Seahawks’ Jon Ryan competes on ‘American Ninja Warrior’
May 22, 2015, 7:24 AM | Updated: 1:53 pm
Seahawks punter Jon Ryan married comedian Sarah Colonna on July 9th in Mexico. (AP)
(AP)
What does one do after achieving so much, from a successful football career to winning a Super Bowl?
For Seattle Seahawks’ punter Jon Ryan, the answer is competing on “American Ninja Warrior.” And he’s been heavily training to take on the challenge.
“We do a full body workout in football, but for this I’ve been training more with pull-ups and just some more ninja-specific type things,” Ryan said in a promotional video for the TV show.
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“People keep asking me if this is the same as football,” Ryan said. “In football I get pretty nervous — I’ve played in two Super Bowls so I get nervous — but in football I know what I’m doing. Out here, I don’t know what I’m doing.”
Ryan will compete against a range of athletes, from an Eagle Scout to a mom. He said that he is competing to win $500,000 for his charity, the Bob Ryan Scholarship Fund and Charity, which raises money for cancer research and scholarships for college students.
The new season of “American Ninja Warrior” begins May 25 on NBC. Reruns will be shown on the Esquire Network. The show will initially air a series of qualifying rounds in various cities to establish its cast of competitors.
“American Ninja Warrior” is the American version of its Japanese counterpart “Sasuke.” The televised competition pits people from all walks of life against each other on an extreme obstacle course. Winners advance to more difficult rounds and eventually to the finals in Las Vegas. If a competitor can ultimately defeat the final four-stage course, modeled after the Mt. Midoriyama course in Japan, they will win $1 million. No one has achieved the feat so far.
