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!” However, unlike most others nowadays, his first exposure to the sport was in 2006 when he first saw 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 that he could find. As often as possible, he was scaling wooden castle parks, doing different monkey bar variations, and climbing anything that he could find that resembled the obstacles from the show. He would do whatever he could to train for Ninja Warrior, as this was before any Ninja gyms had opened.
In 2008, Tim was watching Ninja Warrior as he had been doing for years. During the second American Ninja Challenge special, Levi Meeuwenberg made his debut. Levi was a professional Parkour/Free Running athlete, and he absolutely crushed the course. This was Tim’s first exposure to Parkour. He was inspired by Levi, and decided to start training Parkour as he thought it would be a great way for him to train for Ninja. 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. Luckily, 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 within himself. 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 and his family made the trek to Primal Fitness to attend a workshop hosted by his idol Levi Meewuenberg. This was Tim’s first time meeting a professional Ninja, and he learned a lot. He then took that knowledge and began building obstacles in his backyard, such as the Cliffhanger and the Salmon Ladder. (See a few here.)
Around this time, the first ever Ninja gym opened, The Warrior Lab. Tim attended an event there that would forever change his life. At this event, he met many of the Ninjas that he looked up to. He learned an incredible amount of information from those he looked up to the most. This was also Tim’s first time competing in a Ninja competition. Although he didn’t do very well at this competition, it inspired Tim to train even harder, and it began his competition journey.
From there Tim would travel to Ninja/Parkour Gyms around the country as they opened, training and competing. He would often be the youngest participant at competitions, and he was competing against the pros. Tim began doing very well in these competitions, often beating Pro Ninjas, and gained the respect of those that he looked up. 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, as the minimum age to compete was 21. Still, Tim excelled as one of the country’s top under-aged Ninja Athletes. In addition to his growing skills in Ninja, his interest in Parkour, along with his Parkour 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 that he so deeply loved. He realized these disciplines could change people’s lives, just like they did for him. As a freshman at Cumberland Valley High School, 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 Parkour Classes out of a local park under the name Cumberland Valley Parkour. The CVPK Classes grew to an average of 10 students per class, with over 160 students taking classes over the course of time. This began Tim’s coaching journey.
In the summer of 2013, Tim was offered an opportunity to help out with summer camps at The Movement Laboratory (formally The Warrior Lab) There, he progressed his skills as both an athlete and coach as he was mentored by the owners of MLAB. Tim would continue to help out with summer camps at The Lab, and would even be responsible for helping to manage the gym for an entire summer. These experiences are what inspired Tim to want to open his very own Ninja/Parkour gym. It became his dream to open his own gym, and he began working tirelessly to make his dream into a reality.
Following his graduation from Cumberland Valley in 2015, Tim pursued a degree in Entrepreneurship at York College of Pennsylvania. He hoped to learn the business skills necessary to make his future gym be the most successful that it could be. 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 continued to work at The Lab on his breaks from school.
During his freshman year at YCP, Tim founded the York College Parkour Club, where he was able to expand his love for movement to his college campus. He exposed many new people to Parkour and held events for the community. As a Junior, he started a Parkour program at Lincoln Charter Elementary School where he taught troubled youth. Almost every child in the program had bad grades and/or disciplinary issues at school. By the end of Tim’s program, these children increased their grades and had no more office visits. Thus, showing the power Parkour/Ninja have to change lives for the better.
In 2018, while he was in his junior year, Tim met with his future business partner for the first time and began turning his dream into a reality. In March of 2019, while still a full-time college student, Tim opened Dexterity Depot alongside Co-Owner Tara Brown. Tim has since developed Dexterity Depot into one of the most successful Ninja/Parkour gyms. It has become known throughout the Ninja and Parkour communities.
In 2021, Tim created the Dexterity Depot World Chase Tag Team and competed at the WCT 5 US Championships alongside his teammates for the first time. With Tim’s many years of Ninja/Parkour experience, it’s no wonder that he became obsessed with WCT after first getting involved with the sport. Tim quickly fell in love with WCT and began traveling the country to train at Quads as they popped up.
He would compete at unofficial comps and he competed at the WCT 6 US Championship and WCT 6 Pan-American Championship with his team. In 2023 following the Pan-American Championship, Tim made the decision to get an Official Quad. Dexterity Depot became the second gym in the country to have an Official Indoor Quad.
Tim truly believes in the sport of WCT and has become a leader in the community. He hopes to help grow WCT to be as big as it can be. Tim has continued to compete at WCT comps all over the world, including the World Championships in France. The Dexterity Depot team has become one of the top teams in the sport.
Today, Tim is still an elite level Ninja athlete and high-level Parkour athlete. Although his main athletic focus is WCT, he is still dedicated to Ninja and Parkour as well. Since starting his Ninja/Parkour journey Tim has continued to maintain his passion for these disciplines. He has competed at The World Ninja League World Championships many times, and plans to do so for a long time. He has competed on American Ninja Warrior, and in various other large scale Ninja competitions. He has competed in most major WCT events since getting involved, and plans to compete for as long as he can. He has attended many large Parkour events and plans to continue so.
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.
Tim’s experience, knowledge, leadership, and passion are what has led Dexterity Depot to becoming one of the most known brands/gyms in the Parkour, Ninja, and World Chase Tag communities!
