You can imagine the scene.
Or perhaps you’re already living this particular slice of modern Americana: A family crams into an SUV and barrels down the interstate, parents in front, a preteen athlete buckled up in back. Collectively, they’re committing dozens of weekends, hundreds of hours and thousands of dollars toward a shared athletic pursuit.
In this instance, though, no basketballs roll around in the trunk, no metal bats clang as the car rumbles down the highway. The DuBrys of Fenton, Mich.—Shawn, 49; Belinda, 48; and their 11-year-old son, Landen—have piled into a white Ford Explorer seemingly every weekend since 2021 and pointed not toward hardwood courts or white-chalked fields but toward, typically, some refurbished warehouse brimming with metal and wooden structures upon which Landen will test his formidable ninja skills against the nation’s best.
