Our Story
Bellingham locals Becca Margulies and Jadyn Welch founded Life Force Ninja in September 2019 with the goals to bring the sport of ninja to Bellingham and to promote a healthy active lifestyle. Bellingham and surrounding areas quickly took to the sport, and before we knew it, ninja became so much more than just an activity – it grew into a community of amazing kids and adults that have all connected with each other through movement. Ninja has truly become a way of life for many of those that come to play, train, and compete at Life Force Ninja.
Meet Our Team
Becca Margulies
Co-Owner/Ninja Coach
Becca is a big kid at heart who believes in the power of play, no matter your age. As a kid her family encouraged her to try many different sports, including: gymnastics, figure skating, whitewater kayaking, snowboarding, and mountain biking. Becca fell in love with ninja when she and her partner Jadyn were looking for fun ways to get fit. They saw a need in the Bellingham community, and Life Force Ninja was born in 2019. Becca is so excited to work with kids of all ages (adults, that means you too) and to help build Bellingham’s ninja community.
World Ninja League Certified Coach
Crossfit Level 1 Certified
CPR & AED Certified
Jadyn Welch
Co-Owner/Ninja Coach
Jadyn has always been a bit of a ninja, from doing capoeira as a pre-teen, breakdancing in high school, and mountain biking later in life. Around age 34, Jadyn discovered the sport of ninja along with his partner and sweetheart Becca. The two of them immediately fell in love with the sport. Not only does it make you feel like a big kid, it‘s also incredibly physically demanding, and SO MUCH FUN! Jadyn coaches our Advanced competitive team, and is non-stop tinkering with obstacles, creating new hair-brained challenges for our ninjas to try their hand at. He competes in UNAA and NNL leagues, and maybe one day he’ll make an appearance on "the show", aka American Ninja Warrior.
World Ninja League Certified Coach
Crossfit Level 1 Certified
CPR & AED Certified
Ary Dulfur
Ninja Coach
Ary grew up playing baseball, from the time he could walk to his freshman year in college. Shortly after, he switched gears to focus on parkour. In 2021 he competed for the first time in Speed and Style comps. By early 2022, he competed at the USA Parkour Cup in Tampa, FL where he placed 3rd in Speed and made it to the Style finals. Ary enjoys competition and aspires to compete in Redbull Art of Motion one day.
Presently, Ary is a freerunner, parkourist, traceur, or whichever name you prefer for a practitioner of parkour. He is a kinesiology major Western Washington University. When he isn’t in the gym or in classes, Ary is probably cooking up something tasty, reading, training parkour, or hanging with the Bham Parkour Club.
World Ninja League Certified Coach
USAG Certified
CPR & AED Certified
Gillian Gormley
Ninja Coach
Gillian spent her childhood and teen years practicing martial arts and competitive figure skating. She began teaching Learn-to-Skate classes to the kids at her home rink from 2014-2016, until she hung up her skates to get a mathematics degree at WSU. After graduating, she worked at a 9Round Kickboxing gym in the Tri-Cities, WA, until she left to live in Vermont as an Innkeeper.
Gillian moved to Bellingham in June 2022 and discovered Ninja when she joined the team at Life force Ninja. One day, she aspires to get her Personal Trainer‘s Certification and open a Rocksteady Boxing Class for Parkinson’s patients in Bellingham.
When she‘s not working at Life Force, she works part-time at Whatcom Community College as the International Homestay Coordinator. In her free time, she’s probably making art, practicing Muay Thai, or hanging out with her cat.
World Ninja League Certified Coach
CPR & AED Certified
Sam Irvine
Ninja Coach
Sam was born in Seattle and moved up to Whatcom county at an early age. He began rock climbing around the age of 10. Fortunately he found Life Force Ninja when he was 13 years old and has been hooked ever since. He has become a diehard ninja athlete, and risen to the top level Elite Level 5 team at Life Force.
Outside of ninja, Sam is a senior in high school, Marvel fanatic, avid reader, and animal lover. He is preparing to make the jump to college next year with a focus in scientific fields.
Sam is always willing to help others, whether in academics or at Life Force. He loves to help people grow and reach their ninja potential.
World Ninja League Certified Coach
Tanner Smith
Gym Attendant
Snowboarder, bowler, and ninja goofball, Tanner is a multi-faceted man with a big heart. After falling head over heels for Bellingham while on a visit at WWU, Tanner applied to Western and only one backup school. Tanner moved to Bellingham in the fall of 2020, and took a coaching job the next summer. This helped Tanner find a love of coaching and working with kids. Tanner joined the Life Force Ninja crew in 2022 and has loved working on his ninja skills.
Tanner brandishes a big smile while on the job and loves to help people learn and overcome obstacles in the gym. You can tell which coach is Tanner because he‘ll most likely be telling jokes with the kids or making weird animal noises trying to get a laugh. While living in Bellingham, Tanner found a passion for cinema and now has his sights set on going to film school in the future. When Tanner’s not in the gym, you can either find him bowling, snowboarding on Mount Baker, or watching movies with his friends.
CPR & AED Certified
Our Facility
Life Force Ninja’s 18,000 square foot facility boasts a robust ninja playground with over 70 different obstacle challenges on any given day. With features such as an 18′ tall mega warped wall, an air bag with obstacles overhead, a climbing wall, and 3,500 sq ft of ninja lanes, Life Force Ninja is one of the most well-equipped ninja gyms in the Pacific Northwest. We have hundreds of obstacles at our disposal, which means we can create infinite configurations at our gym. We are always building new obstacles, keeping us on the cutting edge of what’s challenging today’s best ninjas.
We Are Builders
One of the reasons Life Force Ninja is truly special: we build most of the obstacles that you get to play and train on. From concept drawings, to design in CAD, to production, we do just about all of it right here at our gym. Our obstacle build lab houses many specialized tools, including a CNC router. In a matter of hours, we can come up with a new obstacle idea, and have it hanging on the course by day’s end. And did we mention how much we LOVE to build obstacles??? It’s just as fun to build as it is to play! We are always scheming on the next new obstacle, which means those coming to our gym are constantly treated with new toys and challenges. Ultimately, this gives our ninjas an unparalleled opportunity to continue advancing their skills.
Get in touch
Do you have questions about our programming or schedule? Maybe you’re interested in planning a Life Force Ninja birthday party or corporate event. Whatever it is, we’re happy to answer any of your questions. Please send us a message here, and we’ll do our best to answer as soon as possible.