Lycée Bel-Val is an educational institution located in Sanem, Luxembourg. Here, Sybille Blitgen and Mandy Loes work as teachers. The duo run the largest adaptive competition in Europe (based on registration). While the team is certainly impressive, they started off as most great CrossFit stories do, in a local affiliate.
While Lycée Bel-Val is a secondary school, it also hosts a non-profit CrossFit affiliate. At this school CrossFit is actually taught as part of the traditional curriculum for the students, with the principal giving the budget to start the affiliate. The program is also inclusive with students of all bodies and minds being able to participate. While this in itself is impressive, Sybille and Mandy went a step-further and decided to host a world-wide inclusive competition through partnering with the creators of The Nationals able bodied comp: Rosalie Suurd, Peter Kramer.
The Nationals has 12 adaptive divisions for the 2023 season:
- Upper Extremity 1 Point of Contact
- Lower Extremity 1 Point of Contact
- Upper Extremity 2 Points of Contact
- Lower Extremity 2 Points of Contact
- Seated Athletes (with hip function)
- Seated Athletes (without hip function)
- Seated Athletes (without abdominal function)
- Neuromuscular Minor
- Neuromuscular Major
- Sensory Vision & Hearing
- Short Stature
- Intellectual
The best athletes from each division will be invited to participate in the in-person final event located in Dekker, Zoetermeer. Classification for this year’s event follow’s WheelWods classification system, but Sybille and Mandy spoke of future goals to create a system for adaptions and classification with fellow experts such as Sylvain Magra. “We’re really trying to make the workouts equitable and fair, and still give [the athletes] a good sweat,” said Sybille.
Athletes in the adaptive division who win their respective category will also earn a ticket to compete at the finals for Wodcelona, the first international CrossFit Festival inclusive competition. Athletes who compete in the online Events 1-4 will also have a chance to win awards and prizes for their efforts. “Every time an athlete competes they have a chance to win,” said Sybille.
The pair spoke on their motivations for starting the inclusive competition, with Mandy saying: “Not everyone wants to compete and that’s fair. You have adaptive and able-body athletes that don’t want to compete and that’s fine. But for those who do there’s nothing out there, and that’s what we wanted to change. People of all levels can compete at The Nationals, and now adaptive athletes can too.”
Sybille spoke on her motivations saying: “I mainly wanted something where my brother [who has down syndrome] could have a chance to compete. But, we did research and saw all the different categories available, and I thought, ‘I really want to do this for everyone. Not just for my brother, but for anyone who doesn’t have a platform to compete on.’ From there, we just kept on researching and attending seminars to understand the [divisions] better.”
Important Dates
Event 1: Nov 3 – 10 (online)
Event 2: Dec 1 -8 (online)
Event 3: Jan 5 –12 (online)
Event 4: Feb 2 -9 (online)
Adaptive Games: April 15-16 (Dekker, Zoetermeer)
Those interested in sponsoring or supporting the program can reach out on Instagram to @the_nationals_adptv.
