LAC LA BICHE - While many people are slowly beginning their New Year’s resolutions by hitting the gym and eating healthier, one Lac La Biche woman is climbing walls and racing through obstacle courses as a ninja warrior competitor.
And Marlee Brownlie hopes the new year will bring new warriors looking to recharge their minds and bodies. The local woman is hoping to create a ninja training centre in the region.
“Unlike many other sports, ninja works your entire body from fingertips to feet. It tests your balance and your cardio at the same time,” Brownlie told Lakeland This Week. “This sport will challenge anyone who wants to lead a healthy and active lifestyle and have fun with friends and family at the same time.”
A ninja training centre differs from a regular gym, with Brownlie saying that it can be considered like a giant play structure for those of all ages, challenging strength, endurance, and mental fortitude. Another aspect of the sport she likes is that it allows her to set goals and exceed personal limits.
Each course has a metal base structure called a rig that has the potential to be as large or small as space allows. According to Brownlie, ninja gyms with more space will also integrate cargo ropes, warped walls, balance beams, and various swinging and floor obstacles.
“The objective is to complete all the challenges on a specific rig designed for your ability or age and beat the clock,” she explained. “I have enjoyed many sports over the years, and none will push the limits like ninja can. Yet a ninja rig can be a place to connect with family, friends, and coworkers.”
Brownlie made her foray into the world of ninja sport training last year during a visit to a Red Deer fitness centre.
To her surprise, the ninja gym inside Goodlife Fitness was empty, and she had free reign to try out everything as many times as she wanted with no audience.
“Within the first few minutes, I was on a Ninja high,” she said. “I felt like a little kid in a jungle, swinging and jumping from obstacle to obstacle.”
Brownlie made good use of her time in the ninja gym, trying out the various pieces of equipment all around her, some, including an obstacle pole retriever system known as a ‘salmon ladder’. Already physically fit from playing various sports since she was a child, the newbie to the world of ninja sport training had no issues running up the small, warped wall. After a few attempts at the 14’ foot wall, she was standing on top of that, too.
“The salmon ladder had to be the icing on the cake for me,” she said, reminiscing about that experience. “It was so exhilarating to use my body and strength like that, and I stayed until my hands ripped open and I ran out of power.”
Only 20 days after attempting ninja for the first time, Brownlie competed in the Head-to-Head Amateur Women division during the Canadian Ninja League Nationals, which took place in Edmonton on Nov. 24.
“It was an exhilarating experience that I'll never forget,” she said. “Even more impressive was that everyone cheered for every competitor. I was speechless at the connections I had made and the support I received, having only been a Ninja for a couple of weeks. I walked away with a keepsake poster and signatures from all my new Ninja family that I will forever cherish.”
With one competition under her belt, she has now set her sights on competing in the qualifying rounds for the Nationals being held at the end of the month in Edmonton. If she places in the top five for her division, she can compete at the stage 2 qualifiers.
Ninja-business
With limited access to ‘ninja’ equipment in her home community, Brownlie has been using the climbing wall at Portage College for training — but she is hoping to climb the sport to greater heights
Motivated by the belief that area residents would benefit from a ninja gym, Brownlie has been creating a proposal to open a training centre. She has a Lac La Biche Ninja social media presence, and she has developed a brief survey to determine interest not only within Lac La Biche, but the greater Lakeland region. She's also been discussing the plan with municipal officials.
Possible locations, costs, liability, and staffing are all still ideas being worked out, but as a person who leaps hurdles, swings across empty spaces, and climbs seemingly insurmountable barriers, a few more obstacles in the gameplan aren’t going to slow her down.
With the new year just beginning, Brownlie says discussions are on-going as she continues with her own resolution to bring ninja to the Lakeland.
The Canadian Ninja League national qualifier in Edmonton will be held at the Elemental Ninja training centre on January 20 and 21. The Edmonton event is one of seven western Canadian qualifying events held over the next two months. In northern Alberta, a qualifier will also be held at Fort McMurray’s TotalFit Ninja Warrior centre on February 15. Registration for all ages of competitors at each Stage 1 qualifier is $45. Winning qualifiers will move on to the Stage 2 events held in March.
The CNL finals for western Canada will be held in Port Coquitlam, B.C. in mid-April.
