Sarah Schoback wants moms to know they can be Ninjas too

Sarah Schoback made her American Ninja Warrior debut in Kansas City during season nine. She returned for season 10 in Minneapolis. Both years, she made a strong showing and advanced to the City Finals, but did not make it to the National Finals. While that goal still lies ahead for Sarah, she’s busy every day with her Ninja-infused life. She’s the owner and a coach at Obstacle Academy in Edina, Minnesota. There, she works alongside fellow Ninja Warriors such as Hunter Guerard, Sara Heesen, and Leif Sundberg. Sarah is also a wife and mom to two young girls, providing more than a little excitement to her days.

While Sarah is still working towards a buzzer on the show, she’s already a memorable inspiration to busy moms. We chatted with Sarah back in Minneapolis about how she’s balancing her life and overcame her own hurdles to compete on Ninja Warrior.

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“A lot of moms have reached out to me. They saw that I’m someone with no athletic background really. Getting into this, it’s really intimidating to a lot of people. To see a mom with a busy life, crazy life, and can get into training, it’s a big deal. I’ve had a lot of moms reach out to me and ask, ‘How do you get started? What are different things I can do?”

“What I actually ended up doing, I gave them workouts that they could do in their home with things that they have at home. Things like using their own kids. Just to help them, one, be able to tie in their own kids and have fun with that, and two, it’s really hard to get to a gym. Being able to do workouts at home really saves a lot of time.”

“Becoming a Ninja Warrior athlete hasn’t changed my day to day life. I think that’s what probably shocks the most people. You’re still normal people. You still need to wake up in the morning and make your kids lunch. You still do the same things. The only difference it’s made is when I’m at the gym, a lot more people know who I am. When I give them advice, they definitely take it a little more serious.”

“Since last season, I’ve bumped up my training because nobody likes to miss out on going to Vegas by three tenths of a second.

I really worked a lot on my endurance this year. But the mental side is huge. Even just calming your nerves a few days before. For me, I used to struggle with eating even a week before. That was a big factor to me because I’d just get too nervous. Learning how to feel my body was a huge thing for me to get used to and overcome.”

“I recite two verses in my head. One is 2 Timothy 1:7, the other one is Psalm 18:32-37. Those particular verses really help me in staying calm. For some reason, as I say those verses in my head, or even out loud, they bring me peace. Like, it’s okay if you fail. That’s okay. You’re still going to be okay. Life still goes on. Your friends and family still love you.”