EVERETT, Wash. — If she's looking for a nickname, Everett's Anna Christensen might go with "The Dragon."
"Got to do it. It's still fun. Still part of who I am," says the American Ninja Warrior competitor of her other hobby, fire breathing.
She might also answer to Tarzan after her upbringing in Chimacum. "I was your basic raised as Tarzan child. I grew up in the woods. I ran around the forest. I climbed everything I could find. I fell asleep in the trees. Ninja was sort of a natural progression into adulthood for me?"
The show's appearance in Tacoma this weekend is a thrill. She gets to wow a hometown crowd. "It's finally here! It's in my home state, which I am incredibly proud to represent."
This will be her third American Ninja Warrior competition. She finished sixth in season nine. This single mom started watching to connect with her two kids "because it was like the one show where everyone is like, 'yes let's watch this!' My mom came by one time and watched with us and was like, 'Anna you could do that.'"
She has been jumping, swinging, leaping and balancing her entire life. And as a construction worker, she's often up on skyscrapers. She even helped build the 99 Tunnel.
She was into climbing and parkour when she sent in her audition tape to the show. Hanging upside-down from a pull-up bar, she says, "Hi! I'm Anna and I want to be the next American Ninja Warrior!" Her reaction when she first got the call? "I should probably work out.'"
Which she can do anytime she wants now in her boyfriend's garage. "For Valentine's Day (he) gave me space to do ninja." Inside the two-car space is a peg-board and balls and bags hanging from the ceiling. There are angled boards to jump off from side to side. And a punching bag she can hug after swinging from a ring. "Those are my vines!" says Tarzan Anna.
Oh and how about the backyard fire-breathing? Does that help her Ninja training? "No. Not at all." But it's still something she loves.
Watch Anna and 20 other competitors from the Northwest at the Tacoma Dome this weekend. The show airs on KING-TV June 24.
And if YOU want to try, Anna is organizing a Ninja Warrior Competition June 1st and 2nd for adults AND kids at Ronin Training in Covington.
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