The Fitness Alley Story

My fitness career began in 2010 and after 4 years of group and personal training I discovered my passion for the sport of fitness – CrossFit. I’ve never looked back. I grew up loving all sports, my focus was competitive netball and gymnastics. Once I discovered CrossFit, I knew it was a perfect mix of everything that drives me. I enjoy the competitive side and since 2014 I haven’t missed a CrossFit Open and still do plenty of local competitions with our amazing community. My decision to dedicate myself to an athlete program was based on my desire to not only inspire my members but to better myself as a coach. I hit the Open hard and went from 14th in Australia in 2018, 2nd in 2019 and 1st in Aust/89th worldwide in 2020 (age group 35-39). In 2019 I competed in the Starr Strength Black team at the CrossFit Sanctionals. In 2022 I competed at The Torian Pro and won the Women’s Elite Pairs Division. I loved every minute of the competition experience, I learnt so much about myself personally and as a coach which was always my intention for competing at a higher level and passing this knowledge on to all of our members at Fitness Alley.

I’m currently a firefighter with FRNSW. I really get fulfillment out of my job in the way that every day we can make a difference in someone’s life and I feel I can also do that by coaching at Fitness Alley. My whole life I have had a passion for fitness and staying healthy. I grew up competing in sports all year round such as rugby, cricket and golf to name a few. I eventually came across CrossFit when I finished playing in competitive team sports. I was instantly hooked, the atmosphere and vibe of training in a group with like minded people made me feel like I was a part of a team again. The hard work you put in and the results you get out of it is just a bonus. I want to see our athletes reach their peak potential and have a healthy lifestyle, my passion is to help them in achieving this.

I’ve been doing CrossFit for over 10 years now. I was lucky enough to bump into a local trainer who turned out to be a brilliant coach. He introduced me to CrossFit and it was the first time I had ever actually enjoyed “training” outside of sport. Something I did to get better at sports became my biggest passion and sparked a journey that led me to leave my position as an Engineer, study nutrition and pursue a career in coaching. I’m lucky enough to call that a reality here at Fitness Alley.

My name is Char and I was lucky enough to be raised in my parents CrossFit gym in Orange NSW since the age of 10.
Growing up, I participated in just about every sport you could think of: Athletics, dance, cheerleading, netball, touch football and gymnastics. Gymnastics in particular won me over. I competed and coached for 8 years competitively at both a state and national level, where I learnt all the vital skills I didn’t know I was going to need a few years later. After I graduated high school, Dad finally convinced me to start competing CrossFit when I turned 19. From then on, I started taking the open seriously and it’s lead me to this point where I’ve competed at many levels including Down Under championships in the elite teams division.
My favourite thing about CrossFit is the unlimited learning opportunities and challenges we are faced with everyday, as well as the personal connections we create.
I currently hold an L1 certificate in CrossFit. I am also a 3rd year nutrition student at UOW, and have 5 years of gymnastics coaching under my belt.
I love my job because I get to bring excitement and a sense of accomplishment to everyone’s day, everyday.
I grew up with the understanding that anything is possible and my passion behind my coaching and nutrition role is to make everyone believe this just as much as I do.