Jaden Miki, a grade 11 student at Riverside Secondary, is an athlete who has been at Momentum Ninja for two years. Miki came first place in his most recent competitions in Squamish in early November. Miki loves competitions because the courses are always different and are always challenging. He added that cheering on teammates and watching other competitors is the best part. He said he loves the sport because you can always be challenged and can always challenge others to see who can complete the challenge first.
A key part of being a ninja competitor is to be composed under stress and pressure; this is because performing in front of an audience makes it hard to keep focused and can be terrifying. This sport requires strength, speed, balance, and full-body control over where your body is in time and space while in the air. The sports that translate very well to Ninja Warrior competitions are parkour and rock-climbing. Some other sports that would translate well into Ninja would be gymnastics, track and field, and calisthenics.
One of the head coaches, Michael Chow, has been coaching at Momentum Ninja for two years. Chow went to SFU for Kinesiology, where he did a practicum in his third year. “I wanted to do something more hands-on. This was my first time ever doing Ninja Warrior and it was great!” said Chow. He came into the sport with a parkour background, which has a high risk of injury. Parkour usually takes place in urban areas. It involves running, jumping, and climbing different types of structures.
After three months of working at Momentum Ninja, Chow was hired as the competitive team coach and still is to this day.
Momentum Ninja Training Center provides fun for all ages and all families. It is a place to let loose your inner ninja. The gym opened on July 1, 2017, and was formally known as VanCity OCR, which was more for obstacle courses, such as the Tough Mudder. Under new ownership, they had changed the name to Momentum Ninja. Momentum Ninja’s competitive team has been very successful in the past two years. The team has athletes ranging from ages from 6 to 40+. There are around 35 top-level athletes. Most of these athletes have competed at the world-class level.
The sport of ninja has grown in Canada. Ninja started in Japan many years ago, and slowly moved into America, resulting in a show called American Ninja Warrior. Now Ninja Warrior is known all around the world. According to Suske Pedia on Fandom.com. The United Kingdom, France, Germany, Croatia, Greece, Australia, New Zealand, Italy, Finland, Malaysia, Mexico, Spain, Serbia, Denmark, Singapore, Indonesia, Turkey, and South Africa, along with Japan, The United States, and Canada all have started to play this sport.
