TIM DEXTER
Owner
Tim started his Ninja journey much like anyone else. He saw Ninja on TV and thought, “Wow, I think I could do that!” His first exposure to the sport was in 2006 when the show “Ninja Warrior” aired on G4, years before American Ninja Warrior first aired in December 2009.
From that first exposure, Tim was immediately inspired to start training. He would go to local parks and set up 4-staged obstacle courses where he would jump, climb, and traverse anything he could find. As often as possible, he was scaling wooden castle parks, doing lots of different monkey bar variations, and spider climbing between doorways.
Tim discovered Parkour in a similar fashion. There was an athlete who tried out for the American Ninja Challenge named Levi Meeuwenberg, a professional Parkour athlete, and Time was there to see his audition. Tim thought Parkour would be a great way to train for Ninja. Looking back, he had already unofficially been doing Parkour for years while jumping and climbing around. Quickly, he fell in love with Parkour just as much as he did with Ninja.
Around the time he started training, Tim faced an extremely difficult period in his life. He struggled with severe depression and anxiety, which eventually led him to hit rock bottom. Gratefully, his Parkour and Ninja training really helped him to overcome the challenges he was facing in his personal life.
It was almost as if each obstacle he conquered while training Ninja or Parkour was an obstacle he conquered in his personal life. His training gave him a newfound respect for himself and life. He gained confidence, self-esteem and much more. Pretty soon, what started out as a fun hobby quickly turned into a deep passion and lifestyle.
As Tim’s passion grew, so did his training efforts. In 2011, he started building obstacles in his backyard. (See a few here.) He started to visit Ninja and Parkour gyms (such as The Movement Laboratory and Alternate Routes) where he would get to meet, train with, and compete against the top Ninja athletes of the time. Tim was often the youngest participant. Even with his young age, he performed extremely well and won a number of the competitions.
Tim’s skill earned him notoriety in the Ninja community, and many felt he would be the first American Ninja Warrior. Unfortunately, age kept that goal at a distance since he was not yet old enough to compete on the show.
While Tim excelled as one of the country’s top under-aged Ninjas, his interest in Parkour, along with his skills, progressed quickly as well. He attended a number of Parkour events where he met and trained with many of the top Parkour athletes from all over the world, as well as competed in various Parkour competitions.
Tim wanted to share his passion and love for movement and help grow the Parkour and Ninja communities. He realized these disciplines could change people’s lives just like they did for him. As a freshman at Cumberland Valley High School in 2011, he started a Parkour Club. Due to liability issues, the club’s activities were limited. But Tim did not let that stop him.
In 2012, he started teaching classes out of a local park under the name Cumberland Valley Parkour. The CVPK grew to an average of 10 students per class, with over 160 students taking over the course of time.
In the summer of 2013, Tim started coaching at The Movement Laboratory, one of the first Ninja/Parkour gyms in the country. There, he progressed his skills as both an athlete and coach, eventually being made one of the managers at MLAB. This experience led to his dream of opening his own Parkour and Ninja training facility.
Following his graduation from Cumberland Valley in 2015, Tim pursued a degree in Entrepreneurship at York College of Pennsylvania. He continued CVPK after his graduation and throughout most of college, in hopes of building a market for when he one day opened his gym. He also founded the York College Parkour Club as a freshman. As a Junior, he started a Parkour program at Lincoln Charter Elementary School where he taught troubled youth. In 2018, when he was in his junior year, Tim met with Tara for the first time and began turning his dream into a reality.
Today, Tim is still an elite level Ninja athlete and high level Parkour athlete. He has qualified and competed at The National Ninja League World Championships multiple times and he has even competed on American Ninja Warrior. He continues to compete and coach, and plans to do so for a long time.
Tim is one of the most experienced Ninja/Parkour coaches and athletes in the world. His knowledge is vast, and he is truly passionate about what he does. His passion and love for what he does along with his positivity is very contagious to others. He loves coaching even more than being an athlete. He is passionate about helping people overcome obstacles they are facing, no matter if it is a wall, the salmon ladder, or low self-esteem.
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