Family Open Gym available on Saturdays Bring the whole family to an open gym & play together! When: Saturdays 11:30-1:30pm Pricing: $30 for 2 people ($15 each); $10 each for 3rd, 4th, 5th....person. (except special events, double check the schedule before coming) There must be at least one adult participating if any participating family member is 12 or younger. There must be at least one adult for every 3 participants 12 or younger, e.g. 2 adults for 6 youth. Memberships can be used for this open gym & you don't have to be related to everyone in your group! (Software only allows the non-discounted drop-ins to register online. You can add people at the gym for the discounted price or contact us ahead of time.) |
I had three friends all in one week tell me about this TV show called 'American Ninja Warrior'. "You'd love it!" they all said with excitement! After the third friend told me about it, I looked it up, watched it, and fell in love with it! I didn't see any women competing though, so I wondered, 'are women allowed to do it?' When they showed the Vegas Finals of season 4, my mom and I paused the show to look at a freeze frame, and see if there were any women in the photo of 100 ninjas who were competing in Vegas that year. We found 3! That week I told several people about Ninja Warrior, and that I wanted to try it. Two people told me, "you're strong, but I don't know if you're THAT strong!" I thought I could do it, but wanted to find out. I looked up Ninja Warrior on facebook, and found a post about a gym called "Movement Lab" in New Jersey. The owner Chris Wilczewski, said I could come anytime to try the obstacles, so a friend and I took a 9 hour trip there. I got the salmon ladder the first try, and Chris told me he had never seen a female get the salmon ladder. He had never seen a female get his warped wall (one of the hardest ones in the country!), so the next day I set out to get that, and did! I was hooked, and the guys all encouraged me to try out for the show!
I came home and started building obstacles at the climbing gym Vertical Adventures, where I had grown up climbing on and off since 2nd grade. The owners there were good friends, and supported my new love of ninja! I started hosting events there, and for 2 years I hosted about one event a month. We'd start setting up at 6pm, start the event aroud 9pm once the gym was closed, finish competing and playing around 1am, then put everything back away by 3 or 4am. It was exhausting, but exciting, and the community that loved Ninja Warrior was growing. When I hit the buzzer on season 6, NBC highlighted that I hosted events. Right after the episode I got flooded with emails, phone calls, and social media messages asking for more. Asking for kids camps, birthday parties, training classes, and more competitions. I had no clue what to do, but knew there was so much interest, something had to be done. I had never desired to be a gym owner, as I love competing myself and knew it would take away from my personal training and focus. But I also love to serve others and see others find enjoyment, and we had already built up the community so much, and there was so much demand for more, so I felt God directing me to open a gym, and had such peace about it. I was talking with Chris Wilczewski one day, unsure of what to do, and somewhat jokingly (but partially seriously too) asked if they'd want to open up a Movement Lab in Ohio. He said, "Sure!" He double checked with his brother Brian, and Brian said yes!
From there Movement Lab Ohio was born! Chris moved to Columbus for several months to build. Brian helped remotely with the flood of emails and details. Rick Daley joined in as an investor. Many volunteered to help us in the beginning as we were starting with little to nothing. My parents were an incredible help! My mom worked our front desk for about 4 months straight when we were flooded with so many people dropping in to check the place out, or emailing and calling, asking more info. Chris Moran, who had been coming for over a year to our training times at Vertical Adventures, volunteered time to help build. Jesse Wildman contacted me with interest in helping, and joined us with building. Josh Wallis also contacted me and stopped by to help with building, and became a huge help as well. Sean Noel and several others started to join the team, and in time volunteers turned into staff. I started out working almost every class and birthday party for about the first 6 months or so. As our team grew, I started focusing more on the business side of things, while our team kept teaching and growing. I can barely believe it's been over 3 years now since those first days of opening. I am so thankful for God's guidance and direction throughout this entire journey, and for so many along the way who came along side of us and helped us! It truly takes a village to raise a gym!
I came home and started building obstacles at the climbing gym Vertical Adventures, where I had grown up climbing on and off since 2nd grade. The owners there were good friends, and supported my new love of ninja! I started hosting events there, and for 2 years I hosted about one event a month. We'd start setting up at 6pm, start the event aroud 9pm once the gym was closed, finish competing and playing around 1am, then put everything back away by 3 or 4am. It was exhausting, but exciting, and the community that loved Ninja Warrior was growing. When I hit the buzzer on season 6, NBC highlighted that I hosted events. Right after the episode I got flooded with emails, phone calls, and social media messages asking for more. Asking for kids camps, birthday parties, training classes, and more competitions. I had no clue what to do, but knew there was so much interest, something had to be done. I had never desired to be a gym owner, as I love competing myself and knew it would take away from my personal training and focus. But I also love to serve others and see others find enjoyment, and we had already built up the community so much, and there was so much demand for more, so I felt God directing me to open a gym, and had such peace about it. I was talking with Chris Wilczewski one day, unsure of what to do, and somewhat jokingly (but partially seriously too) asked if they'd want to open up a Movement Lab in Ohio. He said, "Sure!" He double checked with his brother Brian, and Brian said yes!
From there Movement Lab Ohio was born! Chris moved to Columbus for several months to build. Brian helped remotely with the flood of emails and details. Rick Daley joined in as an investor. Many volunteered to help us in the beginning as we were starting with little to nothing. My parents were an incredible help! My mom worked our front desk for about 4 months straight when we were flooded with so many people dropping in to check the place out, or emailing and calling, asking more info. Chris Moran, who had been coming for over a year to our training times at Vertical Adventures, volunteered time to help build. Jesse Wildman contacted me with interest in helping, and joined us with building. Josh Wallis also contacted me and stopped by to help with building, and became a huge help as well. Sean Noel and several others started to join the team, and in time volunteers turned into staff. I started out working almost every class and birthday party for about the first 6 months or so. As our team grew, I started focusing more on the business side of things, while our team kept teaching and growing. I can barely believe it's been over 3 years now since those first days of opening. I am so thankful for God's guidance and direction throughout this entire journey, and for so many along the way who came along side of us and helped us! It truly takes a village to raise a gym!