Sunday, March 29, 2015

Road to Conviction Episode 2: CrossFit’s a Rope

While incarcerated, Fletcher Tholin discovered CrossFit. Watch his rehabilitation in this eight-part series.

In this episode, Tholin completes the on-ramp classes at CrossFit Edwardsville in Glen Carbon, Illinois.

“(The on-ramp is) our foundational program for athletes who are new to the game or who are coming into CrossFit from a non-traditional background,” says affiliate owner Greg Skelly. “I make sure that we’re all on the same page about a lot of key points of performance and that the athletes know what we’re watching for on various lifts and body-weight moves.”

After spending six weeks in a halfway house, Tholin is hoping to obtain more freedom to do the things he wants to do. The halfway house works on a five-level system in which the higher levels permit more freedom.

“I got a job, and I was under the impression that you move up to Level 3 automatically when you get a job,” Tholin says. “It’s not like I’m trying to go to the bar. I’m not trying to go somewhere bad. I’m trying to go to a CrossFit gym.”

The positive environment of CrossFit Edwardsville is favorable over the negativity of the halfway house, Tholin says.

Coach Skelly agrees: “I think one of the greatest things we can offer (Tholin) here is having that positive kind of environment where everybody around is reinforcing good behaviors and healthy behaviors, which is something that he doesn’t have on a regular basis outside of the box.”

Video by Gary Roberts and Jordan Shalhoub.

10min 44sec

Additional reading: “Journey Behind Bars: Part 2” by Emily Beers, published Nov. 1, 2013.

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