About
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. Many of our staff members have competed on American Ninja Warrior and in other pro level competitions and love to share their knowledge and experience through coaching classes and private lessons.
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!).
Caitlin McDonough
Caitlin McDonough is a junior at Windermere High School and has been doing ninja for around 6 years. She currently competes in several pro level competitions through WNL and NSC and plays several other sports as well. Caitlin loves working with younger kids and teaching them various ninja skills through ONA’s Ninja Minis Program and also enjoys coaching our weekly kids classes. She is excited to continue growing the sport through coaching!
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, AKA Jay Lache, has been doingninja for 10 years. He’s a 5 time NationalFinalist on American Ninja Warrior and hasmade it to the iconic Stage 4 rope climb!He was WNL Elite World Champion in 2021 and took 3rd at the NSN Championships in 2024. Jay is also currently a senior at UCF majoring in Integrated Business. Jay has been coaching ninja for 6 years and loves to help people enjoy the 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.
Brandon Anderson
Brandon Anderson is a sophomore at the University of Central Florida studying forensic science. He has been training for 7 years now and has competed at the WNL, FINA and UNAA worlds throughout the years. Brandon is originally from Orange Park, Florida, and, outside of ninja, he enjoys rock climbing, acting and singing.
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 7
years and is a Junior at Olympia
High School. She is on the Varsity
Weightlifting team and flag football team. She also competed on Season 3 of American Ninja Warrior Jr.
Olivia is a 2x WNL World Champion as
well as 1x FINA World Champion. In her
free time, she enjoys weightlifting, rock
climbing, playing with her dog, hanging
out with friends, and playing football.
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 6+ years. He competes at the elite level in both WNL and NSC. His favorite thing to train is any bar tech. Outside of Ninja, Ripken enjoys pickleball, gaming, and traveling. He is currently attending UCF and majoring in sports video production.
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.