Casey Rothschild on her historic Philadelphia debut

When American Ninja Warrior lowered the age limit to 19 for season 10, we knew we would see some stunning new talent on the show. But so far this season, it’s been a bit of a man’s world with rookies like Mathis Owhadi and Matthew Day sweeping through the course to the buzzer. That all changed when rookie Casey Rothschild took on the Philadelphia course.

Casey is 20-years-old and has experience with circus arts and track and field. She trains with the legendary Drew Drechsel and it’s quite apparent she’s taking the lessons to heart. The Philadelphia course only had 12 clears, one of which was Casey. She is now the youngest female rookie EVER to hit the buzzer. Talk about making a first impression.

Casey talked to us about what it’s like to come out swinging.

“I’ve been training for seven months. I had seen the show and I had seen videos on YouTube of all the different women competing on the show. It got me really excited to try it. Once I started training, I fell in love with the sport. I ended up moving away from track and field and training Ninja Warrior full time.”

“I felt really nervous, and then, I think, once it got closer to my run, I got really excited to have the chance to get up there and be a part of it. Just get on the course. I was nervous at first about starting, but I picked out my coach in the audience that yelled over to me. I sort of calmed down. As soon as I stepped on to the first step, I felt totally calm.”

“The Wingnuts, I caught one arm on, I think, the second catch. Once I was hanging with one arm, I knew I had a good grip on it, but but it was a scary moment. Once I was off of that I felt a lot better.”

“I think I was so overwhelmed with the fact that I was at the Warped Wall. I knew I could do a Warped Wall and I wanted to just go for it. But I didn’t take that second to breathe and catch my breath and really prepare myself. So I rushed the first two attempts. Drew told me to take a second and calm down and really attack the last one. I finally got up it!”

“It feels amazing. I couldn’t really ask for a better first run. I looked at the course. It felt like my kind of obstacles. I was able to execute the way I planned to.

Training for this, and even before I started training, I had been watching all these women, and all the competitors over all. So now to be on the course alongside them. Even before getting here, doing the small local competitions and meeting all these people that I’ve looked up to, it’s been really great.”

Casey will continue to compete right next to her inspirations when she returns for the Philadelphia City Finals in a few weeks!