The cult of the ninja warrior, which began in feudal Japan, was a fraternal order of assassins.

No fun and games then, but flash forward to contemporary American pop culture and that killer instinct concept morphed into a successful reality TV show for extreme individual physical challenges through an obstacle course with big money payouts.

That said, an honest to goodness ninja warrior has arrived on the shores of Glen Ridge in the person of Tyler Rizzo, a Glen Ridge High School senior who recently competed in NBC TV's "American Ninja Warrior."

He began his odyssey at a very young age.

"I was always a fan of the show and did local competitions based on the TV show," he said recently to this newspaper. "'American Ninja Warriors' was always my favorite program since I was six. You had to be 21 when I started out being a fan, but when the age requirement became 15, I sent in my application to compete last year."

The application, he said, had to give his experience with the show. Tyler had a leg up for this. Captain of the GRHS cross-country team and a distance runner for the track team, he was also a rock climber. But most significantly, at 11, for an American Ninja Contest, he designed and proposed an obstacle for the show. With 40,000 submissions, his was selected.

"They built the obstacle and flew my family and me out to Las Vegas where NBC filmed the show," he said.

Already a long-time ninja fan, Tyler got to meet some of the athletes he admired. There were even senior citizen competitors in their 70s.

"It was pretty amazing," he said.

The obstacle he designed was called the Barrel Roll. It required leaping competitors, in mid-air, to grasp the protruding handles of a succession of suspended, rotating barrels.

"It was pretty amazing to see it come to reality," Tyler said. "My original idea was to use the athlete's momentum against them. For an 11-year-old-kid to sketch out something for his favorite TV show and it becoming a reality is mind-blowing."

Tyler said he figured the TV producers thought it would be interesting to have a fan on the show who had designed an obstacle. The Barrel Roll has appeared in subsequent episodes. It is also used in ninja warrior training films and other competitions, according to Tyler, who received no compensation for his idea.

"Since then, I've been working on fitness equipment for local ninja competitions," he said. "I'm very interested in these things and in college, I hope to pursue physics and engineering."

In September of 2024, Tyler and his family returned to Las Vegas for the show, but this time he was competing. Those episodes aired this June and July.

"It was a bizarre experience seeing myself on TV, but a dream come true," he said.

For filming the show, according to Tyler, there were stationary cameras on the course while others were hand-held and roving. But the athletes, focused as they were, barely notice any of this. Tyler made it through the qualifying round, but not the semi-final round. Seventeen competitors did, however, and Tyler figured he was the 18th finisher. After this came the championship round with a grand prize of $250,000.

"One of the things I love about this sport is that the athletes are extremely competitive, but very supportive," he said. "It's pretty amazing to learn from some of them. They come from various sports with different techniques for training. Iron sharpens iron."

Tyler is still training, hoping to compete again as an American Ninja Warrior. For himself, he said there is unfinished business.

"I've never competed on the Barrel Roll, my own obstacle," he said.

But there was another obstacle, the Corkscrew. Tyler fell here, which cost him the chance to move to the next round.

"I want redemption," he said. "Hopefully, I'll compete again. I'm still coming up with design ideas and I've built a training course in my backyard."

As for the Corkscrew, his nemesis, Tyler ponders retribution.

"It's reverse engineering," he said, of figuring out how best to train for it.