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Chicago Tribune
05-07-2025
- Entertainment
- Chicago Tribune
Libertyville and Wilmette athletes run, leap their way to ‘American Ninja Warrior' semi-finals
With calculated leaps, displays of strength, and races up a 14.5-foot curved wall, both a Wilmette doctor and a Libertyville High School student have advanced to the semi-finals of the NBC-TV American Ninja Warrior competition show by making it through the athletically demanding obstacle course. The semifinals for the show, where the ninja course tests participants' strength, agility and balance, will air this month. The segment featuring Steven Bachta, 44, of Wilmette, a pediatric doctor at NorthShore Evanston and Highland Park hospitals who also teaches medical students and residents, is set to air Monday, July 14, and that of his fellow ninja contestant Kenzie Hughes, 16, who will be entering her senior year of high school and hopes to go into physical therapy, will air July 28, according to NBC spokespersons. Bachta and Hughes know each other from training at ninja gyms in the area, he said. 'It's kind of a small world,' he said. 'She's an amazing ninja, and she's been doing it since she was very young.' 'The ninja community has been amazing, and it's kind of a tight-knit and smaller community,' Bachta said, describing how many ninja athletes train together at local facilities. 'It's always fun to talk to the kids about what it's like to be on the TV show, because a lot of them want to eventually do that.' Both Bachta and Hughes learned about the NBC show by watching it on television — or, in Bachta's case, by his young daughters watching American Ninja Warrior Junior and then wanting to compete. Hughes started watching the show about eight years ago and her family supported her interest, taking her to an ANW-inspired gym in Chicago where a younger Hughes 'fell in love' with the sport. And during COVID, her father Chris Hughes even built a mini course in the backyard. Bachta, whose moniker on the show is 'Docta Bachta,' took his first real leap into the sport after the pandemic ended. 'It just so happens, Chicago has like, five or six really good ninja gyms,' he said. 'And so once the lockdown was lifted, we kind of ventured out to these gyms.' He trains at the Ultimate Ninjas North Shore facility in Glenview, along with his two daughters. Sydney, 10, was ranked third at the World Ninja League Championships in Greensboro, North Carolina in June, and Logan, 7, ranked 10th at the same championships, he said. That makes both of them around the same age Hughes was when she got interested in ninja. 'Like a dream come true' Hughes started gymnastics at 2 years old, and had also done flag football, figure skating, softball, soccer and a 'bunch of random sports.' Hughes' mother Mia Hughes said her daughter had previously applied to be on American Ninja Warrior Junior, but was ultimately not selected. When the age to enter the American Ninja Warrior was lowered to 15, the teen jumped at the opportunity. Mia Hughes talked about the moment they got the call, at eight o'clock on a Wednesday evening. 'I ran the phone up to her, I filmed the call … it was like a dream come true,' Mia Hughes said. The outpouring of support the teen saw from friends and family was 'overwhelming,' Kenzie Hughes said, and going to Las Vegas to be in front of tv cameras was 'nerve-wracking.' But while she struggled with all the cameras watching her, when she got to the starting line, it all dropped away, she said. Hughes said she also got to meet numerous other ninja competitors while in Vegas and that they shared advice and tips. 'Everyone's there to support each other, and it doesn't matter how you do or they do, it's just, all together we want to be the best we can.' Despite the physicality of the sport, it's 'way more mental than physical,' Hughes said. She had to change her mentality, she said, after she became too focused on perfection. 'It was really helpful to be on the show, because then that's where I realized — I really do love the sport and I want to keep going and try to be the best I can,' Hughes said. For her parents, their daughter's skill and passion for ninja came as a surprise. 'It's great to see her shine, and when she took that starting line … I was just really proud of her,' Mia Hughes said, wiping her eyes. But the lessons she wants her daughter to take away from the experience aren't about success. Instead, they're about failure. Her daughter used to be 'really, really hard on herself,' Mia Hughes said, so it was heartening to hear her talk about rediscovering the love of the sport. 'Everyone fails, no matter what…Failure, it happens, and that's a thing in life,' Mia Hughes said. After high school, Hughes plans to pursue physical therapy studies in college, drawing from her own experiences handling injuries and pains. She hopes to attend school in Florida to be close to her older sister Kylie. She doesn't plan on giving up on ninja, however, saying she will be applying for next season as well. Encouraging blood donations Bachta, who has competed twice before on American Ninja Warrior, teaches in addition to his role as a pediatric doctor. As director of pediatric education at NorthShore, he's a clinical assistant professor at the University of Chicago's Pritzker School of Medicine. He works 24-hour shifts at the Evanston and Highland Park hospitals, likening the shifts to those of firefighters, he said, because it involves being on call even when he's sleeping. 'You always have to be ready to go. You can lay down and rest, but at any moment, you could have to rush to a delivery or the emergency room, and you have to be sharp,' Bachta said of the lifestyle. 'It's not really sleep when you're there. It's more just like resting until you're needed.' Because of his schedule, Bachta said he is able to have more flexibility when it comes to ninja training and also competing on NBC. This season's shows taped last September in Las Vegas, requiring the contestants to keep their lips sealed about the results for the past 10 months. 'It makes it a little challenging,' Bachta said of the travel requirements to appear on the show. 'But it works. My colleagues have been great and understanding.' His group of fellow ninjas trains at other ninja facilities besides the Glenview one to get a feel for different obstacles, Bachta said. The group also trains at night, largely because the NBC show films at night, sometimes all through the night, he explained, and he wants to be conditioned to get into athletic mode in the late hours. Bachta is competing to encourage people to donate blood. He's been donating since he was a student at Maine East High School in Park Ridge, and said now that he's a doctor, he sees firsthand how critical blood transfusions are for trauma and ER patients, cancer patients, and mothers who hemorrhage. 'In high school, I donated because I thought, 'I can do this and help people,' but now as a doctor, I can see this full circle,' he said. He still donates on a regular basis.
Forbes
02-05-2025
- Sport
- Forbes
What Time Is 2025 Kentucky Derby? How To Watch On Free TV And Streaming
The 2025 Kentucky Derby — the first stop on the road to the Triple Crown — is this weekend. Where you can watch and stream the event? Per usual, the 151st Kentucky Derby will take place at Churchill Downs in Louisville, Ky. Nineteen 3-year-old horses are competing in this year's event, which has a purse of $5 million. Two of the horses — Grande and Rodriguez — were scratched from the race earlier on Friday. As for the weather for the Derby, Kentucky television station WLKY is forecasting a 'rather cloudy' day on Saturday with occasional showers and a few storms possible. "It does not look like a washout for Derby, but definitely bring the poncho or a raincoat as we will have periods of rain,' WLKY reported on Friday. 'It also looks a little cooler for Derby as temperatures will hold in the 60s for most of the day.' Those not attending the Kentucky Derby in person will have options to watch the race for free on broadcast on NBC-TV and streaming on NBC Universal's Peacock subscription service. The 2025 Kentucky Derby can also be streamed on and the NBC Sports app on mobile. Live coverage of the 2025 Kentucky Derby begins at 2:30 p.m. ET/11:30 PT. The post time for the 2025 Kentucky Derby is set for 6:57 p.m. ET/3:57 p.m. PT. The post positions for the 151st Kentucky Derby were posted on the Derby's official X account on Friday, which can also be seen below. The Kentucky Derby, also known as the Run for the Roses, has only produced 13 horses that have gone on to win the Triple Crown. The winner of the 2025 Kentucky Derby will need to win the Preakness Stakes on Saturday, May 17, at the Pimlico Race Course in Baltimore, Md., and the Belmont Stakes on Saturday, June 7, at the Saratoga Race Course in Sartoga Springs, N.Y. To date, there have only been 13 horses in history to win the Triple Crown, with the last being in 2018 with Justify. Prior to Justify's feature, the Triple Crown was won by Sir Barton (1919), Gallant Fox (1930), Omaha (1935), War Admiral (1937), Whirlaway (1941), Count Fleet (1943), Assault (1946), Citation (1948), Secretariat (1973), Seattle Slew (1977), Affirmed (1978) and American Pharoah (2015). The post time for the 2025 Kentucky Derby is set for 6:57 p.m. ET/3:57 p.m. PT and the race will be broadcast on NBC-TV and stream on Peacock, and the NBC Sports app. Live coverage begins on NBC-TV and its streaming platforms begins at 2:30 p.m. ET/11:30 PT. All of the past winners of the event are listed on the Kentucky Derby website.
Winnipeg Free Press
26-04-2025
- Entertainment
- Winnipeg Free Press
Vignettes capture poignant cast of Viennese café
The Café with No Name is a slender novel about the everyday lives of the kinds of simple people who are usually overlooked, scorned or forgotten, and not just in fiction. Set in a nondescript café in a rundown section of Vienna during the city's reconstruction period (1966-76), Robert Seethaler's story is warm, sympathetic and real. He makes these people's lives matter. Like Cheers, the renowned NBC-TV sitcom of the '80s, The Café with No Name is about the 'found family' that meets there. But it's more situation dramedy than a gag-oriented story that goes for big laughs and put-downs. It can be amusing, but mostly it focuses on the poignant micro-dramas of ordinary lives that most of us can easily relate to. Its main character, Robert Simon, is a thirty-something handyman who takes over an abandoned café, a dream he's had since he was an orphan. For the most part, he's a hard-working man, accepting and contented with his lot in life. Simon (as he's called by the author throughout the novel) lives uneventfully in a single room in a house with a reclusive war widow. The Cafe With No Name His closest friend is a jolly butcher from a stall in the nearby marketplace who gets Simon to hire a waitress, Mila, a small-town girl who's been unexpectedly let go by a textile factory closed by competition from China. Other regulars at the café include Blaha, a man with a glass eye he regularly removes; Rene, a small-time professional wrestler; Mischa, a struggling artist who lives with Heide, an older woman who owns a cheese shop and is fed up with his constant cheating; and Rose, a lonely woman past her prime and looking for a man, any man. No outsiders impinge on these people's lives — no authorities, no politicians, no middle- or upper-class interlopers. It's a closed circle. So the characters aren't vehicles for social commentary nor political satire; they simply exist to show how lives can intertwine in sometimes surprising and satisfying ways. Befitting such an approach, the novel is divided into 39 short chapters, most of which are three to five pages long. It proceeds like a series of brief linked short stories or vignettes. During Elections Get campaign news, insight, analysis and commentary delivered to your inbox during Canada's 2025 election. The vignettes begin and develop in often unexpected ways. Near the book's end, for instance, a chapter begins with a response to an unspoken statement: ''I think it's a terrific idea,' the butcher said, stabbing his knife into the chopping block.' The rest of the chapter is a conversation about the butcher's wife being pregnant again and how it's recharged his love for his wife. This prompts Simon to think of women in his life: his own mother, the widow he boards with and the strange woman he loved briefly and thankfully lost. The 'terrific idea' — a party — is returned to at the end of the chapter in a marvelous display of Seethaler's easy narrative skill. What sustains this chapter, and indeed the entire novel, is Seethaler's gift for convincing dialogue. His characters talk as if he's somewhere close at hand, listening intently and carefully transcribing what they say. In fact, six chapters are just dialogue, amusing exchanges between unattributed speakers that run together in one long paragraph. It's like we the readers are eavesdropping on actual lives. In a world of oversized action heroes, amped-up plots and raging social media, Robert Seethaler's highly-regarded novels (including 2017's A Whole Life, which was a finalist for the Booker Prize) are warm retreats into truer personal interconnections. The Café with No Name will greatly appeal to anyone looking for a realistic account of everyday human relations. Gene Walz is a Winnipeg writer and editor.
