Meet Our Ninja Team: Inspiring, Encouraging, Resilient
At the heart of the LEAP community is our Ninja Team. Our team members practice together several times each week to improve their obstacle course skills. Typical practices include a warm-up, obstacle course and skills training, a tough conditioning session, and a cool down. The practices are meant to be both fun and challenging and we love to see kids getting stronger every week.
We encourage all kids, whether they are on team or not, to compete at our local events. For the team kids, we encourage them to try out other regional and national competitions. This past year, many of them have already competed at events in Colorado Springs, Castle Rock, and Denver. Some have even gone on to compete in Las Vegas.
Currently the team is preparing for LEAP's first home competition of the season on October 2-3. We are excited to be hosting an event that is drawing some of the top ninja kids from Colorado. Two of our kids have already qualified for the championship event being hosted in Buffalo, New York in mid October. We want to see more people qualify during our event.
The founder and owner of LEAP, Derek Mitchum, speaks highly of the the team. "We are so excited about our team as they consistently inspire our community with their skills, attitude, and determination. They are eager to help each other get better and genuinely like watching their friends conquer new obstacles. All of our team members are inspiring, encouraging and resilient."
How do kids get on the LEAP ninja team? Our coaches are on the lookout for new team candidates during our regular classes and open gym session. We watch for a combination of skills and attitude before inviting someone to try-out. Typically, an individual has been coming to LEAP and taking classes for a few months before they have the skills needed. They also need to express a desire to be on the tam and we work with them to make sure they know what it will be like and what is expected.
Most kids that come to train at LEAP participate in other sports such as soccer, swimming, basketball, football, wrestling, cross-country, track, dance, and cheer. We feel that the training they get at LEAP can help them with any other sport and we are willing to work around their busy schedules so that they can keep their ninja skills sharp.
In addition, several ninjas have been working hard to get invited to the television show, "American Ninja Warrior Junior". While we did not get any kids invited onto the show for this season, we learned a lot about the application process and we will help kids improve their resumes for the next season. As we grow our presence in the community, we continue to see the value in having a strong team that inspires ninjas of all ages.
Go LEAP Ninjas!
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