The members of CrossFit Believe had checked in, gotten their NOBULL apparel and were ready to hit the floor at the 2023 NOBULL CrossFit Games in less than 48 hours. But all of that came to an end after team member Josh Mattes suffered a scary accident while practicing handstand walks at a nearby CrossFit gym.
According to Mattes, he was practicing handstand walks on an unpadded ramp when his hand slipped and he fell face-first. He was rushed to an ambulance and directly into emergency plastic surgery last night.
Mattes is still in the hospital this morning and is going to undergo some additional scans and tests to see if he needs to have any additional surgery. He told The Barbell Spin that he is feeling better than last night, but that it has been a rough time.
In speaking with one of his teammates, Shelby Jones, she said the entire team was warming up for a workout when the accident occurred. They are pretty devastated from what happened last night.
CrossFit Believe does have six members on their roster, including two alternates. However, CrossFit told the team that because they had already checked in earlier in the day that it was too late to substitute an athlete. “We were hoping that because no events had started, we could try, but we got a no [from CrossFit],” shared Jones.
“We’re still trying to figure out what we can do, but I think we’re out of options at this point,” added Jones. “We don’t care if we took a zero on every event. We just wanted the experience of competing at the CrossFit Games.”
