05/09/2026
Member Spotlight.
Five years ago he had never done a CrossFit workout in his life.
A lot can change.
His lovely wife Claire found us first. Tom followed, and their daughters Sophia and Ella were in their first Kids class within weeks. The girls have done their growing up in this gym, and their dad has been setting the example throughout.
He joined in August 2020, on the first Foundations course after lockdown, and signed up straight away. A year later, in November 2021, the coaches made him Member of the Month, unanimously, and at the Christmas party that year he was given the Most Improved Member Award. We wrote then that he had gone from needing a ball behind him to catch him in a squat, to three hundred full-depth squats in a weighted vest. It ended: "We can't wait to see how fit you'll be in another year's time."
We then gave him the Spirit of CrossFit Tunbridge Wells award in 2023, because Tom had not only kept progressing, but had become a valued member of the family, lifting others up, cheering people on and looking after new joiners.
In December 2024 we told the parents CrossFit Kids had to end. We had nobody to take the classes and no options left.
We asked the parents: would anyone get qualified and take it on? Tom put his hand up.
He was not a coach. He was a dad in the 6am with a full-time job in London. He got qualified, and on 26 April 2025 CrossFit Kids ran again. Those children still have their Saturday mornings because someone like Tom stepped up.
He coaches alongside Beth Adams, and this summer they ran a Kids sports day for twenty-two children. Nobody sees the hours behind that: the planning, the workouts tested and retested, around that same job and a 6am he never misses. A hundred and fifty-four classes of his own in twelve months, and he never backs off when it gets hard.
Tom, five years ago, after finishing your beginners' course, you wrote: "It seems you have something very special in this group of people, and it's an honour to be part of it." You have it the wrong way round. Having you here is the honour.