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CoSIDA Goodwill & Wellness Committee
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Communicators Outside the Lines Feature Series
This is the next profile in a series entitled
Communicators Outside the Lines: Better Yourself, Better Your Community produced by the CoSIDA Goodwill & Wellness Committee. Read past profiles at
CoSIDA.com/CommunicatorsOTL.
WE NEED YOUR IDEAS!
If you have any ideas for this series, which will revolve around CoSIDA member volunteerism and health and wellness, please contact Goodwill and Wellness Committee chair
Megan Jameson, St. Edward's University Associate AD for Marketing and Communications, at
mhardin@stedwards.edu.
Profiling Warren Croxton
Princeton, Assistant Director of Athletic Communications
by A.J. O'Hagan – Yeshiva, Sports Information Director
CoSIDA Goodwill and Wellness Committee Member
Times have been tough for
Warren Croxton, Assistant Director of Athletic Communications at Princeton University. Due to the ongoing global pandemic, he has not been able to work games since the Ivy League has canceled its athletics competition last spring.
Not only has Croxton not been able to do the meat and potatoes of his job for the past year, he also must be extra careful and safe during these uncertain times. However, he has been able to do his favorite activity to distract himself from the scary situation the world is in. That activity is walking.
Warren consistently walks. He aims to get in as many steps as possible. Not only does he enjoy walking, but he also loves the milestones that come with it. “I keep wanting to go up and up, “Croxton said. “I have always been a stats and numbers guy. The bigger the number, the better you try to be.”
Two years ago, his goal was to get 15,000 steps in per day. Last year, he bumped it up to 20,000 each day over the course of 12 months. “I don’t like running, I tried it before and it’s not really my thing. I’m not really a gym guy either,” Croxton explained. “The best exercise for me is walking.”
This year, despite the pandemic, Warren was able to use his competitive skills for a formal team competition, by competing in the CoSIDA Virtual Fitness Challenge this past fall. Croxton was placed on a team called “Slackers”, one of ten programs that competed in the contest.
Warren Croxton with his wife Michelle, and dogs Olive and Reese
Thanks to the goals he set in previous years, The Princeton athletics communications professional earned the individual championship, walking a total of 218 hours and 22 minutes during the 10-week challenge, averaging 21 hours and 53 minutes per week in the process. He finished in first place in the weekly standings seven out of 10 times and produced at least 20 hours during nine out of the 10 weeks. Thanks to his strong commitment, Slackers earned silver during the overall challenge and finished first in the weekly standings three times. Slackers also finished tied for first during week nine.
Laurie Bollig, Director of Membership Engagement for CoSIDA, and the co-captain of Slackers, was impressed with her teammate’s performance. “The first week when our team members entered their totals for exercise, I thought it was a misprint!” Bollig said. “I could not believe someone had exercised more than 20 hours. I checked in with Warren to make sure he entered the number correctly and he told me he WALKED for more than 20 hours.”
When Warren was a child, he would look at the stats and media guides for games he attended or watched on television. He loved looking at numbers. That motivated him to put up big numbers during the challenge. He wanted to look at his numbers and compare them to his teammates and opponents.
“Since I don’t play sports anymore, this is only the real competition I have,” Croxton said. “It’s been great joining the CoSIDA Fitness Challenge group and meeting other people. Seeing them post about their journey has been incredible.”
Warren was able to consistently produce over 20 hours per week by thinking outside the box. Not only did he walk around his neighborhood, but he also paced around the living room while watching his Philadelphia sports teams play on television. He also goes on walks with his wife, Michelle, and two dogs, Olive and Reese. “When you see you did 20,000 steps one day, you want to get to 22,000 the next day. And then 25,000. It’s all about the numbers,” Croxton explained.
In addition to competing, Croxton took advantage of getting to know his teammates. “I really enjoyed interacting with my teammates on Zoom and Slack,” Warren said. “In the past, I have not been able to take advantage of using CoSIDA to network with people, but I thought this was a good time to get to know my teammates and bond with them. It was a great experience getting to know them.”
Bollig has a notable memory of teaming with Croxton. “Warren was all in from the beginning,” she explained. “He wanted to win; he encouraged his teammates every week. He even called in our Zoom late one night while out walking some of those 20 hours, which seemed a little dangerous to me, but he said he was all right.”
Croxton credits Michelle, Olive, Reese, and his teammates for getting him through these tough times. He is still waiting for the day when Princeton’s collegiate teams return to play. When asked how he will balance out his walking with working games, Warren was honest. “That’s the tricky part. I made it work last year, except during February and March when I traveled with basketball and prepared for the tournament,” Warren said. “Those two months are really trouble, especially since the weather is not great. I can make it work the other 10 months, but it seems like those are the two trouble months for me.”
Warren is preparing for an exciting yet challenging future. “My biggest concern is getting back into the swing of things, since it has been so long since I have worked games,” he said. “I am not concerned with my step count until basketball season arrives. Once we reach that point, I am just going to have to make it work and see where it goes.”
When asked if he had any advice for beginners looking to work out for the first time in a while, Croxton stated: “If you are just a beginner, start off with a 15-minute walk and then slowly but surely work your way up. Also, group virtual workouts are a big help.”
Croxton appreciated Jeremy Rosenthal organizing the CoSIDA Fitness Challenge that allowed Warren to compete with his teammates and provide him a new adrenaline rush to help accomplish his goals. “What Jeremy does to keep that whole thing running, while doing what we do is incredible. It’s all the credit to him.”
Even though Slackers fell short of winning the fitness challenge, Warren earned the respect of his teammates, rivals, and colleagues. His consistent performance throughout the 10 weeks inspired other competitors to raise their game and get better each day. “He was a guaranteed top point getter every week it seemed like,” Bollig said. ”Without Warren, our perch at the top, or close to the top, of the leader board every week would have been a lot less likely!”
The time will come when not only Croxton will be able to work games at the prestigious Princeton University, but he will also once again lead his team towards the top of the standings and inspire others to get better.
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