Meet Amy Harris, competing for the first time in the World Police and Fire Games. She also will be competing for the first time in CrossFit® on an international level and her love and passion will no doubt shine through during her competition.

Amy started training in CrossFit® two years ago and says it was “love at first sweat”. Loving that it incorporates so many varied movements and styles of training, she has been competing locally since the early days of her training. Although new to CrossFit®, she was no stranger to competing. She has since embraced the process of building her strength, her speed and improving her health. Amy has a past history with soccer, softball, track and rowing, all of which has given her a leg up (notably, the rowing experience) because of the endurance required. More than just the physical conditioning, however, Amy is appreciative of the mental toughness she has gained from the sport.

Amy earned her EMT/IV Tech after graduating from the Fire Rescue Academy and was then promoted to a Fire Specialist. She has been a firefighter with the Baltimore County Fire Department for almost 7 years and recently, was nominated to the Battalion Health Coordinator for her Department.

She takes full advantage of her opportunities for continuing her education and has earned professional qualifications including hazardous materials technician, rescue technician (vehicle extrication), high angle rescue, incident response to explosives for first responders, and more. She fully intends to contribute in any way possible to the forward progression of her department, especially in the fitness arena as she progresses to becoming an officer.

Amy is driven and with high levels of motivation, however, patience is not one of her strong suits. That drive and high motivation sometimes leave her impatient when new skills aren’t quickly mastered. She credits a 25-year veteran firefighter for teaching her to slow down and simply break down a situation into steps and proceed through them without short cuts. He went on to teach Amy that those shortcuts would only cost more in the long run and she uses that advice still to this day in her career.

This lack of patience also affected Amy in the gym and while rushing to perfect technical lifts, she suffered a torn labrum because she was trying to keep up with veteran CrossFit® athletes. Moving too fast, increasing weight too rapidly and failing to listen to her body, she learned another important lesson about what happens when shortcuts are chosen.

When she’s not at work or training, you’ll find Amy spending quality time with her family. They truly are her balance in life and she says “they contribute more than they know to my happiness. It’s a foundation that I am not willing to sacrifice. People lose family members in the blink of an eye so I never hesitate to tell them I love them.”

You might be surprised to learn that Amy is extremely passionate about visual and performing art, playing classical music on the flute and piccolo as a child and even had her artwork submitted in congressional art competitions.

AMY IS EXCITED TO: meeting international veterans of the World Police and Fire Games, as well as watching athletes from departments all over the world compete at their sport.