Meagan Martin
Age: 30
Hometown: Lake Mary, Florida
Currently Living: Sacramento, California
Began Climbing: 2001
Height 5’4”
Ape Index: + .5”
Getting Started:
As a kid Meagan climbed trees all the time. She was home schooled in elementary school and her mom made her read for an hour each day. So, Meagan chose to climb up in a tree with her book to do her reading. For her, it always seemed more fun that way. Meagan started climbing at Aiguille Rock Climbing Center, which is a gym in Orlando. Meagan joined the climbing team at the gym with about 8 other kids. "Growing up being a gymnast I climbed things all of the time at the gym when I was goofing around."
Competitions:
Meagan started competing in gymnastics at the age of 5. "In regards to sports, all I really knew starting out was competitions. I love the exhilarating feeling that competitions give you. There are so many things going on, not only around you, but also in your head. You train really hard for that moment when you walk out in front of the crowd and do your thing. I do really love the crowd; they definitely pump me up!" says Meagan. Coming from a competitive gymnastics background, competing in climbing became the natural thing to do.
Pole Vaulting:
Meagan first tried Pole Vaulting in January of her freshman year of high school. "At first, I wasn’t really interested in trying pole vaulting, but my mom really thought that I should try it. I ended up loving it, so I guess my mom was right! I think that Gymnastics and climbing were both helpful in my transition into Pole Vaulting. Gymnastics gave me the body awareness, speed, strength, and acrobatic skills I needed to be a good Pole Vaulter. I think that climbing kept me strong after quitting gymnastics, so there was an added strength that I was able to apply to Pole Vaulting."
Climbing 2.0:
At the end of her Junior year of college, Meagan realized that she wanted to pursue climbing competitively again as well as make it her career following college graduation. She had gone to the climbing gym in Nashville a couple of times, but with school and track, Meagan hadn’t made climbing a priority. The summer before her Senior year of college, Meagan pole vaulted and climbed all summer. When she returned to Vanderbilt in the fall, Meagan made a point to climb at least once a week throughout the school year. "I would choose one day a week to climb for a few hours after track practice. It was quite exhausting, but I knew I would be in better climbing shape to start my training after graduating."
American Ninja Warrior:
In 2014 Meagan competed on the hit show ‘American Ninja Warrior,’ and instantly found success! That year, she made history by becoming the third woman to make it up the warped wall and the first rookie to complete a qualifying course. At the National finals that year, she made history again by becoming the first woman to complete the jumping spider and the halfpipe attack on Stage 1. Meagan has continued to compete on ANW every year since, and she has continued to make history in the sport, a couple of highlights being; making the national finals every year and hitting three consecutive qualifying buzzers! Season 10 brought some cool opportunities to Meagan, one of them was being the poster girl for the season! After being on ANW for five seasons as well as Team Ninja Warrior for three seasons, Meagan got the opportunity to become a mentor on ‘American Ninja Warrior Jr!’ “I was very excited to be chosen to be part of ANWJR! I was a climbing coach for many years, so working with kids comes naturally to me! I’ve been hoping that kids would get an opportunity to show everyone their ninja skills, and I am so thankful that I had the opportunity to work with so many amazing athletes!” Season 11 will start filming later this year, and Meagan is looking for an opportunity to make history again!
Commentating:
In 2019 Meagan took on the role of an ESPN commentator for USA Climbing events. Broadcasting has always been a career move she hoped to make, and with the inclusion of climbing in the 2020 Olympics, it felt like the right time to wholeheartedly pursue that.
On the Future:
"I just want to continue climbing and enjoying it. I love competitions, so I will always do as many as I can. I also want to focus on outdoor climbing and sport climbing. I hope that my involvement in climbing will help the sport grow, because it's such an amazing sport that more people should enjoy."
Community Involvement:
Meagan was coach at ABC Kids Climbing Gym in Boulder, Colorado from November of 2013 to July of 2018. "I love having the opportunity to work at ABC. I think what Robyn and Didier have done with their program is great, and I enjoy getting the chance to work with the future generation on a weekly basis. I also teach clinics for both youth climbers and adult climbers. In the future I would like to get involved with more climbing based foundations so that I can give back to my community even more."