Latest news with #AmericanNinjaWarrior
Business Insider
2 days ago
- General
- Business Insider
Welcome to the college parent group chat
The anticipation of moving into a college dorm brings a flurry of questions: Do RAs monitor who cleans the bathrooms? Are the windows drafty, or should students bring a fan to beat the heat? Are there schedules for using the laundry room? Where can you hang up your wet towels? But the above aren't questions from incoming freshmen. They're typed out from anxious soon-to-be empty nesters in Facebook groups for parents of college students. They want to know as many details about the unknown as possible, down to whether their children need to bring their own toilet paper. Some questions are practical and logistical: where to find parking spots or places to eat when visiting for parents weekend. Others are so inane they offer a glimpse into a new era of helicopter parenting, when moms and dads micromanage every aspect of their children's lives into adulthood, from scheduling their medical appointments to arranging their bathing routines. For Gen Xers — who make up the majority of parents of today's teens and young adults — access to unlimited information about their kids started early. There are apps that allow parents to record the color, texture, and size of the contents of each soiled diaper. Youth sports and extracurriculars have become so competitive that parents are tapping into group chats to learn the secrets to securing spots with the best coaches and instructors. They're looped into emails from schools with constant updates about their kids' grades. And as getting into top colleges has become an American Ninja Warrior obstacle course of extracurriculars, parents have become round-the-clock managers and chauffeurs. Even once their kids are off to college, many parents don't want to let go: Tracking family members with location sharing has become a norm rather than an invasion of privacy. Scrolling through some of these Facebook groups (there are thousands), parents post dimensions or video tours of dorm rooms and beds and ask whether desks will come with or without shelves in certain rooms. TikTok abounds with screenshots from the worst offenders, including a parent asking how to contact professors to introduce themself before any issues arise with their kid in class, and another floating the idea of asking a college to install a camera in their child's dorm room to check whether they're sleeping enough. There are also reports of some trying to set up playdates for their lonely 18-year-olds on campus. Meanwhile, professors are taking to Reddit to anonymously share horror stories of parents intervening in their kids' coursework, by emailing, calling, or even showing up and peeking into classrooms to see whether their kids are at their desks. One exasperated professor wrote that a parent "helpfully advised me that my (college algebra) lecture was a little dry and maybe if I told more jokes her daughter would come to class." Professors are taking to Reddit to anonymously share horror stories of parents showing up and peeking into classrooms to see whether their kids are at their desks. Much of Gen X — the latchkey generation stereotyped for being laissez-faire and adrift — has evolved into stressed, overwhelmed, hypervigilant parents. Parenting is "like a pendulum where we tend to overcorrect," says Amelia Kelley, an author and therapist who's also a millennial parent of young kids. "You have all these Gen X parents who were raised much more independently and free range, who are now being inundated with incredible amounts of information and technology and pressure for achievement with their kids." "Part of me thinks it's like, because we didn't have involved parents and maybe there was something missing, and they're trying to fill those gaps," says Christine, a Gen X mom of three kids (two still in college and one graduate) who asked me not to use her last name. Christine adds that tech, especially the arsenal of surveillance tools at their disposal, has played a huge role in her generation's hyper-watchfulness. Many Gen Xers became parents just as Facebook groups and Listservs were born, and their arrival upended old parenting trends. "You have so much access to everything that's going on," Christine says. She regularly watches all three of her children's locations from her phone, just to make sure they make it home safely. (She swears she doesn't really care whether they're out partying.) Even though she can track their every move, Christine says she wants her kids to be independent and views college as a safely bubbled state of quasi-adulthood. Part of that quasi-adulthood is financial — everything is too expensive for 18-year-olds to buy themselves. Whether it's lingering on the family phone or health insurance plan or getting help paying for rent, tuition, and meals, the financial web between parents and their children has grown more complex. With recent graduates struggling to find work, the half-baked adulthood era can continue even longer as they move back home. "We all know our kids are coming home after college for at least a year or two," says Tobey Grumet Segal, a freelance journalist who's the mother of a high schooler and a rising college sophomore. "We have to be part of their lives. They don't want us to completely step away, but it's a matter of deciding how much you want to put into it and when you feel it's best to stop." But there's no clear stop sign. Thanks to Facebook, Reddit, and group chats, parents can gossip with one another about what's happening inside that college bubble. A support group for parents of New York University students boasts nearly 8,000 members and averages several posts a day; one for the University of Wisconsin has nearly 9,000 parents. "We've been groomed, so to speak, to be part of these groups way before the kids left for college," says Erin Mantz, the author of the blog Gen X Girls Grow Up. The messages and group chats of parents started as early as preschool, she says, when she was organizing carpooling and sports with other parents. It's been a natural progression to join the Facebook parent groups at her two sons' colleges. And kids, Mantz says, want parents to be tapped in. "They don't necessarily want us to be sharing personal information or asking questions on their behalf to figure stuff out for them, but they don't want us to miss anything," she says. "And we're scared to feel like we might be out of the loop." But some of the questions lead her to wonder why parents are even posting. Mantz tells me she once saw a parent post that their kid had a headache for days, and they asked for advice on whether the kid should go to the doctor or take pain medicine. "That's kind of scary, honestly." For all their worrying and attentiveness, Gen X parents aren't sparing their Gen Z kids from stress. Seeing past groups she had joined devolve is why Grumet Segal hasn't joined an online group for her college-age son. What started as groups to share hand-me-down baby items within the community evolved into nasty fighting and divisive parenting opinions, she says. All of this over-involved parenting makes her wonder whether the pendulum will swing back when Gen Zers become parents. "I do wonder how we get out of this," she says. "It's almost like a death spiral of helicoptering." For now, the groups serve as outlets for parents to commiserate or vent their ever-rising stress. Last year, US Surgeon General Vivek Murthy put out a public health advisory on the mental health and well-being of America's parents. "Something has to change," he wrote, and fixing the issue "will also require us to rethink cultural norms around parenting." In a 2023 American Psychological Association survey, one-third of parents with children younger than 18 reported feeling high levels of stress, up from 24% of parents in 2019. Parents of children under 18 were also more likely to report feeling stressed about money and to say that most days they were so stressed that the pressure interfered with their ability to function. But for all their worrying and attentiveness, parents aren't sparing Gen Z from stress. In the same 2023 APA survey, people 18 to 34 reported being more stressed than other generations on average. The amount of time young people spent socializing with friends in person dropped by about 70% between 2003 and 2020, a study from researchers at the University of Rochester found. Pew Research Center found in 2019 that the time spent on homework had doubled compared with high schoolers in the 1990s. All of this comes as colleges have become increasingly competitive. In the 2010s, college-bound high schoolers were applying to more universities than ever before, and admission rates at nearly half of the nation's colleges dropped by at least 10% between 2002 and 2017. For parents, the message has become that top students, athletes, and performers need full-time management to succeed in crowded pools. There's a balance to strike between parental involvement and suffocating kids with care. Dr. Gene Beresin, the executive director of The Clay Center for Young Healthy Minds at Massachusetts General Hospital, says that while the government deems you an adult at 18, adolescence lasts from about 14 all the way to age 26, when the brain fully develops. Still, some parents overcompensate during these years and may rob their kids of the ability to cope with failure and adversity. "They're trying to prevent unhappiness, and they're also trying to give the kids a hand," Beresin says. "Sometimes it's really important to let our kids fall and let our kids fail." All this said, it's not just parents who want the constant connection — many young adults continue to badger parents with Adulting 101 questions. Chip Leighton, a father of two who started posting his kids' zany questions to TikTok and wrote the book "What Time is Noon?" about the phenomenon, says it's mostly positive that teen and young adult children and parents yearn to stay connected, especially when there are so many search and AI tools that provide instant answers. "At the extreme, if the kids' first instinct is always to reach out to their parent for the answer, that's probably not great," he adds. Parents submit text messages from their kids to Leighton's TikTok, which takes lighthearted jabs at the pressing questions young people ask that seem dumb to those of us who have been filing our taxes for several years, such as: "What do I put for make of car? Metal?" "Why don't I get the child tax credit?" and "Am I tax exempt?" If college students and recent grads still get a helping hand from mom and dad, that might ease the transition to real adulthood. But for parents who stay plugged in, there comes a question of when the time to cut the chord actually is — is it graduation? When their kids get their first job? Not until their kids get married? I recently received a LinkedIn inquiry from a parent of a young journalist looking for her first "real job" who wanted networking advice for her daughter. The best advice I could think of was that it's time for her kid to start sending the networking DMs herself.
Herald Malaysia
21-07-2025
- Sport
- Herald Malaysia
Catholic 'American Ninja Warrior' fighting world hunger, one obstacle at a time
Austin Baron takes part in the Season 17 semifinals of 'American Ninja Warrior' July 14, 2025 on NBC. (OSV News photo/courtesy of Trae Patton, NBC) Baron was immediately hooked. He began ninja training in middle school. 'There are two main types of obstacles,' this ninja warrior explained. 'There are upper body obstacles for which you have to use your hands, moving from one grab bar to another. The other type involves obstacles where you have to go back with your feet, balancing and moving through an obstacle to get to the other side.' Baron said he trains in ninja gyms in Virginia, but has to rely on the rock climbing and bouldering wall at Duncan Student Center when he is back on Notre Dame's campus. There are no ninja gyms nearby. What makes him so committed to the ninja warrior competition — as opposed to other athletic pursuits and sports, especially those for which Notre Dame is so famous? 'I really fell in love with the ninja warrior community,' he explained. 'There is such respect for others even when they're competing against each other. There's this sense of helping others even while these same competitors are doing their best as well.' Both men and women compete and competitors are from a variety of age groups. And some come from other countries, he added. Ninja Austin Baron hopes to bring awareness to world hunger crisis But it's apparently Baron's deeply held commitment to address hunger that provides the real backstory for his participation in the semifinals. That too began years ago in Virginia in the Barons' parish, St. Theresa Catholic Church in Ashburn. 'When I was 12,' he recalls, 'I went to an event at my parish that was providing meals for hungry people, and I learned that these meals that we were packing would be the only food that they'd have to eat!' Austin was stunned. The event was sponsored by Cross Catholic Outreach, an American organization founded in the U.S. in 2001. It has helped to provide food, access to clean water and housing in more than 90 countries throughout the world. After that eye-opening experience, Baron says, 'I wanted to do something more to help them. I started to fund-raise so that we could send more meals.' With the help of his family, he started a little business making rope toys for dogs. He said he watched a YouTube video to find out how to do it. Apparently, the family's two dogs — Shamrock and Crash — thought the resulting rope toys were pretty good. He called his new company 'Knot Perfect.' When he was in high school, he got help from his family, particularly his mother, to make Knot Perfect a 501(c)(3) nonprofit — By 2025, entrepreneur Austin Baron had made more than 1,500 dog toys. According to a June 26, 2025 news release from the University of Notre Dame about Baron's American Ninja Warrior competition, Knot Perfect has already raised over $30,000, providing more than 100,000 meals to children and families around the world. Supporters of his efforts can contribute to Knot Perfect at its website. But how does this exceptionally committed and altruistic college student hope to inspire others to also work to end world hunger? He admits that many will respond: 'World hunger is too big a problem for me to deal with; what good are my cans of soup and tuna, and a box or two of pasta given at my church every week?' 'What I'm trying to do,' Baron responded, 'is to take something that I love to do — being involved in ANW competitions and making dog toys — and combining it with my mission to feed the hungry. So, that's what I'd suggest to other people. Combine the things that you love to do with your mission. And then, rely on God, knowing that he will be guiding you along the way.' Baron is heading to the ANW finals after the July 14 semifinals, where he has a chance to win this year's $250,000 prize and the title of 'American Ninja Warrior.' He's made it very clear that if he wins, his prize money will go to promote that amazing goal — feeding the world's 1 billion hungry people.--OSV News
Int'l Business Times
17-07-2025
- Business
- Int'l Business Times
From Obstacle to Opportunity: How Jake Marshman & Conquer Ninja Gym Built a Movement from Grit, Culture, and Community
When Jake Marshman opened the first Conquer Ninja Gym in 2015 in a small space in Eden Prairie, Minnesota, few believed his idea would work. A gym centered on Ninja Warrior-style obstacle training? At the time, it sounded more like a novelty than a viable business model. But Marshman, an avid fitness enthusiast, contractor and fabricator, and serial entrepreneur, had a vision and the grit to see it through. Ten years later, that vision has transformed into a nationwide movement. Conquer Ninja Gyms now operates in multiple cities across the United States and is opening its doors to franchisees, turning what once seemed like a niche into a full-fledged community built on physical strength, character development, and something Marshman calls the 'Seven Pillars of Culture.' "I didn't set out to be on American Ninja Warrior ," Marshman states. "I was just drawn to the style of fitness; it was fun, creative, and unlike anything else. When I started, there were maybe a couple of gyms like this in the entire country." With a background in construction, Marshman built every obstacle in the first gym. Without a website or even a marketing plan, he relied on word of mouth and a few social media posts to announce the opening. Within a week, word spread quickly through local school communities. And by the second week, lines of people were waiting at the door. "That's when I knew I was on to something," Marshman says. "People were excited. It wasn't just about fitness; it was about challenge, excitement, and connection." Jake Marshman - Founder of Conquer Ninja Gyms Soon, Conquer Ninja Gyms became a destination not just for adults looking for a new way to work out, but for kids as well, a major shift from traditional fitness spaces. Summer camps, field trips, open gyms, birthday parties, and competitive events quickly followed, laying the foundation for a business model centered on both athletic performance and inclusive, family-friendly fun. While the obstacles and athletic challenges drew people in, what's kept them coming back and what's driven expansion is Marshman's unwavering commitment to building culture. At the heart of the Conquer philosophy are seven core values: Integrity, Courage, Commitment, Humility, Wisdom, Perseverance, and Growth. "We don't just train bodies here," Marshman says. "We're teaching life skills. Whether it's the courage to try a new obstacle or the humility to handle a win with grace, these are lessons that translate far beyond the gym." These principles, which now form the basis of the gym's curriculum and franchise training, were formalized with the help of a leadership expert who became a franchisee and helped shape the internal culture model five years ago. Coaches are trained to actively develop these values in their students, weaving them into classes, conversations, and conflict resolution. "Culture is built whether you build it intentionally or not," Marshman says. "So we decided to be deliberate about it." Conquer Ninja Gym - Bedford, Texas Each Conquer Ninja Gym is like a community hub. Marshman is passionate about designing each space himself, obsessing over flow, layout, and obstacle variety. Over the years, he's evolved the physical design from a DIY build to a refined third-generation model. But his hands-on approach and love for the process remain intact. "I still get excited about designing the next gym," he admits. "I love walking into a blank space and imagining how kids, families, or even athletes will move through it. That's where the magic starts." Even as the franchise scales, that personalized touch remains a cornerstone of the brand. Marshman and his team work closely with franchisees, not just on logistics, but on training them to lead with the Seven Pillars, ensuring that the mission doesn't get lost in expansion. The gyms welcome everyone from first-timers to aspiring ninja competitors. And while the sport itself has evolved from entertainment to serious competition over the past decade, the community ethos stays the same: encouragement, growth, and resilience through play. From that first whirlwind summer in Eden Prairie to a thriving franchise network today, Conquer Ninja Gyms' growth has been nothing short of, well, ninja-level. Marshman reflects, "We've had massive growth over the past 10 years. It's been a wild ride, and I've always been involved in every part of it." Now, in 2025, Marshman has not only built the ninja community through his gyms but also through his podcast . And he and his team are only opening the doors wider. The Conquer Ninja Gym franchise opportunity is officially live, inviting a new generation of owners to carry forward the mission of fitness, fun, and fearless growth. Because, for Marshman, it was never about obstacles. It's about helping people conquer themselves, inside and out.
Herald Malaysia
08-07-2025
- Entertainment
- Herald Malaysia
How a teenage boy became a ‘ninja fighting hunger'
At just 19 years old, Austin Baron is taking college classes, competing on sports reality television, making handmade dog toys, and raising tens of thousands of dollars to feed the hungry. How does he do it all? According to him, it's all thanks to 'the gifts God's given' him. Jul 08, 2025 Austin Baron at the 'American Ninja Warrior'course filming for Season 17 of the show. | Credit: Photo courtesy of Austin Baron By Tessa Gervasini At just 19 years old, Austin Baron is taking college classes, competing on sports reality television, making handmade dog toys, and raising tens of thousands of dollars to feed the hungry. How does he do it all? According to him, it's all thanks to 'the gifts God's given' him. Baron is a rising sophomore at the University of Notre Dame and the founder of Knot Perfect, a nonprofit that has provided more than 100,000 meals to children and families across the globe. He is now using his participation on NBC's reality television show 'American Ninja Warrior' to help expand his outreach. Discovering his mission Baron was first moved to feed the hungry when he was 12 years old and volunteered at his parish, St. Theresa Catholic Church in Ashburn, Virginia, to pack meals for Cross Catholic Outreach's food distribution ministry You(th) vs. Hunger. 'I learned that a billion people go to bed hungry each night,' Baron told CNA. 'The meals I was packing with my own hands would be the only food for someone else to eat.' 'That really inspired me to want to do something to help them. Billion is a big number, and I decided that I wanted to start collecting donations because that would be a way that we could pack more meals and feed more people.' Baron began collecting donations and gave them to a number of organizations that help provide meals but primarily to You(th) vs. Hunger. In order to 'excite people and to encourage them to donate,' he said, he decided to turn it into a fun experience by giving those who donated a handmade dog toy. 'I love animals — especially dogs,' Baron said. 'And around the same time that I wanted to start feeding the hungry, I started making dog toys. I watched videos to learn how to make them.' Since then, Baron has made more than 1,500 knotted dog toys. Around the time of the pandemic, it became more challenging for Baron to collect cash donations, so at 16 years old, with the help of his parents and brothers, Baron turned his project into a nonprofit that could collect online donations. He named the organization Knot Perfect to represent both the knotted toys and the imperfect world where hunger is an issue across the globe. Using 'American Ninja Warrior' to feed the hungry After starting Knot Perfect, Baron had an inspiring rock-climbing experience that sparked his next big move. 'I went rock climbing on a cliff over the Atlantic Ocean, and I really had a wonderful experience doing that. And then ... around the same time I was doing that, I started watching '[American] Ninja Warrior.'' 'American Ninja Warrior' is a sports-competition reality show that features athletes from around the country who compete on 'the most difficult obstacle courses.' Participants compete for the fastest time and race to get a 'button push' — pressing the buzzer at the end of the course indicating they completed the obstacle without falling off. After watching the series, Baron 'went to a 'Ninja Warrior' gym to train and to try the obstacles that were on the show, and [I] just really fell in love with the sport, and especially the ninja community.' 'Everyone was super supportive, even though we're all competing against each other on the course. Everyone helps each other and shares their tips and encourages them on all the obstacles … then a friend suggested that I apply for the show.''I didn't know if I was going to get in,' Baron said. '[But] I feel like God really blessed me with the opportunity to be on the show and to use it to advocate for an end to world hunger and to encourage other people to do good in the world.' Baron heard back that he was accepted for Season 15 of the show. In 2023, he participated and made it to the semifinal round. (Approximately 40,000 of the meals provided by Knot Perfect were a direct result of Baron's appearance on 'American Ninja Warrior.') Baron was invited to rejoin the show for Season 17, which is taking place in Las Vegas this summer. So far he has been a fierce competitor, hitting his first buzzer on the June 2 episode, which advanced him to the upcoming July 14 semifinals. Wearing a shirt that says 'Ninja Fighting Hunger' on the episode, Baron said he is 'dedicating [his] summer to being the hands and feet of Christ for the 1 billion people around the world who go to bed hungry each night.' Knot Perfect's next steps As much as Baron enjoys the course and community of 'American Ninja Warrior,' he said, 'The whole reason I go on the show is to advocate for world hunger … As a result of being on the season this year, we're trying to pack our 1-millionth meal as a community in northern Virginia. It's our 10-year anniversary of packing meals, and we have a big goal of hitting that million-meal mark.' The anniversary marks a milestone for You(th) vs. Hunger, and Baron said he hopes 'American Ninja Warrior' can help the Catholic community reach its goal, as a donation of just $10 allows the organization to feed 30 people. 'My mission of feeding the hungry, starting a nonprofit, and then going to the University of Notre Dame and competing on ['American Ninja Warrior'], I just felt that God has really blessed me with this opportunity,' Baron said. 'I felt his hands, him walking me, and helping me throughout it.' As he heads into his sophomore year, Baron will continue to study business analytics to continue his nonprofit and its mission after he graduates. He recently received two grants totaling $1,650 to help him reach his donation goals. He was also selected as the Virginia Young Man of the Year by the Knights of Columbus in 2024 for his work. But he gives all the credit to God. 'I'm so grateful to God for the gifts he's given me and to use it to do something good for other people. I couldn't have done any of this without him,' Baron said. 'It's him, not me. I'm so grateful to him for that.'--CNA
Chicago Tribune
05-07-2025
- Entertainment
- Chicago Tribune
Libertyville and Wilmette athletes run, leap their way to ‘American Ninja Warrior' semi-finals
With calculated leaps, displays of strength, and races up a 14.5-foot curved wall, both a Wilmette doctor and a Libertyville High School student have advanced to the semi-finals of the NBC-TV American Ninja Warrior competition show by making it through the athletically demanding obstacle course. The semifinals for the show, where the ninja course tests participants' strength, agility and balance, will air this month. The segment featuring Steven Bachta, 44, of Wilmette, a pediatric doctor at NorthShore Evanston and Highland Park hospitals who also teaches medical students and residents, is set to air Monday, July 14, and that of his fellow ninja contestant Kenzie Hughes, 16, who will be entering her senior year of high school and hopes to go into physical therapy, will air July 28, according to NBC spokespersons. Bachta and Hughes know each other from training at ninja gyms in the area, he said. 'It's kind of a small world,' he said. 'She's an amazing ninja, and she's been doing it since she was very young.' 'The ninja community has been amazing, and it's kind of a tight-knit and smaller community,' Bachta said, describing how many ninja athletes train together at local facilities. 'It's always fun to talk to the kids about what it's like to be on the TV show, because a lot of them want to eventually do that.' Both Bachta and Hughes learned about the NBC show by watching it on television — or, in Bachta's case, by his young daughters watching American Ninja Warrior Junior and then wanting to compete. Hughes started watching the show about eight years ago and her family supported her interest, taking her to an ANW-inspired gym in Chicago where a younger Hughes 'fell in love' with the sport. And during COVID, her father Chris Hughes even built a mini course in the backyard. Bachta, whose moniker on the show is 'Docta Bachta,' took his first real leap into the sport after the pandemic ended. 'It just so happens, Chicago has like, five or six really good ninja gyms,' he said. 'And so once the lockdown was lifted, we kind of ventured out to these gyms.' He trains at the Ultimate Ninjas North Shore facility in Glenview, along with his two daughters. Sydney, 10, was ranked third at the World Ninja League Championships in Greensboro, North Carolina in June, and Logan, 7, ranked 10th at the same championships, he said. That makes both of them around the same age Hughes was when she got interested in ninja. 'Like a dream come true' Hughes started gymnastics at 2 years old, and had also done flag football, figure skating, softball, soccer and a 'bunch of random sports.' Hughes' mother Mia Hughes said her daughter had previously applied to be on American Ninja Warrior Junior, but was ultimately not selected. When the age to enter the American Ninja Warrior was lowered to 15, the teen jumped at the opportunity. Mia Hughes talked about the moment they got the call, at eight o'clock on a Wednesday evening. 'I ran the phone up to her, I filmed the call … it was like a dream come true,' Mia Hughes said. The outpouring of support the teen saw from friends and family was 'overwhelming,' Kenzie Hughes said, and going to Las Vegas to be in front of tv cameras was 'nerve-wracking.' But while she struggled with all the cameras watching her, when she got to the starting line, it all dropped away, she said. Hughes said she also got to meet numerous other ninja competitors while in Vegas and that they shared advice and tips. 'Everyone's there to support each other, and it doesn't matter how you do or they do, it's just, all together we want to be the best we can.' Despite the physicality of the sport, it's 'way more mental than physical,' Hughes said. She had to change her mentality, she said, after she became too focused on perfection. 'It was really helpful to be on the show, because then that's where I realized — I really do love the sport and I want to keep going and try to be the best I can,' Hughes said. For her parents, their daughter's skill and passion for ninja came as a surprise. 'It's great to see her shine, and when she took that starting line … I was just really proud of her,' Mia Hughes said, wiping her eyes. But the lessons she wants her daughter to take away from the experience aren't about success. Instead, they're about failure. Her daughter used to be 'really, really hard on herself,' Mia Hughes said, so it was heartening to hear her talk about rediscovering the love of the sport. 'Everyone fails, no matter what…Failure, it happens, and that's a thing in life,' Mia Hughes said. After high school, Hughes plans to pursue physical therapy studies in college, drawing from her own experiences handling injuries and pains. She hopes to attend school in Florida to be close to her older sister Kylie. She doesn't plan on giving up on ninja, however, saying she will be applying for next season as well. Encouraging blood donations Bachta, who has competed twice before on American Ninja Warrior, teaches in addition to his role as a pediatric doctor. As director of pediatric education at NorthShore, he's a clinical assistant professor at the University of Chicago's Pritzker School of Medicine. He works 24-hour shifts at the Evanston and Highland Park hospitals, likening the shifts to those of firefighters, he said, because it involves being on call even when he's sleeping. 'You always have to be ready to go. You can lay down and rest, but at any moment, you could have to rush to a delivery or the emergency room, and you have to be sharp,' Bachta said of the lifestyle. 'It's not really sleep when you're there. It's more just like resting until you're needed.' Because of his schedule, Bachta said he is able to have more flexibility when it comes to ninja training and also competing on NBC. This season's shows taped last September in Las Vegas, requiring the contestants to keep their lips sealed about the results for the past 10 months. 'It makes it a little challenging,' Bachta said of the travel requirements to appear on the show. 'But it works. My colleagues have been great and understanding.' His group of fellow ninjas trains at other ninja facilities besides the Glenview one to get a feel for different obstacles, Bachta said. The group also trains at night, largely because the NBC show films at night, sometimes all through the night, he explained, and he wants to be conditioned to get into athletic mode in the late hours. Bachta is competing to encourage people to donate blood. He's been donating since he was a student at Maine East High School in Park Ridge, and said now that he's a doctor, he sees firsthand how critical blood transfusions are for trauma and ER patients, cancer patients, and mothers who hemorrhage. 'In high school, I donated because I thought, 'I can do this and help people,' but now as a doctor, I can see this full circle,' he said. He still donates on a regular basis.
