Minneapolis, NOT Las Vegas, holds the Ninja Sport Championship FInals with Rock Solid Warrior Well Represented

The American NInja Warrior “reality TV show” holds its finals in Las Vegas every season.

But, the show which inspired the sport, isn’t where all the best athletes in the sport can be found.

Clearly. the athletes that make it to the finals on American Ninja Warrior are amazing.  But for every one of those athletes that make it to Stage 2 in Las Vegas, there are 10 other athletes that are just as good – or better – competing in the sport of Ninja that didn’t make the producer’s cut in Hollywood.

A few years ago, Chris DiGangi and Ethan Swanson – two of the great athletes that started doing ninja warrior style obstacle course racing on the American Ninja Warrior show – recognized there was a need to move the sport to the professional level.  Both Ethan and Chris knew that the young athletes who have grown up with the sport had taken it to a new level.  As they compared the sport to other professional sports, they recognized that there really wasn’t an avenue to grow a following for these athletes.  A football fan of Patrick Mahomes or Christian McCaffrey can tune in every week for a season to see how they were doing against other top athletes in football. Golf fans of Scottie Sheffler or Rory McIlroy can watch them on the PGA tour.

The Ninja Sport is, in many ways, much like golf.  Athletes compete in a variety of facilities with each athlete individually taking on a course that varies.  Every golf course doesn’t attract the top golfers, and every golf tournament isn’t a Professional Golf Association (PGA) tournament.  Every ninja sport facility doesn’t attract the top ninja sport athletes.  And, although there have been a variety of independent and sanctioned competitions for athletes of all ages and skill levels, there was no equivalent to the PGA Tour where the best of the best were gathered and followed.

So, the Ninja Sport Network was born with their flagship attraction, the Ninja Sport Championship (NSC) series.  Each season, Chris and Ethan hand-pick the best facilities with the best course designers to host their regular season qualifiers. The athletes who perform the best at those qualifiers are invited to their season finals where the best of the best compete to become the coveted Ninja Sport Champion.  Much like the Super Bowl, the finals are held at a different venue each season.

This weekend, February 17-18, the top 32 male and top 32 female Ninja Sport athletes of the season will descend on Obstacla Academy in Minneapolis, MN to crown Season 3 champions.

Among those male athletes are four of Rock Solid Warrior’s coaches that are part of our elite team – Josh Auer, Sylas Snider, Michael Bellion, and Brett Strong.  Josh is one of only 18 male athletes that have qualified for all three season finals.

Lilah Nathison, who got her start and often trains at Rock Solid Warrior also qualified for the 3rd straight season as one of only 8 female athletes to do so. (Two qualified for all three but didn’t compete in one of those seasons due to injuries).

Only one other gym – Jungle Gym in Florida – has as many male athletes who have qualified for the finals.  And, only one other gym (Ninja Intensity in Colorado) has more than 5 athletes who have qualified for finals this season.

We hope you will tune in to the Ninja Sport Network’s You Tube channel to watch it via live stream and cheer not only our athletes, but also the other amazing ninja sport athletes who are the best of the best.  Saturday, all qualified athletes will compete on 3 courses: hybrid, speed, and burnout.  Those who make the cut based on their performance on those courses on Saturday, will move on to a final round on Sunday to determine this season’s champions.