Lincoln Park Performing Arts student competes on 'American Ninja Warrior Junior'

A Lincoln Park Performing Arts Charter School freshman will compete on “American Ninja Warrior Junior,” a Universal Kids Network television show, at 7 p.m. March 2.

Dance major Abby Richert, 14, of Bethel Park, will take part in the next-generation competition, which puts young contestants through a timed course of physically demanding obstacles, such as a warped wall and hanging rings, according to school officials.

Richert filmed the episode in Los Angeles last summer, following her selection from a pool of about 50,000 applicants, school officials say.

Richert met show co-hosts, Matt Iseman and Akbar Gbajabiamila, and was interviewed after the race by gold-medal-winning Olympic gymnast Laurie Hernandez.

“It was really fun. We were out there for about four to five days just filming. They also came here to Pittsburgh for a hometown visit. That was in August. They came here for a day and they basically followed me around and filmed me,” she says.

In preparing for the show, Richert said she took a few private lessons with a trainer at Movement Lab, a gym in Ohio.

She also is a contortionist, aerialist, hand balancer, foot archer and unicyclist.

Richert trains at the Iron City Circus Arts studio in Pittsburgh and hopes one day to perform with Cirque du Soleil.