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KU cheerleaders test American Ninja Warrior course
Contributed Photo
Nine Kansas cheerleaders helped test obstacles for American Ninja Warrior in Kansas City, Missouri, April 23 and 24.
Contributed Photo
SHAUN GOODWIN
@ShaunGoodwinUDK
Senior Audie Monroe holds up junior Kyra Skinner at the American Ninja Warrior obstacle test in Kansas City, Missouri, April 23 and 24.
Contributed Photo
Grasping desperately for safety, Kansas junior cheerleader Kyra Skinner pulled herself onto the wobbling platform that separated a pair of rolling logs, before looking onwards to the second of two legs.
With a short run up, Skinner covered several feet before tumbling into the water below.
Elsewhere on the course of American Ninja Warrior, Kansas senior cheerleader Audie Monroe was busy tackling the Circle Hammer. Gripping onto the small metal ring, Monroe hung helplessly with safety several meters away. Using all of his remaining strength, he created a pendulum using his strength to propel himself onto the platform.
Monroe and Skinner were two of several Jayhawks to make the trip to Kansas City on April 22 and 23 to test themselves against obstacles that most people only see on TV.
The goal of the two-day testing was to make sure that any obstacle a large male can do, a smaller female can also do the same. The problem for American Ninja Warrior is that a majority of the participants willing to test the obstacles are male. Because of this, it is smaller athletes like Skinner that American
Ninja Warrior love.
"There's a little trampoline obstacle where you have to hop onto this pull-up thing, but they had to keep changing it because it was harder for the girls to reach while there were some guys who would literally just step and grab, while girls are having to jump like 2 feet," Monroe said. "So that was interesting to see all the adjustments that they had to make there."
One obstacle that proves difficult for the organizers is the Jump Hang, which requires the competitor to jump off a trampoline and clutch onto a pull up bar several feet away. While larger men can simply step onto the trampoline and easily reach the bar, smaller females have to put all their energy into the jump before clutching onto the bar.
Monroe was able to participate in a couple of other obstacles, such as the Circle Slider, which is an obstacle in which the contestant must hold onto a large ring that slides down a vertical slope with several steep drop-offs along the way. At the end of the slope, the contestant has to use the momentum to propel themselves onto a platform.
Although many of the
Although Skinner only got to test out one obstacle, she was pleased that she got the furthest of all the Kansas athletes participating.
obstacles require great strength, an element of technique is required to get across safely. On the Circle Slider, Monroe managed to hold on down the slope, but then had to use his own strength and momentum to leap to the next platform. This is in comparison to some of the more seasoned competitors, who made the transition look easy.
Despite the pair having never experienced something like American Ninja Warrior before, they feel that cheerleading certainly helped their cause. Both Monroe and Skinner thought their balance and strong stabilization muscles obtained through
"We would sit on the side while one of our teammates would go, and then they'd come down and we'd be like 'you need to do this' or 'try this' to see if you could get through it," Skinner said. "That was really neat to through all of that."
cheerleading helped them.
cheerleading helped them. One thing that surprised both athletes was that all of the obstacles had to be manually reset, leading to longer wait times. This became a problem when heights and distances had to be adjusted to find the sweet spot for athletes of all sizes.
Skinner also found it interesting how there were so many rules for certain obstacles that people just watching on TV don't know about.
"They're like, 'You can't do these specific things, don't use your hands on certain parts, don't touch certain things,' which is so weird, because when I watch the show I'm usually yelling at the person like 'Why don't you just use your hands.'" Skinner said. "So now I realize that they're not allowed to."
Despite having lots of fun testing out the obstacles, the pair doesn't particularly see
themselves competing in the event as a serious competitor in the future.
"If I had the time — I just don't foresee myself having the time to train for it," Monroe said. "If I'm going to do it, I want to be successful at it and not kind of do it halfway. So yeah, I'd definitely have to put in time and I don't think I have that time."
He also explained how several of the serious competitors either own gyms or work at gyms, working out constantly for either American Ninja Warrior or several other ninja competitions around the world. Skinner shared the same sentiment.
Having tested out the obstacles for themselves and witnessing just how much hard work goes into training for the show and making it run, the pair of Jayhawks have a newfound respect for those who dedicate their lives to conquering the many ninja courses around the world.
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"I definitely feel that it makes me respect the ninja's more, because I only did one obstacle and I was tired after that," Skinner said. "I couldn't even imagine getting through the entire course."