HUNTERSVILLE, N.C. — A former Hollywood stuntman has returned to his roots in North Carolina and opened a Ninja Warrior gym. He said it’s the perfect next step in his life as a father.

What You Need To Know

  • The Ninja Warrior Gym opened in May in Huntersville

  • It has 12,000 square feet of obstacles for adults and kids

  • The owner switched careers to open the gym so he could spend more time with his family

Kevin Cassidy loves spending time with his three young daughters. Victoria is 4, Blake is 3 and his youngest, Ray, is 11 months old. He values this time because it didn’t happen often. For the last 17 years Cassidy has been a stuntman in Hollywood, and says it was a blast when he was young.

“This is 'Transformers,' I was going out a window about three stories up through some glass,” Kevin Cassidy said as he scrolled through pictures on his phone.

But working long days for months on end started to wear him out. That feeling multiplied when he had kids.

“The higher up you go, the more hours you do,” Kevin Cassidy said. “I was in Europe for three months in the last Spiderman movie.”

His lifestyle wasn’t very conducive to having a family. His wife, Megan, also works full time.

“I work in corporate America and I used to travel a lot and am starting to travel a lot again,” Megan Cassidy said. “For us to be able to plan when he would be around and when he wouldn’t with three young kids was nearly impossible.”

They decided to make a change and move back home. Kevin Cassidy had the perfect idea. He decided to open a business where he can work in his element and spend time with his kids.

“It’s more of a guarantee I can be around my family,” Kevin Cassidy said. “It’s a big playground.”

His favorite part is that his kids can compete or just play for fun. He wanted his children to enjoy the sports and activities for the fun of it, not because they were pressured to.

“I didn’t want my kids in the traditional sports because it gets monetized at such a young age and coaches are always pressuring them,” Kevin Cassidy said. “In the Ninja Warrior world the mentality and the culture is so much better for kids. They just overcome challenges for the sake of trying.”

The Ninja Warrior Gym offers day sessions or classes. They hope to hold competitions in the future.