You would think 9-year-old Wyatt Fricke was auditioning for a spot on “American Ninja Warrior” by the way he attacked the obstacle course at USA Ninja Challenge, a new kids gym at 2803 NE Loop 410 dedicated to bringing out tykes’ and teens’ inner shinobi.
Never mind that Fricke has only seen a few episodes of the hit competition series, now in its 18th season airing 7 p.m. Mondays on NBC, with episodes streaming next day on Peacock. Or that he’d rather become a police officer than a reality TV athlete when he grows up. The spiky-haired dynamo still dominated the “Ninja Warrior”-like equipment, from the angled quad steps that often start the show’s televised course to the towering warped wall that only a select few scale at the end.
While about a dozen other barefoot boys in shorts and T-shirts scurried about the Ninja Challenge beams and ropes, Fricke pulled himself up the warped wall once again and pumped his fist.
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“I’m the king!” he shouted.
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San Antonio has its own pocket kingdom of kid-friendly “ninja” camps and classes. Less hidden temples and more strip-mall activity centers, these indoor adventure lands combine fun and fitness with obstacle-course training that boosts confidence as well as muscle.
The proof is in Fricke and the other young warriors at Ninja Challenge, who leap and swing through its obstacles like Spider-Man on a pizza run.
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Jace Daigle, 6, walks the balance beam as USA Ninja Challenge coach Kindra Fleisher watches during a class at USA Ninja Challenge on July 16.
Alma E. Hernandez/For the San Antonio Express-News
From left, Jace, Brooks Watson, 6, and Thiago, 7, scale the rock wall during a class at USA Ninja Challenge on July 16.
Alma E. Hernandez/For the San Antonio Express-News
“He loves it,” said Fricke’s grandmother Jill Bybee, seated outside the Ninja Challenge training studio with other families. “He loves the fact that he’s growing his strength and his muscles. He’s always showing off his biceps and he’s already getting pecs. And it’s given him a real big confidence boost. He loves coming here every week.”
Open since late March, USA Ninja Challenge is the latest such gym to land in San Antonio.
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The Alamo City is also home to Parkour Ninjas (2506 Freedom Drive), which opened nearly a decade ago as the city’s first and only parkour and ninja warrior-dedicated gym. Meanwhile, Endurance Elite Gymnastics & Dance (15814 University Oak, Suite 114) offers a ninja warrior program for kids with coaches trained by seven-time “Ninja Warrior” veteran Andrew Lowes. And for those who like their ninja action as a side-quest rather than the main game, Airtopia Adventure Park (16628 San Pedro Ave.) has a Warrior Obstacle Course as part of its indoor trampoline park and playground.
The city’s “Ninja Warrior” roots run even deeper.
Kacy Catanzaro is shown in 2014 when she lived and trained in San Antonio.
Helen L. Montoya/San Antonio Express-News file photo
Former WWE wrestler Kacy Catanzaro called San Antonio home in 2014 when she made “Ninja Warrior” history as the first woman to scale the the show’s warped wall and complete a city qualifiers course and city finals course. The 5-foot-nothing New Jersey native was so gung-ho for “Ninja Warrior” she and her then-boyfriend and fellow competitor Brent Steffensen briefly ran an obstacle-course gym in San Antonio.
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San Antonio also hosted “Ninja Warrior” courses in 2017 and 2022. Catanzaro retired from competition in 2017.
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Part of a national chain with more than 50 locations, Ninja Challenge offers a structured six-level curriculum for ages 2½ to 17. The typical Ninja Challenge gym mixes standard apparatuses such as balance obstacles, rings and tumbling surfaces with ninja training equipment such as cargo nets, slack lines and of course warped walls, according to the Ninja Challenge website.
The goal is to improve kids’ strength, self-assurance and all-around athleticism. Oh, and possibly train for Olympic competition.
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Nihal Kota, 13, runs through pin blocks during a class at USA Ninja Challenge on July 16.
Alma E. Hernandez/For the San Antonio Express-News
Brooks takes a running start at the warp wall during a class at USA Ninja Challenge on July 16.
Alma E. Hernandez/For the San Antonio Express-News
Ninja obstacle racing will debut at the 2028 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles as part of the Modern Pentathlon. USA Ninja Challenge is a community partner of USA Pentathlon Multisport, which means the kids train using methods and standards aligned with the governing body.
For some, it’s a pathway to national and international competition. But for most kids on the Ninja Challenge course, it’s just a good workout disguised as good fun.
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“It’s definitely (about kids) getting stronger, more agile. And endurance. And (to) grow their confidence,” said Ninja Challenge San Antonio owner Hortencia Hodge.
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Hodge left her career as an accountant and franchise consultant to launch the San Antonio location. Her three children — Abigail, Katherine and Steve — toyed with ninja obstacles at a small gym in Pennsylvania before the family moved back to San Antonio in 2021. Hodge took the plunge into Ninja Challenge ownership after her son was diagnosed with ADHD.
Steven just didn’t click with traditional sports, Hodge said. Ninja Challenge, however, not only kept her son engaged but also brought him out of his shell. And he’s not alone.
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Chris Salazar, age 12, joined Ninja Challenge two months ago with his kid brothers, Maximus, 7, and Ethan, 6. Now the slender preteen dominates the rings and then some. It’s fun, he said, plus it helps with flexibility. And he’s never even heard of “American Ninja Warrior.”
Chris’ mother, Michelle Salazar, noted her eldest son doesn’t really like sports but is still active. Ninja Challenge helps gets him out of his element, she said, plus it helps him make friends outside of school who share his same passion for ninja action.
Parkour Ninjas owner Paul Rathey often sees that transformation in his own gym, which looks like a video game version of “Ninja Warrior” with its neon-lined obstacles.
“In our experience in the gym it’s just a great sport for kids that bounce off of organized or more structured sports,” he said. “They’re looking for something that gets them moving … outside the traditional sports programs. It really kind of fills a nice little gap.”
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Like Ninja Challenge, Parkour Ninjas also offers different levels of courses. Ninja training is about obstacles, Rathey said, while Parkour focuses on moving through a space and climbing or vaulting. Most of his clients are kids and teens who just do it for fun, though there is a subset that focuses on competition at the regional and national stage.
“It ebbs and flows with the popularity of the show,” Rathey said, referring to “American Ninja Warrior.”
Back at Ninja Challenge, 9-year-old Gideon Warner completed a successful climb up the rope wall and swing across the ninja rings. Warner loves “American Ninja Warrior” and watches it whenever he can, he said. He has also shown some love to playing football at school with his friends as well as swimming, soccer, basketball and golf.
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And like a true ninja in a dinosaur T-shirt, he has found harmony in the way of the waist-high warrior.
“It’s hard,” he said, “but it’s fun.”
Gideon Warner, 9, balances on a barrel, while USA Ninja Challenge owner Hortencia Hodge watches on during a class on July 16. Hodge opened the gym for her kids as an alternative to traditional sports.
Alma E. Hernandez/For the San Antonio Express-News