Don’t Call it a Comeback
MobCoach Profiles: Annie Set
From a small fitness community, CrossFit Mobilus has grown into the largest CrossFit gym in Singapore, celebrating our 10 year anniversary last year. Over the years, the Mobilus coaching staff has grown as well– from a handful of coaches to a steady team of 12. With a range of experience and skill sets, the coaching team has contributed to developing Mobilus through thoughtful and effective programming as well as steady guidance and facilitation through classes and personal training.
This year, MobBlog is proud to present the MobCoach Profiles series– giving us a closer look at the people behind the gym. MobBlog will be highlighting a different coach each month, taking a look at their lives both in and out of the gym, and finding out how they came to be here at Mobilus.
For the month of January, we take a look at our newest addition to the team– Annie Set (me!), now one year into coaching with Mobilus.
What is your biggest coaching pet peeve?
When there’s too many people talking at once– I have a hard time concentrating and it gets a little overwhelming!
What’s something you do that might surprise people?
I do a lot of like, artsy things. I sing for church and for fun, I like to draw– I’ve drawn a comic! And I like taking photos when I can.
What is your favourite song/music to work out to?
I’m very proud of my bangin’ playlist that I have for classes– but truthfully I like mellow vibey music to work out haha. Anything chill.
Introduce yourself! What’s your name, where are you from, where did you grow up?
Annie: My name is actually Anita Set (I just go by Annie!), I was born here in Singapore though I grew up all around as my family moved around a bit when I was younger. I lived in Burma, New Zealand, and Texas before settling back in Singapore when I was 15.
How did you get started in sports/CrossFit?
Annie: I think my first sport was actually soccer– though I only really played because it’s what my brother played. I really loved climbing trees as a kid, especially while we were in Burma. I did a lot of random compulsory sports, but was never really good at any of them haha– my first proper sport was when I joined the touch rugby team in Junior College, at Nanyang Junior College. I continued playing touch in university, as well as some boxing outside of school.
That’s when I was a little more confident as an ‘athlete’- I was on the fight team for boxing, and started playing full contact rugby as well, and was enjoying building up my strength and gaining a little muscle.
We did some strength training for rugby, and I was really enjoying how it changed my physique. I started looking on Instagram for like, gym-girl fitspo haha, like fit women to look up to and I started seeing a lot of CrossFit athletes. That’s how I started getting interested in CrossFit– I wanted to see if I could do what they could do, and look how they looked.
The CrossFit gyms in Singapore at the time were a little intimidating though, and I wasn’t so confident about trying one out on my own. That’s when a friend of mine asked if I wanted to pop by a little CrossFit class that was meeting in the evenings at the Singapore Weightlifting Federation– it was the first iteration of Mobilus!
So I actually started my CrossFit journey– as well as my competitive journey with Mobilus. Within my first year of joining them, they asked if I wanted to compete in Sin City (2013), a locally organised CrossFit competition.
From that year on, I participated in a number of CrossFit comps– I was never actually very good, but I got a lot of experience just training and picking up the movements, getting used to the competition format. I’m actually quite surprised I stuck around for so long– I never placed very well, but it was always still such a good time.
In 2016 and 2017, I was with another gym– Crossfit Tanjong Pagar, where we had put together a group of men and women who were all gunning to go to the Pacific Regionals (now called the SemiFinals). The team format at the time was 3 guys and 3 girls, but I think we always had 2 or 4 extra members training and vying for a spot on the final team. It was a lot of hard work, and I was definitely peaking in my training, but 2 years in a row, I missed out on being on the final team for regionals. Thereafter I felt a little burned out and took a break from Crossfit.
Around 2019 or 2020, some of my friends started training at Mobilus Chinatown, and I decided to come back to it for fun. I realised I still really enjoyed it, and became a Mobilus member again. In 2021, 22 and 23 I qualified for the CrossFit QuarterFinals, so I’m back to competing again as well.
How is it that you started coaching with Mobilus? What did you do for work before that?
Annie: Before working with Mobilus I spent 7 years as a secondary school teacher. I was in a local school teaching Literature and Drama.
I enjoyed the work, the classroom teaching and working with kids, but I was feeling a little tired of the system and wasn’t sure if I could handle it anymore. The work itself is rewarding of course, but takes a toll– and there were aspects of the job that were vital to progressing your career that I was just completely uninterested in doing. I was being told that I was a good teacher, but that my skills and strengths were ultimately ‘intangible’ on paper.
I’d started to toy with the idea of coaching– the skills seemed transferable, and I had almost 10 years of experience in Crossfit. I had some conversations with my coaches– Sammy and Aidan, as well as Stuart at the time, and was encouraged that they felt that I had the necessary skills and disposition to be a good coach. I had a conversation with Richmond about potentially working with Mobilus, and was pleased to hear that they were keen to chat more. After a few rounds of conversations, here we are! I started with Mobilus in February 2023, so we’re just about a year into my time with Mob.
That’s quite a big change, from 7 years in teaching to becoming a coach. Were you nervous about the switch?
Annie: Strangely, not really. I was excited about making the change. I think I realised somewhere towards the end of my teaching career that I didn’t want to be there forever. And when I spoke to my coaches– I was surprised to hear how confident they were that I would be a good coach. I knew I was a good teacher, and that it would be a matter of adapting my existing skill set to a new environment, and I was excited for the challenge.
What’s that transition from teaching to coaching been like? Has it been challenging?
Annie: It’s been great actually. I think the biggest change has really been the autonomy of the job. My day to day just looks so different, and I have a lot more control over my time. That said– I might be just as busy as I was as a teacher haha– but I’m busy on my terms, if that makes sense.
My biggest challenge at the start was mainly just building confidence in my knowledge as a coach. There’s always more to learn, and my colleagues have been very generous in sharing their knowledge, but I’ve also had to learn to trust myself as a coach. In the last 10 years I built up a wealth of experience in the sport, but I had never had to test it as a coach– so this past year has been sort of a reframing of things that I already knew.
Also just getting used to addressing adults rather than children– took some getting used to. What I’ve found though, is that it truly doesn’t differ all that much haha.
What do you hope that people get out of your coaching? How should they feel walking out of your class?
Annie: I’m honestly a big fan of our programming here at Mobilus, and I hope that when people walk out of my class that they understand how their session contributed to their growth as athletes, and what they’re getting out of it.
I also hope they walk away feeling supported and well guided– that I was able to help them understand something new maybe, or even just encourage them to see what they were doing well already. I’d like them to feel that their effort was acknowledged and supported.
What’s your proudest moment as a coach?
Annie: There have been a few really good moments– just anytime that I’ve been able to give someone the right cue or encouragement to help them achieve something. I’ve learnt that something as simple as telling someone that you know that they can do it can be really powerful. I guess a lot like my coaches encouraging me that I could be a coach too haha. Funnily enough, this is the part of the job that has been so similar to teaching. There’s a real satisfaction in being able to empower someone else, whether with the right bit of information or perspective, or just by being present and supportive.
What are you looking forward to this 2024 season?
Annie: Hoping to continue growing as a coach, refining my craft and building my knowledge.
I’m also hoping to make my SemiFinals debut this year with my team– after missing out in 2016/17 as well as the last two years, I’m hoping that this is the year that we make it! We’ve been training hard, and now we’re in the final leg leading up to The Open.
To stay updated on Annie’s journey through this year’s Games’ season, you can follow and connect with her @annietimefitness on Instagram! You can join her classes at both Mobilus Chinatown and Clarke Quay– check the Mobilus MindBody app for schedule. For Personal Training inquiries, head over to https://www.mobilus.sg/personal-training.
Stay tuned for our next MobCoaches Profile next month!
