I TOOK A NINJA WARRIOR CLASS!
It was awesome.
THIS WEEK:
Kicking, jumping, and swinging
WHERE ARE THEY NOW? On the swings
BEHIND THE PAY WALL: More swinging cartoons and illustrations
Hi ya!
This is pronounced “Hi yuh” as in “hello there,” not “Hi YAHHHH” as in karate.
It’s DiPerri (spoiler: it’s almost always DiPerri). Last week, Frega signed me up for a ninja warrior class. What is ninja warrior class, you ask? I wondered the same thing but not enough to do any research whatsoever beforehand on what I was getting myself (or what she was getting me) into.
Thankfully, the plan was for me to meet up A Friend and A Friend of A Friend so that none of us (all first timers) would have to do it alone. I was excited but exceptionally nervous and on the car ride there, I ruminated aloud, “Will there be a lot of kicking? Some kicking would be okay but I don’t want to a lot of kicking. And I’m not taking my socks off.”
Clearly, I thought ninja warrior was some sort of intro to martial arts combat class.
It wasn’t. It was this.
and this.
and this.
We interrupt this post to report that right now, as I’m writing this, Frega just signed me up for a second ninja warrior class with A Friend (no word yet on if A Friend of A Friend will be there too). A Friend went again a few days ago and this time there was a timed obstacle course! Oh me!
Now back to the Substack.
I’ve been training with weights consistently for 22 years and running (inconsistently!) through long distance running, tennis, and soccer for 24 years so I have a good baseline for physical health. HOWEVER! I’ve never taken what is essentially a trapeze swinging class.
It was hard! That last panel with Romeo just missing Buddy’s hands before plummeting to the ground? That was me. On several occasions. The very first thing I did when I set out on the course was trip over a mat. Like, twice before I even started doing anything. My hand slipped off the first ring I grabbed onto and I fell on my back (happily, no one noticed). As I gained confidence though, I was able to accomplish a little more of the course. There was one stationary bar handle in particular that I just couldn’t get. I couldn’t build enough momentum to swing upward to grab the next n stationary bar (which was probably 12-14 feet off the ground) and on each of my five attempts, I was a ground-bound missile.
The only person I saw accomplish that one was A Friend of A Friend. He was tall.
The 14-year-old version of myself who failed miserably on the rope climb in front of everyone in gym class would be salty and proud to know that the soon-to-be-40-year-old version of myself accomplished the rope climb easily. That’s about the only thing that came easily. Everything else was really hard. It was technique driven, grip taxing, and astonishingly fun.
They really should have thought of a different name instead of Ninja Warrior. How about “Swing Jumping?” “Trapeze Relay?” “Aerial Obstacle Course?” “Pretend You’re Spider-Man?” That’s what I pretended the whole time, even though I was more like this:
I can’t wait to do it again!
Here’s a swing cartoon that was first published in Please See Me.
For this and more Frega DiPerri cartoons, visit CartoonStock.
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