For Nick Warren, competing on NBC’s “American Ninja Warrior” has been a dream since he was 6.
Now, the Doylestown teenager is one step closer to achieving it.
Warren, 16, a Central Bucks High School East student, went 3-0 in his head-to-head matchups during the national finals group stage of Season 18, advancing to the next round of the competition. His performance aired Aug. 10, with additional national finals episodes still to come.
“I was just happy that I hit a buzzer and qualified,” Warren said. “This definitely exceeded my expectations, to not just get to the finals, but to win my first three races and then get first out of my group. It still feels surreal.”
Warren’s journey to the national finals began when he was about 6 years old and attended a friend’s birthday party at Gravity Forge in Hatboro. He had so much fun trying the obstacles that he immediately wanted to learn more about the sport.
He went home and searched for “American Ninja Warrior.” The first video he watched was Kacy Catanzaro’s groundbreaking run.
“I watched it and I knew right away that I wanted to do that,” Warren said.
Warren began training at ninja gyms and eventually had coach Greg Smith build a ninja rig in the family’s backyard. Smith, who had coached at Center Court Lawrence in New Jersey, is now head of the World Ninja League, where Warren competes in events across the country.
For years, Warren spent two to three hours a day training on his backyard rig.
Today, he trains primarily at Nex Level in New Jersey, where he practices daily, helps set up obstacles and also coaches younger athletes. He has traveled across the country for competitions, including a trip to Colorado this summer.
“I’ve competed all over the country in ninja competitions,” Warren said. “It’s so much fun because the competition is just part of it, but meeting other people all over the country in the ninja community is great.”
He also began teaching younger athletes, many of whom are now starting the sport at ages 4 and 5.
Warren has balanced his ninja training with another demanding sport: football. He is a linebacker and defensive player for Central Bucks East and began playing football in seventh grade.
The two sports require different physical approaches. Football rewards size and strength, while ninja competition favors speed and agility.
“You want to be a little bit bigger for football and a little bit smaller for ninja, so that’s been hard to balance out,” Warren said.
Still, he believes football has helped make him a better ninja athlete.
Running at full speed, changing direction and tackling have helped him develop the explosiveness he needs on the ninja course. He also has worked with speed and agility trainers to become faster and more fluid.
His mother, Stacy, a national rugby coach who has coached locally in Doylestown for 24 years through the Doylestown Rugby Academy and its girls elite teams, understands the dedication required to compete at a high level.
She said Warren’s competitive nature is one of the qualities she appreciates most about him. But also, she says ninja has taught him something just as important as athletic skill — how to handle failure.
“Ninja is a very unforgiving sport,” Stacy said. “You fall and you’re out.”
She encouraged her son to understand that failure is part of pursuing a difficult goal.
“You can’t find success without failure,” she said. “Sometimes hard work doesn’t work out, and then how do you rebound from that?”
That lesson became particularly important when Warren was diagnosed with scoliosis at about 8 years old.
His first doctor warned that he might not be able to continue playing sports and said he could face restrictions on activities that put stress on his back. For a young athlete whose dream centered on ninja, the news was frightening.
The Warren family sought a second opinion from a spinal specialist at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia.
The specialist monitored Warren with regular scans and determined that ninja training could continue as long as his spinal curvature was not progressing too quickly. Rather than restricting the activity, the doctor believed the training could help strengthen Warren’s core.
Eventually, the scoliosis stopped progressing, allowing Warren to continue pursuing the sport he loved.
His determination also is closely tied to his younger sister, Alex, who has a sensory processing disorder and dyspraxia.
Warren said watching his sister work through everyday challenges has inspired him to keep pushing himself.
“She struggles with everyday movements, running, trying to get up onto stuff, jumping,” he said. “She inspires me a lot because every time I see her, she still always has a smile on her face no matter what. She’s so full of positive energy and she’s always so supportive of me, especially when I’m on the course.”
Alex was part of the story Warren shared when he applied to “American Ninja Warrior” after turning 15, the minimum age required to compete on the show.
His application video included footage of him doing ninja, his football background, his experience with scoliosis and his relationship with Alex.
Warren also has used his athletic ability to give back through “Ninja for a Cause,” a fundraising effort he began about eight years ago. The effort has supported autism awareness and other causes, including the AJ Foundation.
His mother, a special education teacher at Council Rock High School North, said she has always encouraged Warren to use his abilities to help others.
“He likes giving back,” she said.
When Warren finally received the call telling him he had been selected for “American Ninja Warrior,” he was sitting at the dinner table.
“It was the best phone call of my life,” he said.
The family traveled to Las Vegas last September to film his portion of the season. Warren said walking onto the set for the first time was intimidating because he was suddenly standing in the same place he had watched on television for years.
“I realized, I’m here. This is it. My dream,” he said.
He made the most of the opportunity.
In the regional finals that aired Aug. 3, Warren completed the six-obstacle course before competing in the Tripleheader, a three-lane race in which competitors face off side by side. He defeated two veteran ninjas to advance to the national finals.
Then came his 3-0 run in the national finals group stage.
The format required Warren to race three competitors one-on-one on the same course. There was little time to prepare for the obstacles, which were new to him.
“I had to race three people, one-versus-one,” Warren said. “There was no time to prepare in between rounds, so no time to prepare for the obstacles. They were all new to me, but I was able to step up and get it done.”
Now, Warren heads into the next stage with confidence.
“Even though I’m a rookie, I just won three rounds in a row,” he said. “If I can win these three races, why can’t I win every one I’m supposed to do?”
For Warren, the goal has never been simply about television fame. It has been about seeing how far years of training, perseverance and a willingness to overcome setbacks can take him.
And throughout the competition, he has kept his hometown in mind.
“I’m doing my best to represent my hometown of Doylestown,” he said. “My football team has been extremely supportive, as has my school, my family. Everyone has been really supportive of me going out to do this, and I want to make sure I give them everything I’ve got.”
That support was evident when more than 100 people gathered at P.J. Whelihan’s in Doylestown to watch Warren’s first episode. Former teachers, classmates, football and rugby teammates, coaches and members of the local ninja community turned out to cheer him on.
For Stacy, seeing the Doylestown community rally around her son was a proud moment.
“He’s proud of where he comes from,” she said.
And Warren has a message for anyone else chasing a difficult goal.
“If you have a dream, keep dreaming, keep training or putting in as much effort as you can toward whatever goal you have,” he said. “Hard work pays off.”
To follow Warren’s journey on “American Ninja Warrior,” visit nbc.com/american-ninja-warrior.
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