Member of the Year 2021

Will Eddington - a love letter to our 2021 member of the year

When we first opened VCF in 2016 we had an idea of what we wanted the gym to be like. We knew the kind of people, atmosphere and culture we wanted. The thing is, you can’t just make a culture and community appear. These things take time, work, growth and lots of development. As owners we tried our best to navigate relationships and programming to build and curate the vibe and focus on our mission. What we didn’t know when we opened that we know now is that building a community is not the work of two people with a business license and a barbell. The people that fill our gym are the people who make it what it is. Will Eddington makes VCF what it is by being a beautiful representation of the mission of our program at play. His progress, years of work and willingness to learn and listen make him a cornerstone of our community. His growth over the last year is measurable by his continued happiness and positive impact he leaves at VCF.

So we want to give a huge congratulations to our member of the year Will Eddington.

Will and his wife Colleen have been members at VCF since the start. When Will started his gym journey he was not married or father and 5 years later he is a full on family man!

Will is a man of many names, and he will let you know. Here is a short list from memory: Wilfy the Dilfy, Wet Willie, Mr. Tequila…there’s another few I’m forgetting off the top of my head but trust me when I say Will can and will remind you at any time. If you don’t know him or can not tell by his AKA’s Will is fun. Will brings something to every single space he enters and its is his full and open mind. Will could strike up a conversation with anyone, and anywhere. There are not many people that can make folks feel so immediately comfortable.

While we all know he is silly and playful I want to also remind you that Will is also extremely measured and careful. He moves through spaces with attention to those around him and great pride in who he calls his family. To know Will is to love Will. He has had the back of our gym and community in so many ways, in good moments and more difficult. He and Colleen host summer time pool parties and always are down to contribute to gym events.

Will also wins the award for “Most likely to get injured doing the least” with special shout outs to when he dislocated his shoulder that one time he slipped at his own pool party and another shout out to the time he dislocated his shoulder stretching at VCF. I was the one who drove him to the hospital while the streets were flooding and let me tell you: Will in crisis/pain is still the same exact Will. He managed to stay cool and collected through a stressful and scary time with a person (me) who was exactly the opposite of cool and collected.

This year was a great year for Will. He competed with his gym teammates at his second event, he made one year of being a father and he’s continued to show up for himself and the VCF community every single week. No matter how his day at work has gone he walks in with a positive attitude and a giving a warm vibe to everyone. Will is the VCF welcome wagon, our mascot, a pillar of our gym. His intentional kindness and openness to everyone is seen and appreciated. Will makes VCF what it is and we are so lucky he chose our gym for his home. We feel lucky to have him and his family in our life and we can not wait to watch them grow together.