Without swimming, Capt. Marie Docken probably would not be an elite CrossFit athlete in the U.S. Army.<\/p>\n
Last month in Johannesburg, South Africa, Docken\u2019s Army Warrior Fitness Team placed fifth in the highly competitive Rebel Renegade Games CrossFit Semifinal, four spots shy of qualifying for the 2026 CrossFit Games.<\/p>\n
It wasn\u2019t the first time she and the Warrior Fitness Team competed overseas, but Docken never would have imagined being on the stage she is now on more than a decade ago, when she wore the navy blue, silver and white for the Fairmont High School Firebirds. She excelled at swimming, not only setting a record in the 100 breaststroke at a district swim meet that still stands, but being recruited by the U.S. Military Academy at West Point for the academy\u2019s swim team. The opportunity was both \u201creally cool\u201d and allowed her \u201cto do all the things I was interested in doing.\u201d<\/p>\n
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Capt. Marie Docken\u2019s military career came about because she had a high school advisor plant the idea in her mind. Then she became more familiar with opportunities in the service. Contributed<\/p>\n
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The military wasn\u2019t on her mind when she started high school, much less CrossFit. Swimming was what Docken was known for, and her dedication to the sport shaped her into the soldier and elite athlete she is today.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think that was a large part of my upbringing,\u201d she said of her swim community. \u201cI really learned to be part of a team and work really hard.\u201d<\/p>\n
Pre-dawn and evening practices not only taught Docken about dedication \u2014 and utter appreciation for her parents, Charles and Michelle, who drove her \u2014 as well as grit and physical and mental toughness. Those were skills she would need later in life, though she didn\u2019t know it at the time.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s just you staring at a black line all practice long, and you sing to yourself in your head to motivate yourself,\u201d she said. \u201cIt was very mentally challenging, and I wasn\u2019t always good at that. It definitely shaped me and something I carried with me a lot in CrossFit and in the Army as well.\u201d<\/p>\n
Her military career came about because she had a high school advisor plant the idea in her mind. Then she became more familiar with opportunities in the service.<\/p>\n
\u201cI was just fortunate that I swam and I really liked swimming, and I wanted to swim in college,\u201d she said. \u201cThat was a goal of mine; I wanted to serve and I wanted to swim if that was possible.\u201d<\/p>\n
Before graduating from West Point in 2021, a couple of her coaches suggested she try out for the CrossFit team after her swimming career. A friend at West Point also had a brother on the Army\u2019s team \u2014 another sign to look into it.<\/p>\n
Docken had no idea if she\u2019d be any good at CrossFit, at least competitively, but said she would never know if she didn\u2019t try, \u201cso I just gave it a shot.\u201d<\/p>\n
She was surprised not only by how she adapted to the sport but also at its scalability, seeing that \u201canybody can do it.\u201d<\/p>\n
CrossFit is a branded fitness program built around high-intensity workouts, functional movements, and strength and conditioning exercises. The training style is often associated with high-intensity interval training (HIIT) and is practiced in around 10,000 gyms worldwide, according to BarBend.com<\/a>.<\/p>\n
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