March Madness is Over… It’s Ninja Mania Time!

The Ninja Sport season generally kicks off in September.  Like just about every other sport, the end of the season is “Playoffs Time.”  Though the elite Pro Athletes ended the Ninja Sport Championship season in February, the rest of the sport is just getting heated up.

Local athletes in the Ninja Carolina League are getting ready for the NCL Season 4 Finals, which will be hosted this year at Rock Solid Warrior’s South Apex facility on April 27-28.  Local Carolina athletes have competed all season to qualify and prepare for the finals.  There are 30 divisions looking to crown champions: 7 age groups with beginners and advanced male and female in each, as well as male and female pro divisions.  If you qualified, or just want to come cheer the athletes on, you can purchase tickets through Ninja Master. Athletes will need to pay to register, but spectators are free.

NOTE: Those who qualified for Advanced and Pro Divisions are also qualified for the US Nationals in Anaheim as part of the annual Obstacle Sports Expo.  Learn more below.

The Ultimate Ninja Athlete Association (UNAA) has pretty much wrapped up its “Regular Season” known as “Area Qualifiers” and is moving into the “Regional Qualifiers” for those who want to compete beyond the Carolinas.  Although those who qualified in Area Qualifiers are free to compete at any Regional Qualifiers, the closest to the Carolinas are Warrior Tech OCR in Morrisville, NC, on June 1-2 and Rugged Obstacles in Williamsburg, VA the following weekend.

The World Ninja League (WNL – predominant in the north east) is hosting its Southeast Regionals at Motive School of Movement in Greenville, SC at the end of May and World Finals in Greensboro, NC in late June.

The Federation of International Ninja Athletes (predominant in the central and north) is hosting its Sectionals for this area at Rugged Obstacles in Williamsburg on June 15.

Other than the Ninja Sport Championship and the World Ninja League, all of the above is to get to one or more of the big “Finals” in the sport.

The Obstacle Sports Expo will be held this year at the Anaheim Convention Center near Disneyland in California July 24-28, 2024..

This event is actually a combination of five exciting events including:

• Ultimate Ninja Athlete Association (UNAA) World Series Championship Finals
• World Ninja Athlete Games Championship Finals
• The US Nationals race (road to USA Ninja Team and future Olympics?)
• Federation of International Ninja Athletes (FINA) World Championships
• Ultimate OCR 3k – an optional fun 3k obstacle race.

Rock Solid Warrior will be well-represented with several athletes in many age groups (as well as our pros) who have already qualified for one or more of these events – with hopefully a few more qualifications coming soon.  We’ve also been honored – along with Warrior Tech OCR – to be asked back to design and host the 7U, 9U, 11U and 13U courses at the UNAA World Series Championship Finals after the rave reviews we received for our courses in those categories last year in Orlando.

If you are just getting started in the sport, this time of year is very exciting for the sport of ninja. Go cheer on accomplished athletes and be inspired to keep working hard to prepare for next season.