It was 4:30 in the morning and Kyle McCreight was standing in a dirt lot, the Las Vegas strip still glittering behind him.  For most people in Vegas, this is where the night ends. For McCreight, however, his night was just getting started. After all, he’d waited over 12 hours for his opportunity. Such is the life of a contestant on American Ninja Warrior. “The actual experience of filming the show can be grueling,” says McCreight, a Sarasota local who was competing in his third season of American Ninja Warrior. “I was the 76th runner of the night—I knew I’d exhaust myself trying to watch every single run, so I just bundled up in a hoodie and blanket and tried to relax until it got close to my time.” 

McCreight, who lives in Parrish and works as an Occupational Therapist at HCA Florida Sarasota Doctors Hospital, had gotten into the sport back in 2016 after his mother suggested he check out the show. He did, found a local gym with some of the obstacles and was immediately hooked. “I ended up going to Live Training Center in Palmetto, which had a few ninja obstacles and met some guys who had been on the show before. I tried some of the obstacles and was humbled pretty quickly, but fell in love with it right away,” says McCreight. “I’ve always been in shape and thought, ‘Oh I could do that,’ but it’s such a different style of training with all the hanging, swinging, body mechanics and grip strength that factor into it.” 

McCreight fell in love with the tangible aspect of training—improvement is easily defined by progression of the obstacles—and the ninja warrior community at large. “In reality, everybody is competing with each other, but ultimately everybody is cheering for each other to do well,” says McCreight. “We always have the mindset of it's us against the course.” McCreight applied to be on American Ninja Warrior five times before finally being accepted as a contestant in 2022 on season 14. In that time McCreight’s life shifted. In 2019, McCreight was in the midst of a divorce and lost custody of the two dogs he owned with his ex-wife. He was, in his words, “lonely and depressed.” Then came Tre, a four-month-old black lab that had just had its right back leg amputated. McCreight needed a friend. Tre needed someone to take a chance on him. So the pair got to work—McCreight rehabilitating Tre and Tre, in turn, providing him with the strength to continue on with his ninja training. The pair’s story caught on to social media—Tre accompanied McCreight on his run in 2022 and ever since, they’ve worked with the Never Say Never Foundation to raise money for “limb different” children.

The qualifying round of American Ninja Warrior features six obstacles, ending in the infamous Warped Wall, at the top of which is a buzzer. Complete the course, hit the buzzer and punch your ticket to the semi-finals. Until season 17, airing this past summer, McCreight had only made it through five obstacles. “When I was standing at the platform before my run, I tried to tell myself that it doesn’t matter what happens here. Just trust your training and have fun with it,” says McCreight. “I walked up and saw my family on the sideline, my girlfriend Miya, my dad and Tre on the big screen and that just gave me a sense of confidence and calmness.” It was a culmination of a journey nearly a decade in the making. McCreight, with arms hanging and lungs gasping in the dry desert air, made it to the Warped Wall. Then, with the voices of his loved ones in his ears, he ran up it.