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 the Life Force competitive team, and is non-stop tinkering with obstacles, creating new hair-brained challenges for our ninjas to try their hand at.
World Ninja League Certified Coach
Crossfit Level 1 Certified
CPR & AED Certified
Olivia Boland-Ford
Ninja Coach
Olivia was born and raised in Bellingham Washington. From an early age she had a strong interest in physical movement. She did gymnastics for several years, and practiced fabrics at the circus guild for some time. It was through practicing fabrics she really began to meet and explore the strength and capacity of her own body. Then she found ninja when she was 12 years old and has been devoted ever since.
She loves the ninja sport as it helps develop physical strength and focus. It is a fun and healthy environment where she is challenged to push through her fears and find abilities she didn’t know she had. She also values the amazing ninja community both at Life Force and beyond.
Outside of ninja she loves all things musical, tea by a fire, and curling up with a book and her dog Lulu. She is currently being homeschooled and her focus is in holistic health. She’s preparing to study abroad to become a homeopathic practitioner.
World Ninja League Certified Coach
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
Kalina Keating
Ninja Coach
Kalina has always been moving, taking on many sports in childhood including, gymnastics, parkour, ballet, tap dance, and even martial arts, but she found it hard to stick to one for very long. At age eleven, she found ninja and hasn‘t been able to part with it since. She is enveloped in the ever changing sport because of the balance of upper body strength to lower body agility. The community keeps her happy, and she’s always willing to learn and reach towards new goals.
Aside from ninja she has big dreams of writing, drawing and publishing her own manga series, releasing music, as well as being an artist. During her free time she can be found playing with her dog and cats, reading manga and playing board games with her family. Most of the time she’ll be in her room drawing or writing short stories.
World Ninja League Certified Coach
Tori Purpura
Ninja Coach
Tori grew up playing soccer, training various martial arts and competing in competitive cheer. She then discovered a passion for theatre and went to Willamette University to get a bachelors in theatre with an emphasis in acting. While attending college, she discovered stage combat and began training with the Society of American Fight Directors (SAFD). She graduated in may of 2023 and is currently an advanced actor combatant on her way to becoming a certified teacher with the SAFD.
She discovered ninja shortly after graduation and was immediately hooked. Outside of Life Force, she can be found training in various weapons (martial and stage combat), reading, writing, or pursuing a variety of other hobbies/passions.
CPR & AED Certified
World Ninja League Certified Coach
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 4,500 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.