It only took an ad on television to encourage Gabrielle and Fletcher Manning to compete in the Australian Junior Ninja Games earlier this year.
The competition was held during the school holidays on October 8 at Base Camp in Adelaide, South Australia.
Both 10-year-old Gabrielle and eight-year-old Fletcher had to compete first at the Simulation Centre to qualify for the Australian Junior Ninja Games where Gabrielle came first and Fletcher second.
Their mother Andrea Manning said the siblings had always been passionate about Ninja Games.
“They have always climbed from a young age on anything they could and I’d say the biggest inspiration has been watching the Ninjas on TV especially West Australian ninja Olivia Vivian,” she said.
“The thing they love about it the most is that it doesn’t feel like hard work to them.
“They just enjoy playing and they are also pretty popular among their peers as it’s not a common sport so it’s very intriguing to a lot of people.”
Some of the challenges of the competition included a series of different obstacles for each age group including rope swinging, balance and strength.
Ms Manning said the children loved being in the competition together and going to Adelaide meant a lot to them.
“They both do gymnastics and have done a couple of classes of ninja but all their skill comes from playing on our monkey bars at home pretty much every day,” she said.
Gabrielle has qualified for the World Ninja competition in Dallas, Texas next July but Fletcher is still awaiting confirmation.
