CrossFit Athlete Council Launches Email Channel for Community Feedback

The CrossFit Athlete Council formalized something the community has wanted for years: a direct line to CrossFit HQ. The council's official contact address, athlete.council@crossfit.com, is now the designated channel for athletes, coaches, and affiliate owners to submit questions, concerns, and suggestions. CrossFit Sport Staff will monitor the inbox and route messages to the appropriate council cohort.

The channel has been live in the council's meeting notes for some time, but it drew wider attention when Morning Chalk Up flagged it in its March 19 roundup. For a community that has repeatedly pushed CrossFit HQ for more transparency, the address represents a structural answer to that pressure.

The CAC itself was built with that transparency mandate in mind. Formed in late 2024 and elected by peers across every competitive division, the council brought together CF-L3 coaches, affiliate owners, and Games athletes under one governing body. Seth Page, a CF-L3 affiliate owner, serves as cohort chair for the Individuals/Teams committee. Games athlete Colten Mertens, coach Ryan Dickey, and affiliate owners Olivia Grimsland and Yazmin Arroyo round out that cohort, all serving 2025-2027 terms. The Affiliate/Coaches cohort includes Matthew Young, a CF-L3 affiliate owner and Games athlete, and Justin Rementer, also a CF-L3 affiliate owner.

The council is community-elected, which sets it apart from prior CrossFit advisory bodies. Eligible applicants for the inaugural class included 2024 Individual Semifinalists, Team captains who reached Semifinals, Masters, Teenage, and Adaptive athletes, and affiliate Licensees of Record who had at least five athletes registered for the 2024 Open. Nominations closed December 17, 2024, and the first class was announced before Open registration opened on January 15, 2025.

Since forming, the CAC has moved beyond procedural groundwork into substantive advocacy. The Individual/Coach Committee released a community questionnaire, reported by BarBend's Mike Halpin in late May 2025, that covered safety, season structure, the Open, communication, and transparency. The safety question was the only one that explicitly addressed the procedural changes that followed the death of Lazar Đukić at the 2024 CrossFit Games. Other questions asked respondents to weigh the impact of frequent season changes on athletes personally and on the spirit of competition.

The council carried the season structure issue directly to CrossFit HQ. "The CAC took this feedback directly to HQ and communicated the need to adhere to a particular season structure for 3-5 seasons before proposing changes," the council stated. "This feedback was received but no further discussion or commitments to this feedback were made at this time."

The public survey also surfaced harder conversations. According to The Barbell Spin's Brian Spin, the CAC addressed CrossFit's transgender athlete policy, community calls for the removal of Dave Castro from his position as Director of Sport, and demands for greater transparency around the third-party investigation into Đukić's death. The council also forwarded community concerns about equipment lists, movement standards, and emergency action plans to CrossFit HQ and asked for formal responses.

"We have discussed with HQ the community's desire for forward facing leadership and transparency," The Barbell Spin reported. "Their formation of the CAC is a direct effort to become more transparent and to offer a channel for direct feedback to HQ. We hope that the community and athletes will utilize the CAC in this capacity to continue to drive positive change."

Whether CrossFit HQ formalizes any commitments on season structure or the other open items remains to be seen. For now, the council's stated purpose is direct: ensure athletes, affiliate owners, and coaches have a voice in shaping the CrossFit Games season, provide input on competition protocols and athlete welfare, and act as a conduit between the community and HQ. The email address is the mechanism. Whether it becomes a meaningful feedback loop depends on how seriously both sides treat what moves through it.