Former Maui resident advances to semi-finals in American Ninja Warrior

Former Maui resident Lorin Ball has qualified to compete in Los Angeles in the semi-finals competition for a chance to be in NBC’s season 14 of American Ninja Warrior.

The top course winner can receive up to $1 million.

Ball said he knows the semi-finals will occur in the next few weeks but doesn’t have the exact date or know details about the obstacle course.

“We never know what obstacles to expect… It’s one of the highlights of being a competitor, ” said Ball, who lived his first 11 years on Maui and enjoyed skateboarding in his youth.

Ball, 35, married, has turned his passion into a living, operating an exercise training facility with obstacle courses for children and adults in Colorado. He also works as an exercise consultant.

“We have children ages 5 and had members over 80,” he said.

Ball said in the competition in San Antonio, there were more than 100 competitors, and only 30 including him reached the semi-finals.

He has qualified for the semi-finals at least 11 times.

Course obstacles in the past include running on shrinking pole steps that rise upward. Another is running and climbing over a skateboard ramp that’s about 14-to-18 feet high.

Then, there’s also the grueling “Salmon Ladder,” where competitors hold onto a pull-up bar with both hands and swing the bar and their bodies from one rung up to the next.

Ball said growing up on Maui and later Colorado, he has surfed a little, snow boarded, done boulder climbing, taken tae kwon do, and coached gymnastics for eight years.

He enjoys training for the American Ninja Warrior competition because of the camaraderie he has developed with his students and friends.

“When you’re having fun, you don’t realize it’s a workout,” said Ball.

He said he visited Maui with his wife in February to see his family and relatives, including his grandmother Mary Cruz Macadangdang Deroth. He has fond memories of Maui and misses the laid-back lifestyle as well as the food.

“You have to drive pretty far to get Spam musubi,” he said.

His website is www.flowvault.net.