Amanda Fischer, 2024 MVP

Amanda Fischer is a big reason the Wild won in 2024. In the opening Partner Forward race, where two players of opposite gender complete reps at stations in each of the Grid’s four quadrants, Atlanta fell behind early on a fault. Fischer and partner Rolle sealed the race with a pistol stick jump over the finish line, and Atlanta ran off seven straight race wins from there.

She was named 2024 UGL MVP, and she was 2023 Utility Player of the Year before that. She’s a former collegiate softball player, a two-time team CrossFit Semifinals athlete, and a coach. At 5’7″ and 170 pounds, she has a 200-pound snatch, a 255-pound clean and jerk, and a 400-pound deadlift.

Fischer took last season off, aside from one match. Now she’s back full time.

RJ Hibbard, the other MVP

Fischer isn’t the only former MVP coming back.

Robert “RJ” Hibbard won MVP in 2021 during his Gainesville Wild days. His path into the sport runs straight through Wild head coach Dan Jackson. Hibbard joined the Gainesville Wild in 2019 after getting a DM from the team.

Outside the Grid, he’s an Olympic weightlifter who’s competed at Nationals, and he has a background in physical therapy. He’s also an anime guy whose favorites include Dragon Ball, Pokémon, and Full Metal Alchemist, that kind of thing.

Hibbard was away from the Grid last season too. Two league MVPs are now back on the same roster in the same offseason.

Patrick Long, Strength Specialist

Patrick Long has been with the Wild organization going back to Gainesville. He’s an Army veteran and a CrossFitter out of Northern Virginia, listed at 6’0″ and 200 pounds.

He was also away from competition last season. Since the 2024 title run, Long has shifted his training toward Olympic weightlifting, as both a competitor and a coach.