Josiah Singleton, a native of Brookneal, is competing in his third season of the NBC contest program, American Ninja Warrior. The show presents contestants with obstacle courses and chances to move on to higher levels of competition.

“It’s an obstacle course that athletes get invited to and get to run,” Singleton explained. “First there are qualifiers, then semifinals, and then four stages of finals in Vegas. So there’s a total of six courses that you could run.”

Participants come from all over the country. The qualifiers are regional contests, and the semifinals include people from a wider area, and then the finals bring the top finishers to Las Vegas for a sort of national championship level.

Singleton noted that in the qualifier round, the top 30 contestants or those that hit the buzzer at the end of the course advance to the semifinals. In the semifinals, the top 15 go on to Las Vegas. During the four finals rounds, only competitors who hit the buzzer move on to the next level, however many or few that may be.

“It’s been a blessing,” he remarked. “This is my third season on the show.”

How exactly does one get into something like this program? Singleton outlined his athletics background and how he got involved.

“I played golf my whole life growing up. My family owned and operated a golf course – Hat Creek. My grandpa built the course back in 1975. It was a farm that he decided to turn into a golf course.

“My dad took it over and operated it for a long time. My brother took it over just this year. I’ve played since I was three years old.

“I went to Liberty University, and I played golf there. I stopped playing after two years there, but I still wanted to do something competitive.

“I had watched the show as a kid, and so I decided to train for it, and I got on the show. I used the time that I had previously spent on golf for training,” Singleton narrated.

He has continued his studies while competing in the program, graduating in 2019. He continued on at Liberty for his master’s degree, and he is finishing up a Master of Divinity in Biblical Studies, with an expected completion time of this December.

In his first two seasons on the show, the scholar-athlete made it to the semifinal round. “I didn’t do so well last year: I fell on the balance. The year before, I missed going to Vegas by just a few spots,” Singleton remarked.

He enjoys the ongoing challenges of the contests. “They’re always coming up with new obstacles, new ways to push us and challenge us. Each year we’re seeing a new level of competition, a new level of athletes.”

Even without reaching the finals in the first two years, Singleton found the experience extremely beneficial to his personal growth. “It’s been a very confirming thing for me, that my identity is not found in what I do – not in playing golf or in American Ninja Warrior; my identity is in Jesus Christ. Why I do what I do is to meet people and share the gospel,” he explained.

While this year’s entire run of American Ninja Warriors has been completed, not all of it has aired yet. So far, only three episodes have been broadcasted.

They episodes appear on NBC on Monday nights. “All of it has been taped, but not has all been revealed.”

Of course, how things turn out in the upcoming episodes is top secret, and to find out how our local competitor fared, you will have to watch the show for yourselves.