Our Team
Abdullah - Ninja Coach, Weekend Operations Team Lead
Abdullah’s first time coming to Fitset Ninja was actually during a summer camp back in 2019, when he was 14. Now 16, he has been training as a Ninja athlete since his discovery of the gym in 2019, and has since been brought on to the team in 2021. Speaking English, French, Arabic, and Spanish fluently makes him a versatile member of the team when it comes to accommodating different languages. Abdullah was also born with a condition called bilateral clubbed feet. Since his recovery as a child, he has been a symbol of hope for kids across the world suffering from the same condition as he never let this condition stop him from being a high performer in many different sports.
Branden - Ninja Coach, Tricking Coach
Branden started his ninja journey back when Fitset Ninja was located in Kingsway mall. He came in at the last minute when he had seen an ad for a ninja warrior competition and thought that maybe he’d give it a shot not knowing that he would come first place in his division. Branden grew up in the small town of Barrhead playing hockey and baseball as his two main sports but also played volleyball, basketball, ran track and cross country during school. Before ninja had taken over Branden worked as a lifeguard, as a hockey coach and also as a beekeeper (p.s don’t be a beekeeper). Branden is currently taking his bachelors of elementary education and loves working with kids. The thing that Branden loves the most about working at Fitset is getting to see all the hard work that gets put in by the athletes then seeing them succeed.
Dylan - Facility Lead, Ninja Coach
Dylan comes from a vast background of sports including Rock Climbing, Marathon Running, Spartan Racing, Hockey and Track & Field. He first discovered ninja by watching the American Ninja Warrior show way back in 2012, and after seeing that first episode he knew he had found his passion. Years later he found his new home at Fitset Ninja and has not looked back since. It is his dream to make ninja a mainstream sport accessible to everyone. Dylan has qualified multiple times for UNAA World Finals, NNL world Finals and OCR World Championships. He is afraid of heights. Also, all of his strength comes from his powerful beard.
Irene - Guest Experience
Irene is a newer member of Fitset ninja. She is so glad to be apart of such an awesome team and getting to enjoy the work that she does. She is not much of an athlete herself but loves to contribute on the guest experience side of things with our members and their families. Fitset has been a great place of work for her because she can combine helping out customers who come in with working with a great team of coworkers that are always ready to support each other.
Jeremy - Ninja Coach
Jeremy started his ninja journey way back in 2016 when he did kids classes and summer camps at Corfit in Calgary. He was very excited for Fitset Ninja to open and was the first customer at the temporary Kingsway Mall location. Jeremy has been training at Fitset since it moved to its permanent location. His long term goal is to compete at a high level in ninja and has aspirations to be a sports broadcast journalist in the future. What Jeremy loves about ninja is that there’s always a new obstacle to conquer and that the ninja community is so supportive on and off the course.
Julie - Director of Operations
Julie is one of our coaches at Fitset Ninja but has been a lover of fitness and movement for most of her life. She also loves working with kids and has coaching experience in parkour and calisthenics. Julie grew up playing team sports such as basketball, badminton and competitive soccer but has now found her passion for freestyle calisthenics. She first started the sport without any gymnastics background back in 2018 and has competed in battle of the bars at the San Diego Fit Expo in 2019. After starting a family in 2021, she is back and ready to compete. Julie loves sharing her passion for fitness and movement and strives to inspire and help others to achieve their goals!
Graduated with Honors at NAIT for Personal a Fitness Training and is working towards her NASM certification for corrective exercise
Dog mom to a miniature husky
Kody - Facility Director
KodR3d, the PVC Ninja. Kody O'Brien was one of the original team members at Fitset Ninja when we opened up at Kingsway Mall in late 2018. After working long days roofing he would come and teach our ninja classes 3 times a week in the evenings. After a few months when we found a new location to keep the ninja dream going beyond our temporary lease at Kingsway mall, Kody brought a proposal to us that outlined why he should be brought on as a full time staff member and leave his roofing career of over 10 years! The rest is history as Kody now plays a key role as a coach and leader within the company. He keeps our obstacles, course designs and training environment fresh with his creativity and passion towards the sport of ninja and OCR. He is also an amazing athlete and 98% of the medals hanging on our walls are his!
ACE Certified Personal Trainer
UNAA Ninja World Championships Qualified 2019
Elite Obstacle Course Racer since 2014
Lindsey - Program Director
Lindsey comes to Fitset Ninja with 20 plus years of coaching and sport programming experience. Being active in a variety of sports as a child, from gymnastics to soccer to basketball she finally landed on competitive swimming. Following her retirement from swimming Lindsey soon found her love and passion for coaching and working with children. After spending the last 10 years as the Office Administrator & Director of a Learn to Swim Program, she stumbled on a posting for customer service for Fitset Ninja and was then hired on as the Program Director. Lindsey is so excited to be working with a growing and ever changing sport and looks forward to the challenge of growing the sport of Ninja across Canada and to hopefully see Ninja in the Olympics one day!
Fun facts: Has dove the Blue Hole in Belize, as well as on the Great Barrier Reef in Australia, and is a registered massage therapist!
Steph - Customer Service, Guest Experience
You will see Steph at the front desk or online as one of Fitset’s Customer Service Specialists.
Steph was a Hairstylist for 20 years, and she loves working with people and being creative. Needing a career change, she started here! Steph was also a dancer for 20 years and she finds the balance obstacles to be her favourite at Fitset! She will jump on one every now and then for fun since balance always comes in handy when she has a crazy dog full of energy who is 50lbs and likes to body-check Steph when she wants attention.
Stephen - Ninja Coach, Parkour Coach
The Man. The Legend. We first met Stephen Ling when he entered into our very first UNAA (Ultimate Ninja Athlete Association) regional qualifier competition at Kingsway Mall. He was one of the last to run in the competition and since nobody had ever seen him before, he surprised the crowd with an epic run that fell just 1 point short of winning the entire competition! After that everyone knew that this guy had some serious skills. Getting to know Stephen better, we learned he had many years of parkour and ninja experience as both an athlete and a coach, and was new to Edmonton from Toronto. We are so glad to have Stephen part of our coaching team!
UNAA Ninja World Championship Qualifier
Top 3 Ninja in Canada 2019
10 years experience as professional parkour/free running athlete
Tim - Founder & Chief Executive Officer
Tim Gourlay is the founder and CEO of Fitset Ninja and is convinced that life is just better when you're physically active regularly. This belief was part of the original inspiration for starting Fitset Ninja and it's his vision to turn Ninja into a mainstream sport right across the country, with Fitset Ninja locations in every major Canadian City!
Before starting the company Tim's focus was on his own athletic journey. He played 2 years of post secondary volleyball with the Red Deer College Kings and then 3 years with the U of A Golden Bears. During those 5 seasons he won 4 national championships before continuing his athletic career with the Canadian National Team and then professionally in the German Pro Bundesliga. After retiring from professional volleyball in 2012, Tim got his MBA from the University of Alberta and started his first business Fitset, Edmonton's multi-studio pass. Tim received a University of Alberta Alumni Innovation Award in 2019 for his efforts with Fitset pass and then decided to open his own facility, Fitset Ninja, which is his primary focus now. Tim loves living here in Edmonton with his wife Katarina and two kids Clara & Novak and two dogs Hugo and Romeo.
Tyler - Ninja Coach, Parkour Coach
Tyler grew up playing many different sports throughout his childhood until he finally stumbled across the movement of parkour. After falling in love with the sport and dedicating his life to it for many years, he found the sport of ninja and fell in love with this sport all over again. When Tyler joined the Fitset Ninja gym he found it was not only a team of athletes striving towards the same goals and helping each other over every obstacle, but it was a family.
Still Have Questions?
Reach out to a team member and have your questions answered as fast as a ninja. Or call 780.455.4442 today!