Fourteen-year-old Jess Wombles was supposed to fly to Las Vegas, Nevada, this weekend to compete in the 2020 World Ultimate Ninja Athletic Association — but the coronavirus has even nixed ninja competitions.
When I last saw Jess in my husband’s Sunday School class a few weeks ago, she was prepared and excited to compete. The cancellation was a blow.
“The (2020 UNAA) Worlds being cancelled is an absolute devastation for me, since I had been training for it for so long,” Jess said. But she quickly returned to positivity when asked her favorite competition areas.
“No one knows what the course is until they get there, but I am specifically good at laches,” she said. —pronounced “lashays”. The petite Center Grove High School freshman went on to explain: “Laches are when you are swinging on one bar, and throw yourself to another bar to catch it. My record for how far I can lache is 9 1/2 feet.” Jess happens to be 5 feet 1 inch — “currently,” she said.
Jess became interested in the competition when she watched “American Ninja Warrior” on television for the first time at my neighbors’ house — the Earls. She remembers it was around 2015 when she really got into the show, watching it just about every day, she said.
“The intense rush of adrenaline I would get when it was just the competitor and the wall was so powerful to me and I would always go into the back yard to try and do stuff for ninja,” she said. “Just about anything was a course for me. My dad built me a small course in the backyard with a salmon ladder and some ledges to hold onto.”
She currently trains six days a week with specific ninja training at the Train Yard 317, a specialized gym located on the west side of Indianapolis.
Currently a cheerleader for Center Grove’s fall squad football season, Jess said, “I’ve been an athletic person for as long as I can remember, having participated in a variety of sports: softball, competitive cheer, school cheer, American ninja warrior, gymnastics, and soccer. Me and my dad still wrestle all the time in the living room,” adding in jest, “although he rarely ever wins anymore.”
Jess’ encouragement comes from parents Mike and Melissa Wombles. Melissa works as a physical therapist assistant and Mike is an international pilot for Delta Airlines. Jess adds:
“Dad flies the A330 — I plan to follow his path in life. I haven’t decided if I want to become a commercial pilot just like him — I have wanted to ever since I was 6 — or if I should be an Air Force fighter pilot even though that is a very hard job to get into,” she said.
Jess hopes to go to Purdue University to earn her bachelor’s degree to be a pilot. “I’ve been flying little planes ever since I was little and I plan to solo the day I turn 16,” she said.
At 14, Jess has had the opportunity to travel all around the world. She has been to Europe many times, including visits to London, Prague, Budapest, Ireland, Paris, Spain, Hungry, Czech Republic, Amsterdam and Italy. In addition, she has traveled to Japan and the Caribbean.
“It really is an eye opener for me to experience different cultures,” she said.
Jess is especially looking forward to Thanksgiving since her older sister Meg recently moved away to college to go to Lipscomb University. “It has been hard living without her but she is coming home for Thanksgiving all the way up until Jan. 14,” she said. “Meg’s goal is to get on Broadway and I really am proud of her — I believe in her and I will always be her number one supporter.”
Ninja Jess’ favorite movies and books include series such as “Maze Runner,” “Hunger Games,” “Harry Potter” and “Divergent.”
“Honestly ‘Divergent’ has helped me overcome my fears in the gym because the goal isn’t to get over your fears, it’s to only pretend they aren’t there,” she said.
