SIX NATIONS — The home of a new ninja warrior training program at Six Nations is nearing completion and the park’s beginnings were shown off during the first Warrior Park Athletics Meet & Greet this weekend.
Guests at the park were invited to register their children for this summer’s 4 week-long fitness programs. Altogether the park will be training about 200 youth from June through to September.
Warrior Park Athletics President Micheal Hill is still in the beginning phase of getting the Six Nations permanent structure in place – it is set to arrive and begin installation on June 17th.
The program is now full and hosting a free month for youth from mid-June to July with the help of community sponsors.
“The ninja warrior style course provides excellent strength building play. It’s the ultimate workout that provides challenging full body engagement. It also is a perfect measuring tool. Kids will get to see their improvements through conquering obstacles that at first presented resistance,” said Hill.
And he’s already got big plans for the future — including a vision to get a mobile park together to travel to other First Nations communities to give more on-Rez youth a weekend ninja warrior experience.
“Our travelling expansion will happen this fall. We will be fundraising to provide athletic wear for the communities we visit. It is our goal to have a dedicated crew that does this consistently through all of next season. Our crew will will include certified trainers, coaches a registered dietitian, social worker and volunteers,” said Hill.
The mobile program will have two sections offering a total of 4 obstacles with the ability of swapping them out for an all new set on the next day. “We will do exactly what we do at our park: 30 minutes of group exercising followed by warrior obstacle training. While the kids are hard at play the parents will have the opportunity to learn practical healthier alternatives in food selection and preparation.”
Megan Martin and Taylor Hodgeson are two volunteers with the program who were at this weekend’s Meet & Greet. They estimated about 100 guests came to visit the park over the weekend.
Hill said as the date for the program launch nears he is grateful for all the volunteers and donors who are helping the park become a reality and says he is “grateful for all the support from local businesses and volunteers.”
“The Team is really excited we just finished up a meeting and will be doing some practice runs Thursday,” said Hill.
Hill was very grateful to all the sponsors who have helped the vision for Warrior Park Athletics become a reality.
Just two days before the Open House, Hill said 10 volunteers helped to place 15,000 square feet of sod to make the park visitor ready.
“Thank you to all the business that played a part in making this a reality. To Maegan Martin and Bon Hill who have been putting in countless volunteer hours. To Taylor for being supportive of long hours and taking over everything other than the park. A huge thank you to my Unk Kenny Hill who has been a great mentor to me and has helped out greatly. This program is here — it has been a lot of people’s obsession — and it has been motivated by pure love for our future,” said Hill.
