Female Coastie heads to American Ninja Warrior tryouts

One of four female rescue swimmers in the Coast Guard is jumping into another challenge: becoming the next American Ninja Warrior.

Truthfully, said Aviation Survival Technician 2nd Class Jaime Vanacore, she is just going to have fun at the game show’s Baltimore tryouts, which are scheduled for Friday and Saturday.

“It was a spur of the moment thing,” she said. The rescue swimmer said she was not familiar with ANW, but when her sister told her she should try out for the show’s fifth season, she started looking at YouTube videos and thought it looked like fun.

“I was shocked,” she said, when she heard she had been selected to try out for the regional qualifying round in Baltimore. In the video below, a co-worker shot footage of Vanacore training.

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Vanacore likes to do challenging races but has not really trained on obstacle courses like the one in American Ninja Warrior. She plans on taking it one obstacle at a time.

“I commit to everything I go for, hopefully that’s enough to get me through,” she said. Vanacore said she is uncomfortable with the attention she is getting for trying out, but “if I make it through, it will be something to brag about.”

She is going in with one guiding strategy: “100 percent commitment, no doubt,” she said, “commit to every move you make, and hope it’s the right one.”

“American Ninja Warrior,” which will air on NBC and the Esquire Network (formerly G4)  is billed as the toughest obstacle course on television. In its past four seasons, none of the competitors who attempted the final obstacle course have completed the third and final stage. Learn more at the show’s Facebook page.