Monroeville girl trains for National Ninja League championships

Nya Scott wants to be a ninja world champion, and this spring, the 7-year-old Monroeville resident will get the chance.

But it’s not the ancient Japanese martial art of ninjutsu. Scott is a member of the Iron City Ninjas, who train to run obstacle courses that test their physical endurance and coordination as part of the National Ninja League. Scott is part of a team of more than 20 athletes from Iron City Ninjas who will head to Greensboro, N.C., for the league’s world championships April 1-3.

“I like to do rough things and bounce around,” said Scott, who got her start bouncing at Gymkhana Gymnastics in Monroeville.

“We’d heard about the Iron Ninja, and she went down to their gym, did a test run and loved it,” said Scott’s father, Julius.

The Iron City Ninjas were started in Baldwin by owner and coach Steve Leppo, who began training about eight years ago with the goal of getting onto the popular “American Ninja Warrior” reality TV show.

“Once you start training, though, you kind of discover this whole niche world,” he said.

The National Ninja League is now in its seventh year. Leppo learned about it as he was driving four hours one way to do his training at a specialized gym in Findlay, Ohio.

“I couldn’t really find someplace to train in Pittsburgh,” he said. “So I talked with the gym owner in Ohio, got some ideas, came back and started developing a business plan.”

The Iron City Ninjas gym has been open for just less than three years.

Scott, who is in her second year at the gym, is ranked 11th among 28 competitors in her age bracket (6-8) in the league’s Northeast Division. She qualified for regional championships in mid-January at an Ohio competition and qualified for the world championships shortly before Valentine’s Day.

“My absolute favorite part is that there’s not a lot of brown girls in this sport,” said her mother, Nicole. “So to see her out there succeeding is wonderful.”

Scott is particularly adept at lache, using her arm strength to swing to a bar placed increasingly farther away. Leppo said she has been able to hit the 6-and-a-half foot mark, and thinks she has the ability to improve even more.

“Even in a kid her age just going through monkey bars, you can kind of see technique and ability if it’s there,” Leppo said. “She’s super-athletic. A lot of the coaches who’ve come from other gyms even spotted her and mentioned how well she’s doing — and that was at her first competition.”

Teammates Emily Sheaffer and Francesa DiLeonardo will join Scott at the world championships, along with Iron City Ninja athletes in several other age divisions.

Until then, they’ll be practicing every Monday and Saturday at the gym.

“We get to do lots of cool stuff and challenges,” Scott said.

Leppo said Scott is easy to coach and works hard.

“She has a bright future,” he said.

That puts a smile on her father’s face.

“I love seeing her flourish and be happy,” Julius said. “That’s the best part.”

For more on the National Ninja League World Championships, see NationalNinja.com.