Nathan and Marquez Green have a pretty good grip on “American Ninja Warrior.”
After four seasons of competition, the 25-year-old twin brothers from Madison have both made the semifinals twice, including this season. On the popular long-running NBC show, athletes must navigate a series of obstacles as fast as possible — climbing, jumping, swinging, balancing — on a course that they don’t see until the competition begins.
On Monday, July 22, NBC will air the episode where they compete in the semifinal round in Los Angeles to see if they make it to the finals in Las Vegas. It’s easy to tell them apart, because Nathan (and his fans in the audience) always wears a red shirt, while Marquez (like his fans) always wears a blue shirt.
They can’t divulge the outcome ahead of time, but in a recent Zoom interview, the brothers say they’ve matured from the 19-year-old upstarts who first competed in 2019. Back then, their two main goals were to be on television, and for each to beat his brother.
Now they say while they still want to do their best, they come back to the sport for the sense of community and camaraderie among the athletes, who will share tips on the course with each other during the competition. They also use their fame to work with cancer charities and inspire kids whose parents have cancer — the twins’ mom died of breast cancer when they were 14.
In a Zoom interview, they talked about their changing approach to ninja competitions, what it’s like racing with your twin brother, and what happens next.
Madison’s Marquez Green competes in the qualifying round of “American Ninja Warrior” on NBC.
First of all, who is who?
Nathan: I’m Nathan.
Marquez: I’m Marquez.
Have you ever thought about one of you growing a beard or something just so it’s easier for people to tell you apart? Or do you enjoy being confused with each other?
Marquez: We haven’t really thought about it. Usually I wear glasses. I’ve worn glasses since fifth grade. But I broke them two years ago and haven’t gotten a new pair.
Is there an advantage or a disadvantage in having a twin competing with you?
Nathan: We do get more nervous when the other person is competing. I know we’re supposed to be getting in the zone getting ready for our own competition. But if he goes first, I’m super nervous about his run, and not really focused on my own run. But an advantage is that if he does well, I know I can do well.
Marquez: That’s what I was going to say. We’re at the same skill level when it comes to ninja, so if he does well, it gives me confidence. We train the same, so if he can get that far, I know I can too.
Madison’s Nathan Green competes in the qualifying round of “American Ninja Warrior.”
Where do you train now? I assume you started in Madison but it seems like you now train all over the place.
Nathan: We’re pretty much all over the place. We love traveling to new gyms and training with all the ninjas. I feel like that’s helped us a lot. Certain gyms have certain aspects that they’re really good at. Bouncing around getting all those different aspects of training, we’ve become pretty well rounded. There’s a new ninja gym in Oak Creek that we’ve been going to a lot.
(Nathan leaves the room to get his computer charger.)
OK, now that Nathan’s gone, what do you really think about your different skills?
Marquez: (Laughs) I’m better at strength stuff in ninja and he’s better at throwing his body around. But it’s still super close.
What’s your mindset like doing your fourth season as opposed to your first in 2019?
Marquez: Definitely more expectations. The first time we were on the show, we really just wanted to be on TV. But now we actually love the sport of ninja, and we have more expectations on ourselves. We go into it knowing we should make it this far, do this well. So that’s been a little tough.
But our headspace has been really good actually when it comes to competing on the show. Doing it live and in front of a big audience, and under the lights. We both love it, that doesn’t make us nervous at all. We get more nervous for our track races or our cross country races than we do for ninja. It’s my favorite time of the year.
(Nathan returns.)
Marquez Green uses his balance to get past an obstacle on “American Ninja Warrior.”
How has the relationship as competitors evolved between the two of you? I get the sense that at first you were really focused on beating the other brother.
Marquez: Our first couple of seasons it was really a twin rivalry. A win for me meant beating Nathan. This year we’ve kind of changed that headspace. We both want to make it at the same time.
What was it like to make the semifinals?
Nathan: It was great. That’s always been our goal to make semifinals together. We’ve made it together two out of the four years. With the new format, with the head-to-head racing, we really wanted to make it to that aspect, because of our track and cross-country background. Any time we hear the word “race,” we’re so in. Making the semis was a big goal for us, to race side-by-side for a spot in the national finals.
Obviously you can’t spoil how you did. But can you sum up how you felt about this season emotionally?
Nathan: This season, I came in a lot more confident because we train with some of the best ninjas on the show. When we came into this season, we were really focused on trying to hit buzzers, trying to stay with the crew. I think coming into the season with confidence, knowing that we can keep up with them, definitely helped a lot.
What makes ninja such a popular sport, even for those athletes who don’t compete on TV?
Nathan: The community is amazing. We’ve made some of our best friends through ninja. Before ninja, we were super, super competitive. It was like me against all these other people, if I don’t beat them, I’ll get mad. A lot of our friends said it was too much at times, even if was a random game, like volleyball or playing pickup at the gym, or even a board game. That’s how we grew up, always being compared to each other.
With ninja, it’s weird, because it’s really you against the course. There are athletes who are running after you, or some that run before you, and they’re telling you “Oh, here’s what worked for me.” Everyone’s sharing their own data about the course, and that’s what we really love about the sport. Everybody’s cheering you on.
Do you think part of it is also that you two have grown up in the five years you’ve been competing?
Nathan: I’ve never thought about it like that, but I can definitely see that. We have matured a lot since that first season. Now we’re more like veterans of the show, we can see all these young guys that are super nervous, freaking out. So maturity definitely does play a big part.
Madison’s Marquez Green competes in the qualifying round of “American Ninja Warrior.”
You both work with cancer charities, inspired by your mom.
Nathan: We’re part of Camp Kesem, which is a nonprofit that supports kids (through and) beyond their parents’ cancer. We’ve gone through everything these kids have gone through. So we have that in our mind that however we do on the show, these kids are going to look up to us and think “You guys are awesome. If I set my mind to it, I can do anything.” Growing up, I had role models for athletes in different sports, and being able to be that for other kids is just awesome.
What happens next? Will you be back next season?
They did just announce there’s going to be a Season 17. We’re super excited about that. They did ask us to apply, so we’re in the process of doing that. Because every year you have to reapply no matter where you’re at. But this was the first year they reached out to us asking if we were going to apply. So that’s a good sign.
