PROVE YOUR MOVES
PROVE YOUR MOVES
With the first State Youth Finals event just over a month away, it’s time for an update on the State Youth Finals series generally and to answer some questions we’ve received from parents.
Firstly, orders for Finals t-shirts have been placed, so tickets that include a Finals tee can no longer be booked.
However, bookings for competition entry (no t-shirt) are still available until two weeks before each event or until the event/division sells out (full list of registration closing dates below).
Whether you have booked a Finals ticket plus t-shirt or a regular ticket at your local event, or haven’t booked a Finals ticket of any sort yet, you can now book a competition entry only ticket at any State Youth Finals event until bookings close.
You can attend as many events as you like – and we encourage you to travel to test yourselves against ninjas from other regions in lieu of a true national Youth Finals this year.
Last season’s Teens Grand Champion Jai Whitby will be doing just that – booking in for every State Youth Finals competition to test himself against the best Australia has to offer – we hope to see some of our best and brightest ninjas do the same.
The State Youth Finals will have a few differences from our qualifier events that you might be familiar with. The first difference is that each event will consist of two stages with different courses, instead of just one. Competitors will need to hit the buzzer on the first stage to progress to the second stage.
If less than 10 competitors in an age division clear Stage One, then as many non-finishers as needed to reach 10 competitors or half the total number of competitors (whichever is fewer) will advance to Stage Two for unofficial runs, based on furthest-fastest on Stage One. For example, in a division with 10 competitors, only three competitors clear Stage One. In this case, two competitors would be permitted to do unofficial runs to bring the total number of Stage Two competitors to half the number of Stage One competitors (as this is the lesser of 10 competitors and half the total number of competitors).
Unlike our qualifiers, each stage at the State Youth Finals will have a time limit, so competitors will not only have to beat the obstacles, but the clock too!
The first stage will be designed as a speed course with easier obstacles but a tight time limit. If a competitor fails an obstacle on the first stage, their official run will end, but they’ll be able to attempt the remaining obstacles until their time limit runs out.
The second stage will be designed as a technical course with harder obstacles to test the athletes’ strength and endurance. If a competitor fails an obstacle on the second stage, the competitor’s run will end and they will have to clear the course for the next competitor.
Unlike our qualifiers, the courses and rules will not be revealed until the weekend of the competition, as the NCL Commissioner will be overseeing the course set-up and design and will need to test and modify the courses when he arrives in town.
Courses will be uploaded to YouTube and sent out to competitors ahead of the competition.
However, unlike our qualifiers, competitors will not have a rules walkthrough, so must study the official rules video carefully to ensure they know the rules. We know this is a lot to ask for youth competitors on short notice, so rest assured we’ll be designing the courses/rules with this in mind and will make the rules as intuitive and easy to follow as possible.
The schedule for each event will be released after bookings have closed, but typically the order of operations would be as follows:
Prizes and medals will be awarded to the top three overall competitors in each division at each event.
As we’re sure some of you have seen on social media, one of our major prize sponsors, OZIGRIP, has had an unfortunate setback with a fire at their factory.
As a result, the status of prizes from OZIGRIP for the State Youth Finals series is uncertain. This may result in no OZIGRIP prizes being awarded, or simply a delay in prizes being delivered.
Goodman Grips will be supplying prizes as normal.
The 2024 World Ninja League (WNL) Championships just wrapped up in North Carolina last weekend, with some of Australia’s top ninjas smashing buzzers in the green and gold and placing highly against the world’s best.
If you want to be a part of the WNL Championships in 2025, the road to qualification starts at the State Youth Finals series. Each event will act as a qualifier for the 2025 World Ninja League Championships, with the top male and female competitors in each division earning an opportunity to don the green and gold and represent Australia on the world stage.
Earlier this month, we sent out invitations to some of our top ninjas to participate in the WNL Premier Series Qualifier being hosted at The Compound Training on Saturday, August 31.
We remind you that all queries about this event should be directed to Clem Vertigan at trainer@thecompoundtraining.com.au as we won’t have capacity to respond with our focus on the State Youth Finals series.
If you have any questions that haven’t been answered here, please don’t hesitate to ask.
All the best,
Mark Ravi
NCL Commissioner