Wilmington’s Whitney Miller makes third appearance on NBC’s American Ninja Warrior, but being a ninja has become much more than simply competing on TV
By Kevin Noonan
Photos by Joe del Tufo
Whitney Miller had just had her third child, and middle age was staring her in the face. So, like a lot of women who reach that stage of life, she decided to work on her physical well-being, which she knew would also help with her mental and spiritual well-being.
But, unlike a lot of women, Miller didn’t just jog around the block or occasionally visit her local gym to get back into shape. She went full Ninja.
Miller, 38, recently finished her third stint on American Ninja Warrior, a highly-rated television show on the NBC network that will air its 17th season next year in late spring or early summer. Miller is part of that season, and even though she’s not allowed to reveal the results before the show is broadcast, she said she was happy with her performance in Las Vegas after failing to make it past the first-round qualifier the last two seasons.
American Ninja Warriors is an obstacle course on steroids and participants compete to see who can complete it the fastest. If you want to know more about the competition, go to NBC.com/American-Ninja-Warrior.
But back to the beginning. Miller grew up in eastern Tennessee and eventually worked as a social worker in Kentucky at the Child Advocacy Center in Louisville. While there, she met her future husband, Tyler, who was studying to be a minister. The couple discovered there was an opening for an associate pastor at a church in Wilmington (Miller declined to name the church, since her husband is no longer affiliated with it.) Even though they had other opportunities, one thing in particular lured them to Delaware’s biggest city, and it was something that would have had most couples running in the other direction.
That moment came in 2013, when Newsweek magazine infamously labeled Wilmington as “Murdertown USA.” The couple wanted to go someplace where they could make a positive impact, and they figured a city with that reputation was the right place.
“My husband got the job offer around the same time [as the Newsweek article],” Miller says. “We knew we wanted to move to a city that had a need. So, we prayed on it and here we are 10 years later. And I can say we definitely made the right decision. We love it here. It’s a very accepting community, and we have had a chance to achieve the goals we had when we moved here.”
And it was here that Miller had her epiphany about getting back into shape — on her terms and her timetable. She homeschools her three kids and is involved in several community programs. She knew she couldn’t juggle all of that along with a commitment to a regular work-out regimen or team sport.
“I had always been an athlete and basketball was my main sport when I was younger,” she says. “But I didn’t have the time for those kinds of sports because of my busy schedule. It was just too much of a commitment.”
Then came a life-changing moment, when some friends invited the couple to go rock climbing. Miller had never attempted it before, but something about the experience struck a chord.
“To me, it was like yoga on a wall and I had an absolute blast doing it,” she says. “It was physically and mentally challenging, and I loved all of that. That was sort of my gateway drug into Ninja.”
A League of Their Own
That led Miller, and eventually her husband, to learn more about ninja training and its obstacle course roots, and the more she learned, the more she liked it. She and her husband joined ICore Fitness gym in West Chester, Pa., and today Miller represents ICore Fitness in the World Ninja League.
The World Ninja League (WorldNinjaLeague.org.) was created in 2015 on the heels of the success of the American Ninja Warrior series and now has teams in 27 states and six countries. It’s broken into age groups and more than 70 percent of the competitors are youth.
“Anybody can do it, which is really the best part of it,” Miller says. “It doesn’t matter how old you are or what sex you are. All that matters is that you enjoy it, because if you enjoy it, you’ll stick with it. And if you do that, you’ll end up in great shape and have a lot of fun along the way.”
And if that isn’t enough, Miller is also the board president of Neighborhood Ninjas, a national group that combines its love of ninja training with a commitment to its communities.
Alex Katz was one of the founders of Neighborhood Ninjas (NeighborhoodNinjas.org), and the Rhode Island native who now lives outside of Austin, Texas, is still the director. A couple of years ago she met Miller at a Ninja competition and recruited her to the group. Now Miller is board president of the organization and she and Katz work closely together to develop their programs.
“We realized that we could use the sport of Ninja to help under-served kids grow emotionally as well as physically, and help them develop social skills and gain confidence in what they can accomplish,” Katz says. “Some of those kids aren’t into traditional sports or they can’t afford them, but they love this.
“So, Whitney and I had similar visions and she’s been an incredible asset to everything we do. She really has made a positive impact.”
A Serious Playground
Part of that impact is the construction of specialized playgrounds that are based on the obstacle course on American Ninja Warrior. Kids can use it, but it’s also designed for adults. The first NinjaFit Playground was built in May in Wilmington, at Alapocas Park, across from the Can-Do Playground, and Miller was largely responsible for having the first one constructed in Delaware.
“Whitney was definitely the driving force in bringing the playground to Wilmington,” Katz says. “She made a really strong case for Wilmington and Alapocas Park specifically, because we wanted to bridge different socio-economically diverse areas and bring people together, and create something free that’s on a bus line and is accessible to everyone. And now that the playground is finished, we’re running various free community programs and, so far, the response has been great.”
Another playground is planned for Lee, Mass., and several other states have shown interest in bringing a NinjaFit Playground to their communities.
“Our goal is to have a playground in every state in the next 10 years,” Miller says. “As for the one at Alapocas, our goal is to bring people together for different events. It’s for everybody, but especially for kids, to give them an outlet that they otherwise wouldn’t have, something that can help them stay out of trouble.”
Miller plans on participating in ninja events as long as she feels she can stay competitive and she plans on spreading the word about Ninja training, and its positive impact on people of all ages and backgrounds, even longer.
“Whitney brings lot of energy and that drive to make her community a better place,” Katz says, “And everything she does comes from her heart, which makes everything she does that much more special.”
Above: Whitney Miller recently finished her third stint on American Ninja Warrior.
Kevin Noonan has written about Delaware and Delawareans for more than 45 years. He and his wife, Suzi, live in Arden and are the parents of two grown children and the grandparents of two growing-up-too-fast angels. He has no interesting hobbies to speak of, but is generally recognized as one of the finest air guitarists in the tri-state area.