ORANGE PARK - For Ridgeview High School senior Alex Romer, the tension of competing on TV is over, but the anxiety of not being able to talk about it is probably more taxing than his adventure.

“I’m not allowed to talk about how I did because of the show,” said Romer, 17, who recently returned home from Los Angeles after a stint on the TV show American Ninja Warrior. “I submitted a video of my skills and they invited me. I went out, competed and now we wait.”

Romer’s segment is schedule to air in episode eight of the recently restarted show. American Ninja Warrior which will be starting its 14th season on NBC and, according to the NBC.com website, the show will feature a lower age limit (15 years old), but keeps the eventual $1 million prize at the end if competitors continue to advance to the National Finals in Las Vegas. Athletes, like Romer, compete in numerous qualifying rounds and semifinals to advance.

“We have American Ninja gyms in the area and in Georgia and there is a Ninja League that we can compete at the local level against other gyms,” said Romer. “It’s all designed to keep us active and developing our skill set to be able to get on to the TV show.”

Romer, a soccer and band member at Ridgeview, has been an American Ninja

Warrior fan for nearly a decade after seeing the highly-competitive obstacle race show on television.

“He saw the show, then told us he wanted dad to build him some obstacles in the backyard,” said Dawn Romer, who co-owns with her husband, Pete, Mighty Orion Fitness Gym on Blanding Blvd. “Alex did gymnastics for while, but has had the American Ninja on his mind since that day.”

Romer, who has two siblings also into the Ninja craze, credits his dad’s energy and skill to replicate the American Ninja obstacles on TV to the family’s backyard, first, then to the Orion gym on Blanding.

“Pete retired from the US Navy and then the interest grew and he just kept adding stuff to the yard, then the business came into play,” said Dawn Romer. “Our gym is a combination of seeing obstacles on TV, talking to other athletes and trying to replicate the courses we have seen.”

Romer, with his freshman and sophomore years at Middleburg, then his junior year and upcoming senior season at Ridgeview, got his first whiff of Ninja in a home gym competition that Alex won that gave him the confidence of moving up.

“He won a competition in our first competition in our gym like March six years ago and then went to regionals six months later and finished second,” said Dawn Romer, noting the Ninja craze has created leagues throughout the United States with a championship event in New Mexico. “From that, six years ago, and six months after his first competition, he went to the World Finals. That has put the bug in him.”

Romer currently competes in the FINA League; Federation of Ninja Athletes.

“FINA has two courses, a speed course and an endurance course,” said Alex Romer. “One is shorter with eight or nine smaller obstacles but it’s fast. The endurance ones; 12 or more obstacles, can be brutal.”

Romer has trained for his Ninja mainly with body weight fitness, technique building and running for endurance.

“I don’t lift weights, but do all body weight training to simulate the needs of the course,” said Romer. “I have pretty good finger strength because a lot of the courses have obstacles that you only get fingerholds on. I carry around hand squeezing devices nearly all day; like 100 squeezes a day.”

The one obstacle that is a constant in all Ninja competitions is the dreaded finishing wall; a run-up wall that stretches up to 22 feet with a lip that athletes grab with fingers and pull themselves up to the top to smash a bell at the end of a run.

“It’s very daunting up close and in person,” said Romer, who has three walls to train on in his home gym; 12 feet, 14 feet and 22 feet. “The key is to run up as far as you can then explode literally away from the wall before grabbing the lip. You have to fly.”

Dawn Romer remarked of her son’s ability in the air. “He flies and floats throughout the courses,” said Dawn Romer. “It’s cool to watch because he kind of floats; he flies when he launches from one obstacle to another. It’s an art.”

Dad Pete Romer, a former swimmer as a young athlete, appeared still fit enough to battle the courses and revelled in his family’s love of the sport.

“To see him get to the show is awesome,” said Pete Romer, noting he did plenty of obstacle courses in his Navy tenure. “I get inspiration from other gyms and other people to keep building the obstacles in our gym. We have one of the premiere obstacle builder’s autograph on one of my designs.”