TRAINERS
Jon Taylor
Jon Taylor is the owner of Republic Warrior Sports(RWS) and was a competitor on Season 8 of American Ninja Warrior!! He is also NASM Certified Personal Trainer, P90X Certified Trainer, Insanity Certified Trainer, NASM Youth Fitness Specialist, NASM Golf Fitness Specialist, plus a Level 2 WFPF Freerunning/Parkour Trainer. Jon is very passionate about our sport of Ninja Warrior and overall fitness and strives to inspire youth and adults to get active and healthy while having fun! His goal with Republic Warrior Sports is to provide a positive, clean and fun gym that will help to train and build the next generation of Ninja Warriors! RWS also provides an outstanding venue for Ninja Birthday Parties and Group Events!
Jon was born and raised in Springfield, and now resides with his wife Hilary, and two daughters Ashlyn and Isabella here in Republic. He is a Drury business school graduate and fitness fanatic, as you can tell from all his certifications. Jon has a background in bodybuilding but prefers now to focus on functional and dynamic fitness like Ninja Warrior and Obstacle Course Racing. When he isn’t training or at the gym he loves to volunteer as a member of the Springfield Westside Optimist Club that raises money for children’s charities in the Ozarks where he was a 2-year past President. He is also Springfield Southeast Rotarian which focuses on a variety of different charitable organizations. He also enjoys spending his limited free time with his family, playing golf and going snow skiing annually. His athletic background includes high school cross-country, golf and basketball plus baseball, football, track and skateboarding growing up.
Kim James
Kimberly James is 30 years old and grew up in Springfield, MO. She competed on Season 8 of American Ninja Warrior. She trained for 2 years before applying; she did not receive the call to compete so she opted for the walk-on line. She succeeded in the first two obstacles and fell on the agility obstacle (rolling logs). Her favorite obstacle to train is the leche bars. She was a competitive gymnast for 8 years and her love for the sport continued on through her 10 years of coaching gymnastics. She still does one-on-one lessons with many of her former gymnasts.
She now manages Republic Warrior Sports and teaches the Junior Warrior and Preschool Warrior classes. She continues to train for American Ninja Warrior and will apply for the upcoming season. She is happily married with 3 cats, 9 chickens and 2 goats. She is a vegetarian and has a passion for recycling and saving animals. She believes that a healthy lifestyle will ultimately lead to a happy mind and body. She loves working with children to help them set goals and learn how important health is from a young age.