10/04/2026
Yesterday, six of us from Beast Ninja traveled to Sumter Ninja Warriors to compete in the Ninja Carolina League — and for only having six competitors, I’d say we represented Beast Ninja pretty damn well! 💪
And for the first time ever… Coach Gunny competed! 😂
As the owner of Beast Ninja, I’ve spent plenty of time building courses, coaching athletes, and telling everyone else what they should have done differently. So I figured it was finally time to put my money where my mouth is and jump on a course myself.
I entered the 40+ Beginner division.
There was just one small problem…
I was the ONLY competitor in my division. 😂🏆
So technically I was guaranteed first place as long as I survived the course. But since the 40+ Beginners ran the same course as the 11U Beginners, I decided my real competition was apparently a bunch of 11-year-olds.
No pressure. I figured this should be easy enough. 😂
The first obstacle was a long trapeze swing where your landing distance determines your points, with 5 being the maximum. I honestly thought I nailed the 5-point mark — until they pointed out that the heel of my left foot was just behind the line.
4 points.
The rest of my run was flawless. Looking back, there were a couple places where I could have used fewer swings and saved some time, but I finished with 36 out of 37 points and felt pretty good about myself.
Then Devin Reynolds stepped up. 😂
Devin made the exact same mistake I did on the first obstacle and also finished with 36/37 points. The difference?
That little speed demon finished the course 11 SECONDS FASTER THAN ME! 🤦♂️😂
So congratulations to Devin for taking 1st Place in 11U Beginner Male — and for making sure Coach Gunny didn’t get too comfortable bragging about his run! 😂🔥
For such a small Beast Ninja crew, we came away with some great results:
🥇 Coach Gunny — 1st Place, 40+ Beginner Male
Yes, it still counts even if I didn’t actually beat anybody. 😂
🥇 Devin Reynolds — 1st Place, 11U Beginner Male
🥈 Maria Hidalgo — 2nd Place, 7U Novice Female
🥈 Skylar McCloud — 2nd Place, 9U Novice Female
🥉 Christian Cuison — 3rd Place, 14–24 Beginner Male
And I want to give a special shoutout to Cooper Litton.
I know Cooper was beating himself up a little after his run. He came out strong and was moving quickly when an unfortunate mistake on the second obstacle caused him to lose his grip and stumble, costing him 3 points.
That’s especially frustrating because it was an obstacle well within his ability compared to what he regularly trains on at Beast Ninja.
But here’s what I want Cooper to remember:
One mistake does not define your run.
After that, he absolutely FLEW through the rest of the course. His remaining run was flawless, and he finished in an incredible 56.55 seconds.
To put that into perspective, the athlete who took 1st finished in 1:12.74.
Without that one mistake, Cooper would have been extremely difficult to beat. That’s competition. Sometimes one little mistake is all it takes — but you learn from it, come back stronger, and Adapt and Overcome. 💪🔥
And all of those performances added up to something we’re extremely proud of…
🏆 TEAM STANDINGS 🏆
🥇 Sumter Ninja Warriors — 434.04 points
🥈 BEAST NINJA — 390.83 points
🥉 Carolina Ninja Academy — 361.43 points
Rock Solid Warrior finished 4th, Faith in Motion Ninja finished 5th, and Vertex Lab Academy finished 6th, with each of those gyms having one contributing athlete.
Six Beast Ninja competitors. Second place overall as a team.
I’ll take that! 💪🥷🔥
I’m proud of everyone who stepped onto that course and represented Beast Ninja. Competition isn’t about being perfect. It’s about testing yourself, learning from your mistakes, supporting your teammates, and coming back better the next time.
Physical Strength • Mental Toughness • Unbreakable Spirit
And when things don’t go exactly as planned…
ADAPT AND OVERCOME. 🇺🇸💪🥷
A huge thank you to Sumter Ninja Warriors for hosting us and putting on such a fun event. We had a great time and look forward to competing with you again!
