Was Ben Garard Going to be the Pacific Team Coach for the CrossFit Invitational?

Was Ben Garard going to be the Pacific Team’s coach at this year’s CrossFit Invitational? Based on a post on August 31 by Ben, it appears that might have been the plan.

Ben, Ricky Garard‘s brother, shared a post on Instagram on August 31 outlining his schedule for the next couple months. Included in this list was a local/regional team competition with Ricky, competing in the Team Series (also with Ricky), taking on the Dubai Online Qualifier and “Coach for Pacific Team 🇦🇺 @reebok @crossfit Invitational.. @davecastro 😉”.

It’s time to join forces & see what’s possible when we go all in together. • Team @alphafit_aus (pairs comp) at Battle on the Beaches put on by @peakbyathletic 17th Sep • Team @thegarardbrothers at @crossfitgames Team Series, Sep 20th — Oct 2nd • @dxbfitnesschamp Qualifiers 🇦🇪 Oct 11th — Oct 29th • Coach for Pacific Team 🇦🇺 @reebok @crossfit Invitational.. @davecastro 😉 Big couple of months coming up, I’m excited & ready to give it everything. Anything else we should add to the schedule? #TheGarardBrothers #BuiltByBENTON #learnfastordietrying

A post shared by Ben Garard (@bennygarard) on Aug 31, 2017 at 4:19pm PDT

It is hard to tell if Ben is giving it away that he had been asked to coach the Pacific Team or that he was hoping that Dave Castro would see this and maybe consider him. We will likely never know, but it does give some insight that CrossFit had not notified Ricky of his failed drug test by this time.

Of course, a lot has happened over the past six weeks and the Pacific Team has been announced following Ricky’s suspension. The Pacific Team is the same as last year along with last year’s coach, Chad Mackay.