Austin Baron is climbing to a whole new level in his quest to promote activism to alleviate global hunger. The sophomore at Notre Dame is using his love for “American Ninja Warrior,” and the grand stage it affords on national television, as a platform to promote his nonprofit, Knot Perfect. The business creates dog toys to support community food packing events and raises awareness for people who face hunger around the world.
Barron has competed on two seasons of American Ninja Warrior: in 2023 for season 15 and this year for the competition's 17th season. According to Barron, his passion for the show was sparked when he went rock climbing on a cliff over the Atlantic Ocean. Later, his brother learned about the show from a friend, and they started watching the show together. After going to a gym with courses similar to the show for his little brother’s birthday, he started taking classes to learn to conquer the show’s iconic obstacles and became part of their community.
“I really fell in love with the Ninja Warrior community because everyone’s so supportive of each other.” Baron said. “The first season I competed, on the first night of competition, it was the qualifying episode, and it was my seventeenth birthday. Some of the competitors that I grew up watching sang ‘Happy Birthday’ to me, and that was really cool.”
When asked about the head-to-head finals format, a new addition to the show, Baron said he was excited for the new style of friendly competition between ninjas.
“It’s definitely fun to watch, like having a bracket for March Madness.” Baron explained. ”I always love filling out a bracket and the idea that you can do that with Ninja Warrior is a really good idea. It makes it really exciting for viewers.”
He said the head-to-head finals matchups make you really focus on your speed, something that Baron notes he is still working on.
As a full-time student majoring in business analytics, Baron squeezes training time around his schoolwork. He frequents the rock climbing wall in Duncan Student Center along with lifting, running and practicing on a couple balance obstacles he brought from home. During the summer, he trains at “American Ninja Warrior” gyms near his home in Ashburn, Virginia. The gyms are an hour to two hours away from his house, making training a substantial commitment.
Throughout the competition, Baron had the whole Notre Dame community rooting for him, but especially those living in his dorm, Graham Family Hall. Before he left for the competition, his dormmates filmed a video of them cheering him on, which was eventually played on the screens around the course during his run.
Dylan Burke, a junior in Graham Family Hall, said he enjoyed his experience watching Baron compete from the sidelines.
“Watching Austin compete on ANW together with the guys in Graham was really fun. Everyone was getting hype for him, and it was really cool to know that he’d have us cheering him on when it came time to compete. I know everyone here was supporting him all season long,” Burke wrote in a statement to The Observer.
Throughout the competition, Baron raised awareness for world hunger, calling himself the “Knot Perfect Ninja,” a name that alludes to the knotted dog toys he makes and emphasizes the imperfections of a world where people do not have enough food to eat. His mission began when he was only 12 years old after attending meal packing events at his local parish.
“I learned that a billion people went to bed hungry each night, and I was very moved that the meals I was packing with my own hands would be the only food that someone else had to eat. And so I decided to fundraise so that I could pack more meals and feed more people,” Baron said.
Around the same time that his family got a dog, his local library collected dog toys, inspiring Baron to donate to shelters. As a thank you to those that donate, Baron gives out hand-knotted dog toys. He learned to make the simple rope toys on YouTube using a square knot. He started out by using the dog toys to fundraise at local events.
“The first event, it was a rainy day. I was hoping to raise a lot of donations, but it did not go as I expected,” Baron said. “But, I kept going to more events, and then, I realized that I could continuously fundraise by keeping buckets of dog toys at local businesses.”
When he was 16, Baron officially started his nonprofit, Knot Perfect. While Baron still currently has a few buckets of dog toys at local businesses back home, his main platform is a cashless donation website, something that he started during the COVID-19 pandemic when it became more difficult for people to make donations in-person.
“I love making dog toys, and I love dogs. It’s taking something I love to do and using it to help other people. And that is also what I’m doing with Ninja Warrior. It is taking something that I love to do and using it to do good in the world,” Baron said.
Baron emphasizes that all his proceeds from this summer go to local meal packing events and encourages others to get involved and attend meal packing events, which ended up being his own inspiration to get involved in the fight to end world hunger.
“What I really love about these meal packing events is that youth as young as five years old come and pack meals,“ Baron said. “And when I was younger, it really instilled in me a desire to want to help other people, and I want to give other youth that same opportunity.“
Nathan Ward, a sophomore in Graham Family Hall, said he is proud of what he has seen of Baron's work with Knot Perfect.
“Austin is one of the most humble and hard-working people I know, and amidst his great success on the ninja warrior course, he is very quick to acknowledge the timing and providence of God in getting him to where he is today,” Ward wrote in a statement to The Observer. “I know that Austin cares deeply about his nonprofit and spends much of his free time, especially during his summers, making sure it can continue to succeed and help even more people.”
