ONLY ON ABC-7: Local teacher featured on American Ninja Warrior

She’s a little taller than five feet and barely weighs more than a jockey, but her strength and dedication have garnered national attention.

Ever since she was a teen, Tawnee Leonardo’s dream was to be an American Ninja Warrior.

She got her shot.

Tawnee’s a mild mannered P.E. coach teaching her students the importance of physical fitness.

Back in July, the 5 foot 2powerhouse made her national TV debut as an American Ninja Warrior.

Leonardo has been a long time fan of the show saying that she has been watching the show since she was sixteen years old.

When she’s not teaching she dedicates her time to training.

“Being a ninja warrior is a sport now.” Said Leonardo.

She trains 6 days a week. Weight lifting — climbing– obstacles and more obstacles.

“You got to be completely dedicated. If you’re not completely dedicated to it it’s going to show out in the course.”

It hasn’t come without a little pain either.

“We call them ninjuries.” Said Leonardo.

But if she’s already been on American Ninja Warrior why all the training?

“I’m already training for season 10 because submission videos are due in a couple of months.”

Leonardo says she wants to make her students and community proud while bringing awareness to physical fitness.

“It’s very cool to represent El Paso on a national stage and to start a trend here for Ninja Warrior training so hopefully this will start something new and it will be something that people will want to try.”

Leonardo tells ABC-7 that American Ninja Warrior will begin taking applications in November. She also plans to train others who are interested in becoming warriors.

If you’d like to follow Tawnee Leonardo on Instagram click here