Bio
Hello! I’m Katelyn Perera, the recently transformed “athlete-to-coach” at CFB.
I’ve been an athlete most of my life, starting with dancing at the age of 3, then tee-ball at the age of 4, and from there, I just added all the sports I could – Volleyball, Softball, Basketball, Soccer. By the time I was in high school, I was juggling my school sports games with my travel teams’ practice schedules, sometimes both in the same night! I really enjoyed the team dynamic and the competition.
Once I reached college, I played club volleyball, club softball, and club rugby the first year and a half. Then I decided I needed to drop those to focus on my engineering classes… and partying! The combination of drinking, not working out, and eating anything/everything I wanted to, really did a number on me. I think I peaked at 205# my junior year and was very uncomfortable. My last semester of college, one of my friends asked me to try a “CrossFit” group class that was being taught at the rec center by one of my classmates, Lindy Barber. She had recently gotten into CrossFit and wanted to get others involved. It was a bodyweight and dumbbell-based class, but that’s where I got my first taste of CrossFit and lost a little bit of weight too!
After graduation, and starting my job in Columbus, IN, I decided I wanted to get into a fitness routine. I tried working out on my own for a bit in my apartment gym, but easily got bored and demotivated. That’s when I decided to try out CrossFit again. The first few months were very hard… I’d just been introduced to the barbell (since it was a ‘real’ CrossFit gym), and I was still very out of shape. But, over the first 3 months, I lost 20 pounds, and saw results in how my clothes were fitting very quickly. I enjoyed trying to increase the weights for the movements, and the competitiveness really drove me to push harder.
I switched to CFB in February of 2015, after moving to Bloomington, and started the “Open” the same week! I immediately fell in love with CFB and all its members. The welcoming and fun atmosphere was great, but I also really enjoyed the motivation by coaches and members to try new movements, and to increase the weight on the bar, and to go faster! I’m an engineer by day, so being able to track my results with data was addicting. I’m a competitive person by nature, and the combination of the comradery and competition kept me coming back for more!
So, with some gentle nudging, kind words of encouragement, and after 8 years of CF athlete experience, I decided to try coaching out. I wasn’t sure I’d do well, since teaching and patience aren’t my strong skills, but I’ve thoroughly enjoyed this transition period. It’s always fun pushing athletes to be better versions of themselves, and I really enjoy watching them break those PRs (personal records) and have fun doing so. Come join us – I promise you’ll have a great time and increase the quality of your life while doing so!
