A local teen is representing New Mexico on the national stage – she’s competing on season 16 of “American Ninja Warrior.”
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — A local teen is representing New Mexico on the national stage — she’s competing on Season 16 of “American Ninja Warrior.”
Out of a pool of 75,000 people who applied to be on the show, 19-year-old Ixchel Valentino was one of more than 100 people selected to be on the show.
Valentino calls herself “the Nerdy Ninja”. When she’s not hanging, flying, or flipping while training at the Ninja Force Gym, she’s spending time with robots.
“I’ve been competing in robotics since I was five,” she said. “Doing anything and everything from programming to construction to promoting our teams.”
Valentino says the two events are quite similar.
“In competing in sports and academics, I’ve found that the mindset for both, I guess, nerdy and athletic, is very, very common. You have to find that happy medium so that your mindset can shift into game mode, you have to block out all the distractions and stay super focused,” she said.
For Valentino, there are no limits – even if you feel dizzy.
“I have like this kind of fight or flight reflex. And I’m so scared. I just, I want to crawl back down,” she said.
She uses this fear as fuel.
“I can use this fight or flight as fuel. I can use it as more energy to compete. And it kind of pushes me to do things that I normally wouldn’t be comfortable doing if it wasn’t in a competitive setting,” Valentino said.
She hopes to beat all odds, no matter their level.
“Trying to get out of that pool of 75,000, I guess you have a 0.26% chance of succeeding. It’s like crazy,” Valentino said.
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News Source : www.kob.com
