I have to be honest. I was very hesitant about doing recaps for NBC’s American Ninja Warrior. I thought, “Sure this is a cool event, but how much can I write about guys and gals hanging onto swinging globes and climbing an invisible ladder?” It turns out I was way off base. The event is something special, but the athletes are even more impressive.
To say these athletes should be the role models of competitors everywhere isn’t a reach from what I have discovered. What sport sees so many athletes actively cheering for their opponent?
ANW is a different animal I know. It’s hard for a linebacker to cheer on a running back who just trucked him on his way to the end zone. And we would think an NBA baller insane if he gave a thumbs up to the guy who just posterized him. Nonetheless Ninja Warrior is a great sport that shows what can be accomplished when a community of like-minded athletes come together. The course is the opponent more so than a fellow runner.
I’ve seen plenty of impressive Warriors since I have been covering the show this year. Their athletic prowess is something to behold, but many of the back stories are just as impressive.
One such Warrior was Sean Darling-Hammond who punched his ticket to the Vegas National Finals with his performance in Pittsburgh. Akbar Gbajabiamila stated that this young man had his vote if he decided to run for President. That’s pretty high praise. I don’t know that I would not vote for the guy myself after learning a bit more about the Ivy League Ninja during a phone interview this week.
During the interview we find out where the itch to be on Ninja Warrior came from as well as more about Sean’s everyday life. You may be envious when you find out how long he has been training when you think about how far he has advanced on ANW.
It was very cool to get some training tips from Sean for those of you interested in being the next local Ninja or have dreams of running on the big stage at NBC. Even if you are just a casual runner, softball player, or gym rat you will find his thoughts on training helpful to say the least.
If you are a ANW fan, you will enjoy some behind the scenes stories from Sean Darling-Hammond. We got him talking about extra training for the Nationals and some of the freaky feats he has personally witnessed by other Ninjas including Geoff Britten.
Besides all the juicy details about the show, maybe the most important message was about the community aspect of American Ninja Warrior. We see it on screen, but hearing first hand about all the veteran Ninjas being so welcoming and giving made me even more of a fan of this show and the Ninja Warrior lifestyle.
Sean was a great guest that really carried me through the interview, and I hope you get as much out of it as I did.
Here’s his full audio interview below. We’ll be doing a video for this too for our YouTube Channel.