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Winnipeg teen one of Canada's top ninjas

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Jaydin Mogk is considered one of Canada's top ninjas and he is only 15 years old.

Mogk said he transitioned from football to parkour four years ago.

"I was in my room and my dad asked me, 'I know you like climbing on stuff, do you want to do parkour?' So I came here and I have been interested ever since," said Mogk.

He said there was a learning curve in the sport switch, noting you are out there by yourself in parkour compared to having a team back you up in football.

Despite facing some challenges, he has now climbed his way to the top, recently winning a national championship in B.C. "It was definitely nerve-wracking at first, but once you run, you get used to it and it's quite fun overall."

There aren't many competitions throughout the year, so Mogk stays in shape by training five days a week and also working on his strength and conditioning.

"Sometimes you find him on the personal training side of things, lifting weights and doing cardiovascular endurance exercises. I think that's where athletes find themselves setting themselves apart in a more competitive way," said Liisa Burgess, who is a co-owner of Serratus Movement Centre.

Mogk has now set his sights on the world championships which take place next summer in the United States.

On top of that, he is also working on helping the next group of young ninjas.

"Recently, we hired him on as assistant coach. So he is learning the ropes on how to sort of share his passion with the younger coaches," said Burgess.

Mogk said viewing the sport from a coach's perspective can help improve his skills as well.

"When you are coaching, you have to sit on the ground and see how they are completing it and see if you can change stuff while you are up there," said Mogk.

Mogk said his ultimate goal in the sport is to compete at the World Ninja League level for as long as he can.

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