Warrior competitor a hit with youths

On Wednesday Edgerton Elementary kindergarteners, fourth and fifth graders became ninja warriors as they bounded from one obstacle to the next in a course adapted from the NBC competition series, “American Ninja Warrior.”

Students had an inside perspective from a real American Ninja Warrior competitor — Dan Holguin of Kalispell, who set up scaled-down versions of the obstacles encountered on the show.

Holguin, who made it to “city finals” in season seven and will compete again in season eight, stirred up excitement among students, especially a group of fourth-graders who clustered around him to get his autograph.

“Each year over 50,000 people submit applications,” Holguin said, answering a fourth-grader’s question about how he got on the show. “I sent in a video saying, ‘Hi, I’m Dan from Kalispell, Montana,’” eliciting cheers from the students.

In his day job, Holguin is the personal training director at Access Fitness in Kalispell. His motivation for going around to schools is showing students alternative ways to have fun with fitness.

“I want to show you guys that it doesn’t have to necessarily be in a weight room, it doesn’t have to be playing basketball, or volleyball, you can make fitness fun by doing things like obstacle courses,” Holguin said.

Students wanted to find out what it required to make it on the obstacle-based show.

“I train every day seven days a week and I’m doing something different, whether I’m rock climbing, whether I’m doing balance obstacles like on these bricks, but usually I’m hanging from my hands building up grip strength,” Holguin said.

Fourth-grader Dylan Fix is a big fan of the show. His favorite American Ninja Warrior obstacle is Cannonball Alley. His favorite competitor is Kevin Bull.

“He’s a le-gend,” Fix said emphatically.

Fix had just finished a horizontal peg-wall obstacle for the second time and was bursting with excitement that he made it farther.

In this obstacle, a permanent fixture in the gym, students hold and hang from two pegs. Using upper body strength, Fix moved across the board by moving one peg at a time into holes while Access Fitness trainer John Kirton supervised.

Nearby, fourth-grader Gabryella Allreb climbed with ease up a rope tied to a basketball hoop. Allreb said this was her favorite obstacle since she enjoys climbing the rope at a gymnastics gym. The most difficult obstacle, she said was the infamous Cannonball Alley, where she had to swing across a short distance holding a wooden dowel and baseballs secured by chains.

In the show, competitors also swing across a distance, but hold differently sized balls arranged on an incline or decline.

After finishing Cannonball Alley, fifth-grader Dakoda Flagg, wearing a T-shirt with the Superman emblem, raised his arms in the air cheering like a champion.

Moving onto another obstacle that required him to roll across the floor on a thick PVC pipe, he was a bit shakier. Earlier, Holguin said the key to this obstacle was to “stand tall, make little movements with your feet and keep your feet together.”

Flagg tried again and made it a little farther, which is Holguin’s exact goal for competing a second time in American Ninja Warrior.

Fifth-grader Yayne Myers and her friend Grayson Morstein were left laughing after the two raced each other, propelling themselves forward using their hands on the floor with each foot resting on a square scooter board.

“Most of the weight is on your hands for stability,” Myers said.

Myers has watched the show with her family and was excited to share the fact that she worked out with an actual American Ninja Warrior competitor.

“I used to watch it all the time with my parents. My brother used to say, ‘I want to be on that show,’” Myers said, and couldn’t resist mischievously adding with a giggle, “I can’t wait to rub it in their faces.”

The pair moved on to an obstacle that looked simple enough but was tough — balancing each leg on separate ropes without touching the floor, which they are asked to imagine is scalding lava, according to Access Fitness trainer Christi Bowden.

Balance was the key here and on another obstacle where students tried to balance as they stepped across bricks placed on their sides without toppling them over.

Physical education teachers Cody Bowman and Kayleen Uibel watched as students made the rounds. “They loved it,” Uibel said, adding, “The kids at Edgerton are super fit.”

Hilary Matheson is a reporter for The Daily Inter Lake. She may be reached at 758-4431 or hmatheson@dailyinterlake.com.