The second annual National Ninja League (NNL) qualifying competition at Double Dragon Martial Arts and Fitness will be held this Saturday and Sunday.
The adult competition will be held on Saturday, and will be divided into young adults (16-17), pro (18-39) and masters (40+). The check in will be at 10 a.m. and the rules and walk-through will be at 10:30 a.m.
Sunday will be divided into teens (13-15), pre-teens (11-12), mature kids (9-10) and kids (6-8). Check in and competition times are available here.
“Last year I did an 18 obstacles course,” said Matthew Van Brunschot, a NNL competitor and the designer of this weekend’s obstacle course. “It was super long, and nobody got further than halfway through. So I’ve decided to tone it down this year.”
The biggest thing (when designing the course),” said Van Brunschot, “is to make everything gradually more and more difficult as you go through. When you fall, you have to leave the course.”
The NNL is an “elite series of annual ninja competitions across the nation culminating with a large international competition.”
“Basically what the NNL is, is a series of gyms that have set up to help people with training for Ninja Warrior,” said Van Brunschot. “American Ninja Warrior is really hard to get on because they get 70 000 plus applicants a year and only choose about 500. So they started a league to give people the chance to compete.”
Double Dragon is the first gym in Canada to host NNL associated competitions.
American Ninja Warrior is a TV show based on the Japanese show Sasuke. The show features hundreds of competitors across the country competing in increasingly difficult obstacle courses. Only two competitors have ever finished the course, rock climbers Isaac Caldiero and Geoff Britten.
According to Van Brunschot, the keys to success in the sport are agility, good body control while hanging, and plenty of core strength.
Registration for this weekend’s competition is still open, and sign-ins will be available at the door. However, people walking in the day of the event will be running immediately, because going later is considered an advantage.
