Grid League 2025 – Palms vs Breakers

In a hotly anticipated match at the Grid League arena, the South Beach Palms and Palm Beach Breakers faced off in what promised to be a battle of strategy, strength, and endurance. The Breakers entered with momentum from their recent victory over Venom, while the Palms looked to bounce back from a loss to Brigade.

As the crowds settled in, the atmosphere crackled with energy for this clash between two teams with history. Both squads brought impressive rosters of specialists across various disciplines, setting the stage for a compelling contest across ten grueling races.

The match opened with Partner Forward, featuring muscle cleans and power cleans down the grid. Despite the Palms’ reputation for dominance in this event, having posted the fastest partner forward time in the league during their first match, a slip and fall cost them crucial momentum. The Breakers capitalized, with their athlete’s muscle cleans proving more efficient than Brandon Schipper‘s power cleans, securing the first race victory.

The Mirror Race followed with front squats (40 total, 10 in each quadrant), using 170-pound barbells for women and 255-pound barbells for men. In a nail-biter, the Breakers maintained a slight lead throughout, exposing a timing issue for the Palms. As one announcer noted, “Bailey was waiting for their partner over there and your team is only as good as your slowest athlete.”

The ringer point competition featured bar-facing burpees, pitting Heather Hudson of the Palms against the Breakers’ competitor in their first-ever ringer race. After a referee challenge and subsequent rerun, the Breakers prevailed again, dealing Hudson her first defeat in the event.

Both teams struggled with the Echo Race, which incorporated barbell thrusters, front squats, handstand complexes, ring muscle-ups, and a 300-pound flip sled. The handstand complex proved particularly challenging, requiring complete restarts after mistakes. Neither team completed Echo One before the time cap, and Echo Two followed a similar pattern, resulting in zero points for both squads.

The Ladder event showcased impressive displays of power as athletes hoisted sandbags over progressively higher yokes. Height proved advantageous here, with several competitors clearing all four heights with remarkable speed. The Breakers’ athlete moved so quickly that an announcer quipped, “I think somebody needs to check his bag because I don’t think he has the same weight as everybody else.”

In the muscle-up ringer point, the Breakers’ Reece Lyons demonstrated superior technique against Dainier Lanzaque, who appeared to aggravate a recent shoulder injury and couldn’t finish.

The Jack and Jill event focused on rope climbs of increasing difficulty, culminating in L-sit rope climbs to a 13-foot target. Brandon Schipper’s strength from professional water skiing became evident here, helping the Palms secure their first race win of the day, a crucial confidence booster.

Both the Women’s and Men’s Triads featured barbell clusters, freestanding handstand push-ups, burpees over boxes, dumbbell shoulder-to-overhead movements, and handstand walks. The Breakers showcased impressive handstand walk consistency, “never kicking down during transitions,” while the Palms managed to finish under the time cap in both events to salvage points.

The Sprint Relay served as the final challenge, incorporating a suicide run, snatches, L-sit rope climbs, triple unders, dumbbell overhead squats, burpees to rings, freestanding handstand push-ups, and heavy clusters. Despite a challenge flag from the Palms regarding depth on the final clusters, the Breakers completed the race first, putting an exclamation point on their performance.

When the final scores were tallied, the Palm Beach Breakers emerged victorious with a 18-9 win over the South Beach Palms. This victory kept the Breakers undefeated for the season, continuing what one announcer called “really a Cinderella story from being one of the losingest teams in the league to now being one of the winningest.” The Palms, meanwhile, earned valuable points in several close races despite the overall defeat.

The Palms are the official South Beach team of the United Grid League.

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