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Ninja rap: Carrollton's Oppliger competes on game show
By Justin Thomas, Jthomas@starlocalnews.com
It has been approximately 20 years since Toni Oppliger was an honors graduate at the officer candidate school for the United States Marine Corps and fulfilled four years of reserve duty.
But the 49-year-old Carrollton resident still practices the workout principles she gained during her time in the military and uses her endurance to put younger athletes in their place.
The result has been another appearance on an athletic game show as Oppliger recently competed and was featured on this season's "American Ninja Warrior."
"American Ninja Warriors is a show that began in Japan and because of my background, I fell in love with it," Oppliger said. "It was something that was right up my ally. So when I heard they were bringing the show to America, I immediately thought this was something I at least had to try to do.
"I felt like I have stayed in good enough shape and still had the prowess and skills for the audition and to compete on the show."
American Ninja Warriors -- which is in its fourth season in the U.S. and broadcast on G4TV and NBC -- is a spinoff of the Japanese show "Sasuku" in which competitors attempt to complete a four-stage obstacle course.
Any contestant who completed the course qualified for the final run, which was filmed in Las Vegas. Oppliger, however, did not finish.
"They show is pretty fast-paced and they kind of roll through the contestants," Oppliger said. "There were more than 100 in Dallas and only three finished the course. And there were no women in any region that finished.
"When they contacted me that I had been selected, they told me that no woman had finished. But that wasn't something I was worried about. It actually made it more exciting and was something that really motivated me when I was training."
And while Oppliger was unable to complete the course, she did earn a feature appearance on the program.
"I think they picked me for a feature because of my backstory," she said. "The fact that I'm a woman and I'm older and I could still compete with anyone really caught their eye. But to me, the coolest part was that they are going to show my children. The cameras were around and they did interviews with my kids ... you're going to be seeing a lot of us."
Oppliger, a single mother that has lived in Carrollton for 13 years, has a daughter that is senior at Newman Smith and another daughter who will be a freshman at Smith next year.
"Being a single mother, I really think this sets a good example for my daughters," she said. "Hopefully it shows them that you can never set the limits too high and that there are no boundaries. It doesn't matter if you are a women or how old you are; go for it."
Oppliger proved her ability to overcome her years while competing on American Gladiators in 2008, when she emerged victorious in a "Battle of the Ages" challenge.
Since then, more avenues have opened for Oppliger, including the filming of a Gatorade commercial with Abby Wambach, the starting of her own line of sports drink (Buffwater) and American Ninja Warriors.
"Buffwater kind of started as a hobby and turned into a business," she said. "It has led to a lot of other cool little things and I've really felt the love and support in Carrollton. It's a big city, but it feels small. I'm proud to be from here and am proud to represent Carrollton on the show."
Oppliger's television appearances aren't stopping with Ninja Warriors, however, as she will now take her shot the Guinness Book of World Records Gone Wild, which films in Los Angeles in June.
The record Oppliger will be attempting to break? The human catapult.
"With my military background and some of the things I have done, I'm not afraid of heights at all," she said. "So I figured, have no fear and go for it.
"They saw my audition tape for Ninja Warriors and actually contacted me about the show, which really made me want to try it."
It's that same attitude that Oppliger believes led her to her previous success.
"You can do all of the training you want," she said. "But when you get to Gladiators or Ninja Warriors and see the courses and their magnitude, they can really be intimidating when you get face-to-face with it. That was my first thought with both shows.
"But I always want to step forward and accept the challenge. If you conquer the fear and accept the challenge, that is the real victory."
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