Request for your Support - a letter from the president

Dear athletes, gym owners, and brands,

My name is Simon Damborg, and I am the recently elected president of the Canadian Functional Fitness Federation (CFFF). We are the non-profit governing body for the sport of Functional Fitness in Canada - officially recognized as the National Sport Organization (NSO) operating under the International Functional Fitness Federation (IF3).

We’re not here to replace or compete with existing communities like CrossFit, Hyrox, or obstacle racing. Our mission is to strengthen the foundation of Functional Fitness across all styles and organizations in a way that everyone can benefit from. We work alongside 50+ other national federations through the IF3 to build a unified platform of resources for consistent movement standards, internationally recognized judge (or TO) training, athlete first safety protocols, long-term athlete development (LTAD) frameworks for youth, nationally recognized coach certifications (in partnership with coach.ca), pathways for national and international competition, an internationally recognized competitive athlete ranking system, and so much more.

Why create a sport? After 15 years in the trenches of running events, I’ve learned the same lesson many of us have: there’s no real money in running large scale events. That’s why we’ve never had a consistent season or long-term structure. But if we can get Functional Fitness recognized as an official (funded) sport in Canada, we not only gain access to provincial and national government funding but also;

  • A 100% athlete-first focus: no corporate interests, no brand ownership - just athlete development and opportunity

  • School program integration: including possibilities for students to earn school credit for participation at functional fitness registered clubs ($100 / year membership)

  • Nationally certified coaching credentials enabling your coaches to work in schools, clubs, and recognized sporting institutions with certifications via www.coach.ca 

  • Eligibility for Olympic pathways - something that can only be done via NSOs

As a non profit organization, we exist purely to serve the members of our community. Here are a few things we’re currently offering, but we’re always looking to expand. If there’s something else we can do to support you, your club or your members - never hesitate to let us know.

We need your help too! We rely 100% on volunteers (including our board and committee members) to make everything happen. We understand not everyone has spare time to give, but there are a ton of ways you can help us out that require almost no effort, but will greatly help the cause:

  • Create free athlete profiles in our system (no cost) - getting sport recognized status is a numbers game to show the Canadian government that people care: www.cfff.fit/create 

  • Share and engage with our social media content: @canadian_functional_fitness or on Facebook - we have no budget for advertising, so we 100% rely on this to get the word out

  • Help promote our National Qualifiers and the 2025 Canadian National Championships - if we can make this a big event, it’ll show the government that people care, which will give us access to major funding opportunities for next year, and keep this going as a large annual event!

If we’ve never met before, here’s a quick bit about me: I started doing CrossFit in 2007, I got my CrossFit Level 1 certification in 2009 and opened my own affiliate in 2013 (which is still open today, though no longer affiliated through CF). In 2014, I saw a need for more mid level competitions and started the Functional Fitness League, which has run 25 seasons with thousands of athletes and hundreds of events across multiple regions. As an athlete, I competed both individually and on teams up to a regional’s level, and as a coach I’ve attended the games multiple times with my (masters) athletes. I joined the CFFF board of domestic development in 2019 and registered the first Provincial Sport Organization (PSO) - BC Functional Fitness Sport Association. Then at the end of 2024, I was voted in as President of CFFF. Needless to say I’ve been in this a long time and have experience from every angle of the sport.

I wasn’t originally planning on going ‘all in’ on volunteering with the CFFF - but with the recent tragedy at the CF games, I saw the need for the community to have an identity that didn’t rely on a private company. That doesn’t mean we’re encouraging anyone not to support CF (or Hyrox or any others), but it made me appreciate the importance of the role of NSOs within sport. As a non-profit, we will never compete with large private companies - that’s why we exist to provide a safe, transparent and consistent foundation for all variations of Functional Fitness to grow from.

If this is something you can get behind, I’d love to chat about how we can support each other! You can fire me an email anytime info@functionalfitnessfederation.ca and I’d love to schedule a call.

Simon Damborg // @thor604
CFFF President // @Canadian_Functional_Fitness //  info@functionalfitnessfederation.ca

Resources and more info available on our web app: www.cfff.fit

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