By Caroline Lanni
For a second year in a row, the Sterling Gym had about 15 athletes compete in the 3rd Annual World
Ninja Athlete Games. These games are sponsored by the UNAA (The Ultimate Ninja Athlete Association) where the entire world on March 4-12, competed on the same course layout to find the World’s Champions.
The games are hosted by multiple sites across the world, one being the Sterling Gym. About 40-50
different gyms competed at this competition.
Ninja Program Director at the Sterling Gym, Alan Seaback, said they held their competition on
March 4th and 5th. Seaback said, “It was a great competition.” The competition had 18 obstacles that were worth one point each and it was a timed competition. It was labeled as “an endurance course,” said Seaback.
“There is only one course but they break it down to three separate courses because of the age
groups, so they change different things depending on what age you are, but in the end they are all
doing the same obstacles,” he added. He said that acquiring the most points, with the fastest time, is how the winners are determined in the end.
“Our top competitor from the competition with the best score and time from our gym was a young
man, Eli Parecegrogan, in the 13 and under age group,” said Seaback.
His score was a total of 18 points in a time of four minutes and fifty four seconds, he added.
The ninja program at the Sterling Gym has been open for four years now.
“Sterling Gym is a proud member of the USA Ninja Challenge organization, which provides
progressive obstacle training, certification programs and sanctioned competitions for kids,” according
to the Sterling Gym website.
“There are team ninja classes for athletes to sign up for and those allow the athletes to train for
these events that happen throughout the year,” said Seaback.
“The team class we have really helps the athletes focus on getting through the courses more,” he
said. There are ninja classes available every afternoon throughout Monday-Friday. Some also on
Saturday mornings. There are also ninja classes available on some mornings for very young athletes – “Nano Ninjas,” which are ages 3-5, accompanied with a parent. Seaback said that they can accept anyone from 5 ½ to 17 for the normal afternoon ninja classes. There are specific classes for specific age groups, he added.
“The biggest benefits in these ninja classes is general movement – getting athletes to feel
comfortable going across things and challenging themselves,” said Seaback.
General Manager of The Sterling Gym, Matthew Carbone, said the benefits of the ninja classes are
having athletes work on their “hand eye coordination, balance, upper body strength, self confidence,
and setting those goals.”
The upcoming events for their athletes are regionals for their end of the year competition.
Athletes can sign up for ninja classes by visiting their website at sterlinggym.com.