competition floor. Who are pros in the eye of the Dutch throwdown? Anyone who has competed in an Elite Competition. All others are ready to roll!
What did the Dutch Throwdown give us?
We, the wodstore, are deliberately trying not to put the leaderboard in the foreground today. The weekend of October 1st and 2nd, 2022 was mainly about one thing: the leaderboard. Of the 850 people who came to the honors this weekend, none was particularly dogged. Ambitious, yes, but more familiar than tunnel vision. Also the pressure to perform, the panic when a lift fails, the sometimes compulsive recovery: all of that fell flat compared to the huge togetherness. We were "only" there with a stand, but we were fully integrated and felt just as addressed as every single athlete on the area.
You are what makes us who we are
What surprised us, however, was the amount of conversations we were allowed to have. Whether it was a short hello at our stand or longer stages, whether from German or Dutch athletes: the support was incredible and, even if it sounds cheesy, heartwarming. For us as athletes and for us as a wodstore, competitions like the Dutch Throwdown are what makes functional fitness what it is. The competition weekend at the beginning of October showed who we are: normal people with a tendency to put the bastard in the pocket again and again and keep going. It doesn't matter where we come from. As long as we move forward together, it'll be fine somehow!
Photos @dutchthrowdown / @wodphotography