American Ninja Warrior
Read Time:4 Minute, 25 Second
Several years ago I stumbled upon a unique sports show, broadcast from Japan, called Sasuke. It is unique in that, while one is competing against other contestants, they are really competing against themselves and their ability to overcome a series of obstacles. The course of the obstacles are broken down into four stages and the competitors must complete each one in sequence before they can proceed to the next one with the fourth being called “Mount Midoriyama” which is a 66 foot rope climb in a pre determined time limit. This was first aired in America in 2009 and there were few Americans participating.
Anyone could compete and the first 100 to apply were given spots. I remember that there were mechanics, firemen, police officers, mail people, actors, nannies, and just about anyone else that wanted to try their hand at become a Ninja Warrior. It was also gender neutral in that both sexes were competing on the sames obstacles at the same time. Many of them were there having a good time while others were serious competitors trying to defeat the course. To date only four people have made it through the entire course in either Japan or America.
In 2010 NBC hosted a competition with over three hundred participants to make a roster of Americans to travel to Japan to compete. Of that three hundred the field was narrowed to 15 who had to go through a Ninja Warrior “Boot Camp” to qualify for the trip to Japan. The top 10 of that 15 then travel to Japan to try to become and American ninja warrior. By 2012 America had it’s own version with qualifying sites in Venice Beach, CA, St. Louis, MO, Miami, FL, Baltimore, MD, Denver, CO., and Dallas, TX. Each site sends its top participants to Las Vegas for a shot at Mount Midoriyama and an opportunity to win $500,000 and the title of American Ninja Warrior.
The obstacles that the competitors face are designed to test a complete range of physical talents and skills. Some require great physical agility, others upper body strength, endurance, and all of them require complete focus on the task at hand. Even some the top ranked athletes in the world in their various sports have failed in their efforts on the grueling course. Professional basketball players, MMA fighters, boxers, rock climbers, parkour runners, gymnasts, body builders, and former Olympians have gone down. This year one of the competitors that made it the furthest was a 40 year old stock trader who works from home and trains daily just for this event.
This year saw the first big break through for the female competitors. Five foot tall Kacy Catanzaro became the first female to defeat the “Warped Wall,” a fourteen foot wall that curves backward toward the competitor. She was also the first female to make it through the regional finals to the finals in Las Vegas. However, once that barrier came down four other women came through and made it to the finals. Kacy became a symbol for other women tackling the course. At the finals, however, Kacy failed on the third obstacle of stage one, the Jumping Spider. This obstacle has two walls opposite each other that curve inward to a distance of four feet apart. The task is to leap off a trampoline and land with ones feet and hands on either wall and using that pressure to work their way about 17′ to the other end. Kacy’s 5’0″ body worked against her because she could not get far enough into the obstacle to “stick”. Her legs were extended as far as they possibly could and just touch the sides of the walls, but she still could not touch the sides with her hands and she slipped into the water. Officials say they have no plans to change anything about the course because it will affect the integrity of the competition.
Last year a new trend was started when Japan selected a team of 5 competitors to face off against a team of five American competitors in Las Vegas. It was, as usual televised on NBC. America won that challenge. This year Europe sent a team and it was truly an exciting event. The final score was Europe 9, America 9, and Japan 0. This led to a tie breaker which was the rope climb up Mount Midoriyama which, in the American version is a 77 foot rope climb. The fastest up the rope would be the winner. The 40 year old stock trader was selected to climb for America and made it up the rope in an astounding 35.77 seconds. Then a world champion rock climber, Sean McColl, took to the rope for Europe and made the climb in 35.46 seconds leading the Europeans to victory in their first appearance in the competition.
I must admit that I thoroughly enjoy watching the America Ninja Warrior. It is upfront, straight forward, honest competition. The competitors are not trash talking, bragging, putting down other competitors, or making obscene gestures. The crowd cheers for each and every competitor because the challenge is for everyone to do their best. The course is tough and anyone can try, but only an elite athlete will have all the skills needed to conquer Mount Midoriyama.
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Never seen it – want to see it! I will scour SKY immediately!
Mr Loser that makes you anything but s loser. This is a short that take in all types of athletic skills. I have watched professional athletes from different sports try it and fail. These athletes train on every part of their skill sets for a year just to get to the tryouts and one momentary lapse of focus and they fail and must wait an entire year for their next chance, and the odd thing is that they are back. Better trained, more focused than before, but the four stages are so grueling that only a thoroughly conditioned athlete, miso than any other sport I know, will succeed. Only for have succeed in Japan. I was fortunate enough to watch one, have made it in 28 seasons over their.
They have shown that on any given one that a competitor can can survive the challenge, but going through the for stages in a single evening has proven to be too much. It is a great show and I challenge anyone to watch it and not get caught up in it. You find yourself cheering for everyone and wanting everyone to succeed. When a50 year old man made it to the finals this year along with several women it made it even more exciting.
Good article. I enjoy Ninja Warrior for similar reasons. This year, my kid started running cross country, which is close to the perfect high school sport for several reasons: 1) everyone runs (no one sits the bench), 2) no politics/favoritism about who’s best (the clock runs the same for everyone), 3) no referees for parents to yell at, 4) runners are not “trapped” on playing field in front of parents (so parents can’t yell at them either), 5) all the runners support and cheer on each other (because, like with ninja, they compete against themselves/the clock, not each other). When someone on the team sets a personal record, everyone is happy for them.