Rainsville Native, Aubriella Hairston, a 12-year-old student of Plainview School, recently competed in the Alabama State Games in the Ninja Obstacles Division and took home the gold medal. Her training is paying off.According to Chris Hairston, Aubriella’s dad, “the Alabama State Games are held every two years where a wide variety of sports are included in the various competitions, where anyone in the state can go and compete in any sport they want. In 2019, Ninja obstacles were added for the first time. Since this was the first year including the Ninja obstacles, Aubriella got to go to the opening ceremonies and do a few obstacles as a demonstration.”
Aubriella recalled, “I was watching American Ninja Warriors on the television, and I saw a woman named Casey in the adult show that made it up the warped wall. I told my dad, ‘I want to do that.’ So I started gymnastics.”
Chris explained, “Aubriella said that she wanted to do Ninja Warrior when she got older. At that time, you had to be 18 to compete. So I told her, ‘The women that are winning were gymnasts, so let’s get you some training, and when you get older you can start training for Ninja.’ Then they came out with this kids version on TV, so as soon as she saw that she wanted to start training.
been working hard for a few years for it.”
So in 2014, at the age of 7, Aubriella Hairston began taking gymnastics at a gym in Fort Payne. Then in December 2018, she began going to Huntsville’s Ninja Obstacle Academy, 2-3 days a week, for 2-hour sessions in Ninja training. The sessions include an hour of intensive workouts and conditioning, then the last portion of the session is when they get to work/play on the Ninja Obstacles. In addition to the gym training sessions, Aubriella also works 1-2 hours at home every day on the 15 obstacle course that they have constructed there.
Through the Ninja Obstacle Academy, Aubriella became aware of the Alabama State Games, as the competition was held there at her home gym. She also has qualified to compete in the World Ninja Competition that will be held in Prior Lake, Minnesota beginning on July 25. Qualifying for the World Competition first required a competitor to place in the top 50% of an area competition. The Area Competition was held at Ninja Obstacle Academy in Huntsville, and Aubriella was the winner. That win moved her on to the Regional Competition that was held in Murfreesboro, Tennessee. The top three winners of the Regional Competition were the only ones that would move on the World Competition. Again, Aubriella came out on top and secured her spot in the World Competition.
In addition to the World Competition, Aubriella will also compete in the State Games of America that will be held in Lynchburg, Virginia, on August 2.
Mountain Valley News would like to take this opportunity to congratulate Aubriella on her recent wins and wish her good luck in the upcoming Competition. Keep up the good work. Her training is paying off.