About Us
Located south of downtown Orlando, Obstacle Ninja Academy (ONA) aims to provide a destination for locals and tourists alike. With rainstorms and humidity a constant reality, the space was designed to take advantage of a dry, air-conditioned facility.
ONA is open 7 days a week to provide members and guests a safe and entertaining environment in which to challenge their abilities and improve their skills. Our staff members have competed in American Ninja Warrior, providing useful and authentic insight to help you improve.
Staff
-
Avery Glantz
Avery has been doing ninja for 5+ years and is a 3x American Ninja Warrior athlete. Coming from 10 years of gymnastics, Avery quickly got into ninja and appeared on season 2 of Ninja Warrior Jr. before making her debut on the big stage. She recently moved from PA to FL for college (Go Knights!).
-
Brady Parks
Before doing ninja, Brady was a gymnast for 6 years competing in both regional and state competitions. After competing in the first season of American Ninja Warrior Jr, Brady abandoned gymnastics to pursue ninja as a full time sport. Since then, he has competed in many competitions at a pro level all across the country, most recently claiming second place in the National Ninja League Elite division of the World Championships!
-
Caitlin McDonough
Caitlin is a sophomore at Windermere High School and has been doing ninja for 5 years. She has played several sports, including volleyball, but she currently focuses on ninja. Caitlin competes at pro level competitions and hopes to one day be on the show American Ninja Warrior. She loves coaching younger kids and enjoys rock climbing, strength training, hanging out with her friends, and arts and crafts.
-
Caitlin Reichel
Caitlin Reichel was fortunate enough to be born and raised into a circus family. Until the age of 8, her family traveled with different circuses including Ringling Brothers and Barnum and Bailey circus. Her family then moved to Florida where she began her training with the Orlando Ballet School Academy. Caitlin trained with OBSA six days a week and was a part of many of the professional company's productions. Currently Caitlin travels the world doing circus events but calls Orlando home. She’s been from Japan to Jamaica. Performing at theme parks, music festivals, USO tours, NBA halftime shows, international corporate events and many productions home in Orlando. She really enjoys teaching on her down time. Breaking down technique to all ages helps grow any performer. When Caitlin is not performing or coaching others, she hones in her entertainment knowledge by being a technician. She is part of the props and carpentry department for Cirque Du Soleil’s Drawn To Life.
-
Jay Lewis
Jay Lewis (or Jay Lache) has been doing ninja for the past 9 years. He's a 4x National Finalist on American Ninja Warrior and has made it as far as Stage 4 on the show. Along with competing on ANW, Jay was lucky enough to compete on Ninja Warrior Germany as apart of Team USA in the 4 Nations Special, and helped USA take home the win in 2022. Outside of the TV shows, Jay was the WNL Elite World Champion in 2021 and placed 3rd at this year’s Ninja Sport Championship. He has been coaching ninja for the past 5 years and loves being able to help people enjoy this sport!
-
Jay Martinez
Jay Martinez is an exceptional certified personal trainer with extensive experience in group and one-on-one training. His areas of expertise include acrobatics, parkour, fitness, and ninja training. Jay possesses a solid background in gymnastics, enabling him to connect with beginners and individuals transitioning from other sports. His unmatched motivational skills and enthusiastic support make him a remarkable cheerleader for his clients' success.
-
Josh Wagg
Josh Wagg is from Ocala, Florida and has been training Ninja Warrior for five years. He became a certified personal trainer in 2019 and has worked at several gyms as a group fitness instructor and personal trainer since then. Josh has competed on 3 seasons (Seasons 13, 14 and 16) of American Ninja Warrior making it to the Semi-Finals both times. He can’t wait to compete again next year!
-
Kristy Reichel
Aerial Duo Trapeze and Aerial Silks
-
Luke Dillon
Luke Dillon is a 4x ANW Competitor and National Finalist! He has a background in gymnastics and loves climbing as well. Luke has been coaching ninja for 6 years. He's 22 and from Warwick, Rhode Island. Luke is looking forward to being a part of the team at ONA!
-
Olivia Lopez
Olivia Lopez has been doing ninja for 6 years now and she is currently a sophomore at Olympia High School. She is on the varsity weightlifting team at her school and was on American Ninja Warrior Junior Season 3. Olivia is a 2x WNL World Champion and also a 1x FINA World Champion. In her free time, she enjoys weightlifting, rock climbing, playing with her dog, hanging out with friends, and building new things.
-
Riley Broadhurst
Riley is 18 years old from North Florida. He is attending the University of Central Florida on the path to becoming a doctor. Riley loves sharks, ninja, volleyball, and spending time with family and friends. He has been training for ninja warrior for almost 7 years and doesn't plan to stop anytime soon.
-
Ripken Alexander
Ripken Alexander has been training ninja for almost 4 years. He competes at the elite level in both WNL and NSC. Outside of ninja, Ripken enjoys gaming and hanging out with friends. He is a junior at Boone High School and hopes to go to college for film.
-
Taylor Penman
Taylor Penman was a competition dancer for 12 years starting her professional performer career at 18 as a dancer on Royal Caribbean Cruise Lines. She then moved to Las Vegas to continue her dance career becoming a Las Vegas Show Girl and venturing into the circus world. After extensive time and training she then moved to San Diego, CA to perform as a featured Aerialist in a circus show at Sea World San Diego. From there she decided to take her performance career to Orlando, FL to become and Dancer at Universal Studios. While living in Orlando she has continued to expand her career path as a Aerial Trainer for Royal Caribbean Cruise Lines, Stunt Performer and Show Rigger for Universal Studios, a Stunt performer for Telemundo, Stunt performer and Coordinator Assistant for Disney Cruise Lines, and a Tumbling Stunt performer at Disney World. While doing so, she hasn’t stopped her constant training on many apparatuses in the Aerial Arts, performing all around the world with companies and touring shows as a Professional Aerialist. Taylor is working hard and staying safe at her current stunt performing jobs at Disney World and Universal Studios, while growing her Duo trapeze and Duo adagio acts as Duo Dames with her circus partner performing across the world. Taylor loves to stay busy but always finds time to enjoy the best parts of life.
-
Michelle and Robin Lopez
Michelle and Robin handle a large portion of the “behind-the-scenes” operations for ONA. Michelle keeps everyone in line and on-time and makes sure the paychecks go out.
Robin fills in as needed with coaching vacancies and helps design and build new obstacles for the gym when he’s not working with Michelle on the office side of the business.