WOODBRIDGE, Va. — Before he could even learn how to walk, Gabriel Holder's mother Cynthia says he was constantly leaving her breathless and in fear.
Gabriel's daredevil shenanigans would be enough to cause heart palpitations in any concerned parent but instead of shutting him down, she embraced it. Around the time Gabriel was 6-years-old, she enrolled him in a parkour class in Alexandria and that led to another gym which helped develop his skills on an obstacle course.
Gabriel, now 10, just wrapped up an appearance on the third season of NBC Peacock's "American Ninja Warrior Junior" television show. He advanced all the way to the quarterfinals before being eliminated.
"Mostly I just try and work on stuff that might be in the obstacle course if I could guess it and I just work on it as much as I can until I get good at it," Gabriel said.
He recently returned from his first trip to California after taping the show this fall.
"I'm always nervous at competitions," said Gabriel. "My mom was able to encourage me so when I got on the stage ready to compete, I wasn't nervous."
His mother says Gabriel was very active even before he could walk and she helped to find a place that could effectively channel his talents.
"I love it. I tell everyone that if you have a child who scares you to death and climbs all over everything and does really dangerous stuff, this is the sport for them," said Cynthia Holder. "A lot of people don't know (Ninja Warrior) is an actual sport."
Gabriel's Instagram page boasts a number of videos competing in obstacle courses and interestingly enough, it's not his only ninja skill.
He's also a self-proclaimed "math ninja" which he proudly displays on his page.