Maybe I should start by introducing myself. For those that haven’t met me yet, my name is Evan and I joined the Willing2Ninja team in early September. My role is primarily Head Coach, but I’m helping on the business side of things as well. I’ll be the one writing the majority of these blogs, but occasionally we might have guest writers from the rest of our team, or maybe even some kids and parents!
A bit about me: I have lived in Armstrong for the past 9 years with my wife and 3 boys (ages almost 8, 6, and 4). We love living here mainly due to the small-town vibes, close beaches, and generally favourable weather. I have a few hobbies that some might call ‘unique’ if they were being polite and ‘super weird’ if they weren’t. I love looking for snakes in the wild. Yes, even rattlesnakes. I also fly a hot air balloon. Yep…small skinny things on the ground and big round things in the sky…I know…weird. In a more normal vein, I love music – both listening and playing it.
Since starting in early September, my journey has been one of fast learning on the fly, but the process has been super fun so far! I love Willing2Ninja’s vision to see kids empowered through movement, and I really believe that our business can make a difference in the health of kids – not just physically but mentally and emotionally as well.
So…what will this blog be about? I anticipate a number of things…sometimes more educational (answering questions that we often get like “what’s the difference between ninja and gymnastics or martial arts?), some might be focused on our values and why we do what we do here, some might highlight certain kids and their ninja achievements, and some might just be for fun!
At W2N we have 5 core values:
Willing 2 Be Brave
Willing 2 Face Failure
Willing 2 Be Kind
Willing 2 Do Your Best
Willing 2 Have Fun
We try to incorporate these values into every single one of our programs because we believe that they are a great foundation to a healthy life. We try to instil them into every kid who comes through our doors…and quite honestly, we hope that parents and adults catch onto them too.
The actual obstacle part of Ninja is super fun. I (and our other coaches) like jumping over vault boxes and swinging on trapeze bars just as much as the kids do. But through physical obstacles and fitness training, we are trying to make a deeper impact. If you’ve been following us for a while, I’m sure you’ve heard us say “its about more than Ninja” at least a few times. We really believe that. We think these programs help kids build resilience and strong character that they can take with them into life.
Hopefully that’s a good starting point. If you’ve stumbled onto this blog via the world wide web I hope that gives you a nice clear picture of what we’re all about at Willing2Ninja. If you’ve been a part of our community for a while, thanks for reading, and I hope this content will keep you entertained and informed!
