Run by Shannon Huser, the nonprofit Obstacles Through Life coaches and mentors inner city teens (12-18) with a focus on obstacle course racing. Shannon teaches the teens about fitness, nutrition and team building, meeting with the groups once a week to perform bodyweight exercises and practice basic skills. The group also takes field trips to gyms and parcour parks to learn more in-depth techniques. Finally, Shannon leads her group to compete in obstacle course races, in which team work is necessary for success.

Obstacles Through Life features two programs. The first is a main program for anyone ages 12-18, to learn the basics. The other program is for older teens who are more involved; it teaches them to work with certain muscle groups by going in-depth on technique and adding in weights to the workouts. In addition to fitness, they learn about leadership. The main goal is to teach these teens about overcoming the obstacles at races and applying the same concepts to life. By doing this, Shannon hopes to give them confidence that they didn’t think they had.