I’ve loved sport for as long as I can remember (and ninjas).
My wife has always accepted my love of sport and has even joined a footy tipping competition and we sit down weekly to do our tips.
And, while I pride myself on my extensive sports knowledge, my lovely wife is currently ahead of me in three footy tipping comps.
My wife indulges my love of sport and allows me to control the remote while sport is on, but she does like to watch her favourite lifestyle shows.
Which is why I was surprised when she became addicted to a recent sporting phenomenon.
Ninja Warrior!
Ninja Warrior has been around for quite a while.
The Australian version debuted in 2017 and has been a consistent ratings winner ever since.
It’s sort of like an old obstacle course on steroids.
Athletes from all sports have taken part, but it seems that the Ninja Warrior course suits athletes with a gymnastics or rock climbing background.
Many of the obstacles involve upper body strength, when the upper body has to take the full weight of the athlete.
Former NRL player, Eloni Vunakece, has been involved in a few of the Australian Ninja Warriors to date.
Eloni played mainly for the Newtown Jets in the NSW Cup, but did play a handful of games for the Sydney Roosters.
At 187cm, he is tall and very muscular. It looks like he could bench press a small car.
But when it comes to the upper body part of Ninja Warrior, his 102kg doesn’t help.
Most of the successful Ninja Warriors have a gymnastics background.
Olivia Vivian is a veteran of Australian Ninja Warrior.
Olivia represented Australia at the 2008 Summer Olympics.
She helped Australia finish 6th that year.
In 2014, Olivia helped Australia win silver at the Commonwealth Games.
She became the first female to finish a Ninja Warrior course, and in January of this year, Olivia captained an Australian team that beat the USA and Europe at Ninja Warrior.
Vivian was also a member of the WA Team that won the Ninja Warrior State of Origin this year.
My favourite Ninja Warrior, however, is Charlie Robins.
Charlie is a scratch golfer, who usually competes in Ninja Warrior wearing golf clothes.
While he looks more like Ed Sheeran that an athlete, Charlie has, in fact competed in gymnastics since he was about 4.
Charlie was the furthest farthest competitor in last years Ninja Warrior, and was one of 3 competitors who completed the whole finals course this year.
This years winner, about a second faster than Charlie, was Ben Polson.
While at 197 cm, he is much taller than the likes of Eloni Vunakece, Ben weighs in at 85 Kg, nearly 20 kg lighter than Eloni.
His height and weight was a huge advantage to him in the finals, and he walked away with a massive $400,000 for his efforts.
Make no mistake, people who compete in Ninja Warrior are genuine athletes, and the competition continues to grow.
Hopefully, there will be a sixth series next year.
My wife and I will sit and watch every episode, as we did this year.
And remember, there’s no such thing as too much sport.
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