Coach, James Balderson

James’ Story

My name is James Balderston, and I am originally from Chesapeake Virginia.  After heading to college at UVA and graduating, I moved out to Des Moines Iowa to be with my future wife while she attended Medical School.  She graduated and placed into her Pediatric Residency at Norton’s in May of 2020, so that is how we ended up in Louisville!

My background in athletics started with swimming.  I would train 4-5 hours a day in Highschool and was set to swim D1 in college.  However, I decided that the varsity athletics track was not one for me, and I instead joined the rowing club for the better part of a year.  After then deciding that being on top of the water in a boat was also not for me, I thought I would go back to swimming and pick up running and biking to do some triathlons!  Once again, I decided that this was not for me and, after graduating college, I decided to try out CrossFit.  After joining a gym in September of 2017, I got my CrossFit Level 1 In September of 2018 and I have been coaching since.

CrossFit helps to be a stress reliever as well as a competitive outlet in my happily married life.  After all, my wife does not appreciate the levels of competitiveness that I would bring to a WOD on our typical board game night!  While my favorite workouts are engine heavy workouts and barbell cycling pieces, I am currently working on rounding out my weaknesses and becoming better at gymnastic and bodyweight movements.  This is in an effort to maybe someday qualify for semifinals in the CrossFit Open!

Training Credentials