Ultimate Ninja Athlete Association

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The Ultimate Ninja Athlete Association (UNAA) is a corporation dedicated to growing ninja style Obstacle Course Racing as a sport rather than just a reality TV show like American Ninja Warrior. The UNAA was started in 2015.. by Robert (Bob) Clark and others for the purpose of providing a competition format accessible to anyone.

Area qualifying and regional events are hosted in the United States and other countries, typically at various "ninja gyms". However, the "World Finals" have been held at independent venues with qualified athletes in various age groups competing for the prestige of a world championship. In 2021, the finals in Las Vegas was evidence that the league and the sport has grown far bigger than the TV show.

Ninja as a sport

The popularity of the Ninja Warrior TV shows inspired many to try to duplicate obstacles in their backyards and eventually several gyms were opened. It is a form of obstacle course racing where athletes take on a set of obstacles with virtually no distance running in between... just obstacles. Typically, athletes do not know what the obstacles will be until they come to the competition. Therefore, athletes training for this sport must be ready to adjust to many concepts realizing that they may face a variation of an obstacle they have never seen before.

Each course has a rule set that may differ from competition to competition or league to league. Some rule sets, like the show, have an athlete's run end as soon as one obstacle is failed. Others allow retries or allow athletes to move on to the next obstacle without getting credit for the failed obstacle. Some provide "progress points" as the athlete progresses through the obstacle. Events may have multiple courses, sometimes with a progression through which top athletes from earlier courses/stages compete on progressively more difficult courses. However, the types of obstacles are very similar across the sport.

In 2015, both the UNAA and the National Ninja League (NNL) were born with goals of reaching national and international levels of competition. As more and more "ninja gyms" popped up, many regional leagues popped up such as New England Ninja Association, Texas Ninja League, Colorado Ninja League, Florida Ninja League, North Central Ninja Series, and more recently the Ninja Carolina League.. In 2021, the Ninja Sport Network was started by two veterans of the sport - Chris DiGangi and Ethan Swanson - to provide top content and a Ninja Sport Championship for the most accomplished athletes to grow the sport as a profession and is complementary to these other leagues.

Other leagues have begun in various countries.

The UNAA and NNL are the two largest and most established leagues as of 2022. As is plain from looking at their scheduled events, the NNL is more prevalent on the east coast, especially in the northeast of the United States. The UNAA is more widespread and more prevalent west of the Mississippi and has more international affiliations. These leagues have a variety of age groups.

In 2019, the UNAA reached an agreement to be affiliated with USANinja and World Obstacle. which has become the officially recognized body by the Global Association of International Sports Federations(GAISF) in observer status as a key step to bring obstacle course racing through the process of getting the sport into the Olympics. The UNAA is one of the only official leagues}} recognized by World Obstacle representing Ninja as a sport, though others may make such claims.

Format

Courses are supposed to consist of 10 to 15 obstacles with at least 3 focused on lower body skills and at least 3 focused on upper body skills

Unlike American Ninja Warrior and the NNL where one fail on an obstacle ends an athlete's run in an event, the UNAA has established rules that allow athletes to continue on the course, accumulating points as they successfully complete or - in latter seasons - progress through obstacles on a course. Athletes with the most points go to the top of the leaderboard for that event, with time to their last completed point breaking ties.

Like many olympic sports, there are age classifications starting at 7U (7&under), 9U, 11U, 13U, 15U. Adults can compete as amateurs or pros. There is also a masters division for those 40 and over. Competitive divisions also are separated by gender.

Each season (typically beginning in August or September), athletes may qualify for "regional qualifiers" in the USA by competing in "area qualifiers" and finishing in the top 50% in their division. The top 3 or 20% (whichever is greater) in each division at regionals can advance to "world finals". A competitor cannot be bumped from a qualifying spot at an event by someone who has previously qualified. For international affiliates, sanctioned events count are the equivalent of "regionals" with top performers qualifying for World Finals.

The UNAA has criteria for organizations in other countries to send qualifying athletes to world finals.

World finals

At World Finals, there is a preliminary round (Stage 1) in which all who have qualified for worlds compete in their division. It is truly a "World Finals" as many come from around the world to compete, though Season 6 saw limited international competitors due to COVID-related travel restrictions.

Only the top 15 or top 20 percent in each division progress to the final round (stage 2) on a more difficult course where champions are crowned.

Season 3 World Finals were held in Albuquerque, NM with top pro honors listed below.

Male division:

1. Jake Murray (popular competitor on American Ninja Warrior),

2. Kevin Carbone (the popular Maker Ninja and regular on American Ninja Warrior known for creating unique and challenging obstacles),

3. Ben Wales (American Ninja Warrior finals competitor on Season 11)

Female division:

1. Rebekah Bonilla (American Ninja Warrior competitor on Season 9 & 11 as well as American Ninja Warrior: Ninja vs. Ninja),

2. Christine Ahn (American Ninja Warrior competitor on Season 10 as well as American Ninja Warrior: Ninja vs. Ninja),

3. Mckinley Pierce (American Ninja Warrior competitor on Seasons 9 & 10)

Season 4 World Finals were held outside Minneapolis with top pro honors listed below.

Male division:

1. Jake Murray (popular competitor on American Ninja Warrior),

2. Kaden Lebsack (last man standing in Season 13 of American Ninja Warrior and previous runner up on American Ninja Warrior Junior),

3. Jason Kotzin (American Ninja Warrior Junior competitor on Season 11)

Female division:

1. Ashley McConville (multi-year competitor on American Ninja Warrior),

2. Isabella Wakeham (youngest female to make it to finals on American Ninja Warrior),

3. Olivia Vivian (top female on Australian Ninja Warrior)

Season 5 World Finals were to be held in Las Vegas but were cancelled due to COVID-19 restrictions, by orders of the Governor of Nevada, after being rescheduled twice.

Season 6 World Finals were held in Las Vegas with top pro honors listed below.

Male division:

1. Kaden Lebsack (last man standing in Season 13 of American Ninja Warrior and previous runner up on American Ninja Warrior Junior),

2. Jake Murray (popular competitor on American Ninja Warrior),

3. Joshua Auer (two time semi-finalist on American Ninja Warrior Junior)

Female division:

1. Taylor Greene (three time competitor on American Ninja Warrior Junior),

2. Isabella Wakeham (youngest female to make it to finals on American Ninja Warrior),

3. Katie Bone (competitor on American Ninja Warrior Junior and nationally ranked rock climber)

Season 7 World Finals are scheduled for the end of July 2022 in Las Vegas.

History

After being founded in 2015, there have been several principals, with Bob Clark being the constant.

Originally, only registered members of the UNAA could qualify. One point was awarded for each obstacle completed, with a retry allowed for an obstacle that was missed.

In Season 6, the retry rule was removed and the possibility of two point obstacles was added and encouraged, with a point awarded for completing half the obstacle. In order to not award "gaming the system" by skipping hard obstacles, points were no longer accumulated once three obstacles were completely missed (0 points).

In 2020, the UNAA merged with Athlete Warrior Games and announced the name would become the "United Ninja Athlete Association" after Season 6 was completed, though the name change has not been made official.

Season 6 also added the World Ninja Challenge (renamed the World Ninja Athlete Games in Season 7) where ninja athletes compete on a course specified by the UNAA and duplicated across many sites throughout the world. Top 3 performances from around the world in each division automatically qualify for World Finals.

Season 7 dropped league membership requirements to advance through to World Finals to ease administrative challenges.

References

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