Page 27 - BusinessWest May 26, 2025

COMMERCIAL REAL ESTATE >>
Warrior
Mentality
USA Ninja Challenge
Eyes Expansion into
Western Mass.
BY JOSEPH BEDNAR
[email protected]
Richard Knight said the idea for a business
that now boasts dozens of franchises across
the U.S. — and will soon come to Western
Mass. — has its roots in a video found on the
internet.
Twelve years ago, he recalled, he was sitting at a lun-
cheon with his friend, Dale Grant, who owned a gymnas-
tics studio in Concord, N.H. with his wife.
“A friend sent a video to him of a child going over
homemade obstacles, and we were sitting there saying,
‘that’s just like the TV show American Ninja Warrior,’”
Knight recalled.
“The kids see it as variety, working on
cool new obstacles. What they’re doing is
working different muscle groups — but
don’t tell the kids that. They’re having
a great time doing something different
every week.”
The child’s enthusiasm was infectious — and the
show, which poses a series of challenges along a gruel-
ing obstacle course, was peaking in popularity around
that time.
At the same time, Grant was lamenting the fact that
boys were dropping out of gymnastics — it was becom-
ing harder to keep them engaged as they got older —
and he and Knight began talking about opening a differ-
ent kind of gym. Knight had sold a business in 2008 and
was looking for a different opportunity, and in 2015, the
pair launched the first USA Ninja Challenge facility in
Manchester, N.H.
“It’s an interesting model,” said Knight, a New Hamp-
shire native and now the company’s CEO. “We took the
basics of our backgrounds from gymnastics and Cross-
Fit and built a curriculum for training children. It’s a dif-
ferent lesson plan every week. The kids see it as variety,
working on cool new obstacles. What they’re doing is
working different muscle groups — but don’t tell the kids
that. They’re having a great time doing something differ-
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