Rising Stars: Meet Sydney Courtney of Stilwell

Today we’d like to introduce you to Sydney Courtney

Hi Sydney, can you start by introducing yourself? We’d love to learn more about how you got to where you are today?
I grew up in the small town of Yates Center, Kansas. I was active in many sports as a youth and continued as an adult.

The majority of my adult career was spent in Corporate Sales in a range of positions from feet-on-the-street to eventually Regional Director. All the while, also raising my children, I continued running, lifting, cycling and riding motorcycles.

I have a wonderful husband, a daughter and son, both happily married, and the best granddaughter!

In January of 2011, I was introduced to CrossFit through personal training. I fell in love with it! In October 2012 I got my Level 1 CrossFit Trainers Certification and have since secured my Level 2 Certification. February 2015, my husband, Theo Felts, and I opened our CrossFit Affiliate, Goat House CrossFit.

We are both passionate about fitness and coaching all levels and ages of athletes. Our primary focus is to keep our members moving free of injury and to be able to face all physical functions of life. Be it to pursue competitive CrossFit or to be able to play with grandchildren. Witnessing their progress and achievements is most rewarding and motivating!

I have also enjoyed a decade of competing in CrossFit at a high level. I have been fortunate to rank in the top 1% in my Age Group for a number of years. I am extra proud of my 2024 season ending at 31st worldwide after having 3 total joint replacements between December 2021 and August 2022, and a tendon lengthening procedure in June 2023.

We began hosting a CrossFit competition the first Saturday of September in 2020 to bring the community together for a day of fun and fitness, as well as, to raise donations for New Beginnings Animal Rescue where we adopted our four senior chihuahuas. They do amazing work rescuing dogs, bringing their health to a stable condition and finding the best forever homes. We are passionate about helping them and enjoy putting this event on every year to do so. We have four events in one day. Each event is named after each of our dogs. We have a lot of fun with it!

We also own Midwest Hormone Centers. Theo is the primary Provider treating patients for hormonal imbalances, weight loss, and Regenerative Health such as Stem-Cell and Platelet Rich Plasma.

Some of my other personal achievements are:
2013 Midwest Off Road Events Ladies A 2nd place
2012 Off Road Cup Ironwoman 3rd place
2012 Midwest Off Road Events Ladies Champion
2002 Team Captain in the Outward Bound 170 mile relay in Colorado covering 4 mountain passes.

On a side note, I recently landed a small role in the Hallmark Christmas Touchdown: A Chiefs Love Story movie. My fitness is what garnered me this role. So, this has been a pretty cool benefit of pursuing my health and fitness passion.

We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
Certainly, opening a gym is tough. There’s a membership base to grow, workouts to program responsibly and floors and bathrooms to clean!

COVID was a scary time with the required shut down. We had just built out our current location, more expenses! What would come of this? We developed a plan. I continued to write workouts to be done At Home. Each member took home a set of equipment to create a home gym. Each got a machine, barbell and plates, kettle bell, slam ball, wall ball, a set of dumbbells, Abmat and more… They took this equipment from our old location. When we were able to open our doors again, they brought the equipment to the new location! This worked out great and we didn’t lose any members!

Risk taking is a topic that people have widely differing views on – we’d love to hear your thoughts.
Opening a gym is a risk! Will you grow your membership base enough to cover expenses? Can you manage multiple personalities and create a cohesive community in a judgement free space? It is a balancing act. But it has been wonderful for the greater majority. I have made many life-long connections I wouldn’t otherwise have. I believe having a background in Corporate Sales has helped me manage the venture of owning a CrossFit Affiliate.

Pricing:

• 149.00 per month, 30 day notice to cancel

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.goathousecrossfit.com
• Instagram: @goat_house_crossfit_classic
• Facebook: @goat_house_crossfit_classic
• Youtube: @GoatHouseCrossFit (Facebook)