Leopold ninjas on a high after worlds

LEOPOLD mother and son ninja duo Michelle and Jett Callanan have arrived home from World Obstacle Sports Expo 23 and say it was a great learning experience.

Mother of two and professional dog groomer Michelle and 13-year-old son Jett spent five days at the Orange County Convention Centre in Orlando from July 26-30 competing in a range of ninja events.

“We were a little bit exhausted when we got back from the USA, but we’ve been on a high from the expo, it was just such a cool experience,” Ms Callanan said.

“It was a little bit overwhelming at moments with five different events going on with all these buzzers going off, but we met some amazing people.

“It only reinforced the notion the ninja community worldwide is just such a great one to be a part of.”

Ms Callanan competed in all five Masters events over five days, placing 10th in the Ninja World Cup, 8th in the World Ninja Athlete Games Championships, 22nd in the UNAA World Series Finals, 7th in the FINA World Finals, and 9th in the Ultimate OCR 3km Championships.

Jett took part in the UNAA and World Cup events and placed 30th in the FINA World Finals.

“There were a few different emotions from the trip, but the main one was definitely the amount of fun I had, it was just a cool thing to be a part of worlds in my first year of doing comps,” Jett said.

“It was a little bit daunting against some of the world’s best junior ninja athletes, but I do ninja for fun, not really to win – maybe a little bit.

“My favourite event was definitely the Ninja World Cup.”

Both have since returned to training at Geelong Ninjas and Essendon-based gym Fighting Lyons.