Moorestown Ninja advances to finals of TV’s ‘American Ninja Warrior’

Moorestown native Josiah Pippel advanced to the national finals of NBC’s “American Ninja Warrior” last month, a feat that feels familiar.

The young Ninja has competed in previous seasons of the show – this year is season 16 – having advanced to its second stage last September. He did so after completing an eight- obstacle course in stage one of the show’s 15th season.

Pippel’s been busy training since then – but with a twist.

“The biggest updates have been the fact that I’ve started to coach and take on more of a teaching role within Ninja,” he explained, “and so now I have the opportunity to apply those skills of, ‘Okay, this is how you prepare for competition, and this is how you train for these certain obstacles,’ and hand that down to the next generation.”

Pippel teaches at the Ninja Fitness Zone in Moorestown, where he says it’s not just about teaching his sport but using it as a parallel to life and teaching valuable lessons.

“I think for me, it’s very rewarding (teaching Ninja), because most high-level athletes don’t take on a coaching role while they’re still in their competitive prime,” Pippel said, “and so for me, while I’m still competing and training at the highest level, I’m also coaching and using these same strategies that I use to teach them (his students).

“It’s nice to see that it’s working for them as well, like what I’m doing and the things that I’m training are actually beneficial to teach.”

Since last season, the semifinals of “American Ninja Warrior” have embraced a new format in which pairs of Ninjas race against each other on the semifinals course, according to NBC. The winners of the head-to-head races – as well as the two Ninjas who ran faster and farther than the other competitors – earn the honor of proceeding to the national finals. The two Ninjas with the fastest times from the round lay it all out on the obstacle course again to win the Safety Pass, which allows them to retry a single course in the national finals.

Pippel raced against Guang Cui in July’s semifinals and came out on top in the second round with a completed course time of 1:19.38.

“It was a bit of an interesting race for me, because the guy I raced, Guang, he was the bottom seed and actually had to do a runoff race where the two bottom seeds or the two bottom people race for a spot in semifinals and they end up racing the highest seed,” recalled Pippel, who will head to the show’s national finals in Las Vegas.

“He (Guang) had actually done the first few obstacles of the course we were racing on in his runoff race,” Pippel added, “and so for me, knowing that he already had a little bit of experience on the course, going into it I was like, ‘Allright, I just need to make sure I stay ahead, maintain my composure and just finish.’

“I can’t go too fast and make mistakes, but I also need to go fast enough that I need to try and get that Safety Pass time and clear it with a decent time and move to Vegas.’”

This year was the first without Pippel getting to race for the Safety Pass, but as much as he wanted it, he wasn’t going to sacrifice a shot at the national finals, where he will compete for the chance to win the show’s $1-million prize.

“I push myself to my limit and I try my best to win,” he remarked, “but if I don’t, I don’t let that get me down or affect me … If I didn’t win, I failed somewhere, so I use whatever that is as a lesson not only for myself but something I can teach …

“I want to win,” he added, “and I know I have the ability to and I know I’ve trained hard enough for it. I know that I can do everything that’s thrown at me, but at the end of the day, I’m okay with how it ends, especially because of the people that are there.

“No matter what, the friends and even the people on set that I’ve gotten to know … that’s what makes the sport worth it, not necessarily just winning.”