Tetherball is an obstacle, firstly introduced as the fifth obstacle of Stage One on American Ninja Warrior 14, replacing the Tire Run from its past three recent appearances.
It consisted of three spheres (each supported with a support bar at the bottom), a rope, a giant cylinder with a pole attached to its side, a white rope that surrounds the cylinder, and a red rope attached to a pulley mechanism placed on top of the cylinder. Competitors must do the following:
- Run across the three balls and grab onto a stationary rope.
- Use the rope to swing to the pole, then climb up the pole and grab the red rope attached to the top of the cylinder.
- Rotate the rope around the cylinder in a counterclockwise direction at least twice before dismounting to the landing platform. The rope would slowly lengthen and drop down as competitors spin around the cylinder.
Many competitors were disoriented by the spinning and lowering of the rope as well as the fact that the rope would spin faster the longer competitors hung on to it. Seven competitors fell on this obstacle: Jamie Rahn, Hunter Guerard, Jacob Arnstein, Enzo Wilson, Francisco Barajas, Caiden Madzelan, and most shockingly, the runner-up to the two previous American Ninja Warrior seasons, Austin Gray, who decided to jump off the cylinder directly towards the landing platform but missed. Many competitors who cleared struggled on the spinning rope. They either didn't go for the dismount at their first opportunity, narrowly avoided falling on the dismount by planting their feet firmly on the landing platform and waiting until they were upright before letting go of the rope, or both, effectively wasting time.
Other Season Appearances[]
American Ninja Warrior: Women's Championship 3[]
Tetherball returned in American Ninja Warrior: Women's Championship 3 as the fifth obstacle in Stage One. Out of nine competitors to attempt it, only Casey Rothschild failed on this obstacle.
It was replaced by the harder The Gambler on the next season.
Trivia[]
- The obstacle is named after the childhood game of the same name, where a ball is attached to a string and must be wound around the post without unwinding back in order to win.
- The Tetherball was one of the obstacles that won the American Ninja Warrior: Obstacle Design Challenge, designed by Stacie Harris.
- The Tetherball takes some inspiration from the Parkour Run, which appeared as the fifth obstacle in Stage One on American Ninja Warrior 9. There are some similarities between the two obstacles:
- Competitors must run across a series of stable steps (angled steps on Parkour Run and ball-shaped steps on Tetherball) before jumping to a rope.
- After reaching the final step (Parkour Run) or tube (Tetherball), competitors had to use a spinning rope to reach a landing platform.
Competitors' Success Rate[]
- All results based on the NBC broadcast and external information found.
ANW | Clears | Attempts | Percentage |
---|---|---|---|
ANW14 | 37 | 44 | 84.09% |
Women's Championship 3 | 8 | 9 | 88.89% |
Total | 45 | 53 | 84.91% |