Colton Skuster of “American Ninja Warrior” chatted with #Powerjournalist Markos Papadatos about competing in Season 16 and 17 of the sports reality competition.
The late American author Norman Vincent Peale once said: “Believe in yourself! Have faith in your abilities! Without a humble but reasonable confidence in your own powers you cannot be successful or happy.” This quote applies to Colton Skuster, 21.
‘American Ninja Warrior’
On being a part of the hit competition series, he exclaimed, “It feels amazing! I love it so much and I am super blessed to be able to do this every year, and get invited back. I keep going strong and getting better every year, hopefully. It has been awesome.”
Competing in Season 16 of ‘American Ninja Warrior’ last year
On his experience from last year, he recalled, “Last year was awesome! I had the fastest time out of everybody in the first round. Then, I did fall on one of the obstacles in the semi-finals, but I went far enough and fast enough to move to the national finals. Then, the national finals were a knockout bracket style tournament where you race against people.”
“I beat a couple of people there, and then I ended up losing to someone by less than a second. So it was like super, super tough to lose by that little,” he said.
Colton on the show that airs tonight
Colton noted that the new show in this 17th season of “American Ninja Warrior” airs tonight. “I’m racing two other people on a three-lane course,” he foreshadowed. “So, three people compete at once. I’m pretty excited for that because it’s an all new feature this year. Basically, we are in the Western region right now.”
“So, there were two Western region qualifiers. I was on part two of that. That’s all the people from the West,” he said. “Then, tonight, everyone who qualified comes together and competes on this three-lane course.”
“Then, the winners from there will move to the national finals, which won’t start for another six weeks or so, because the next three weeks are going to be the in the Central region. They’re going to do the same thing all over again, and then they’re going to do it for the Eastern region,” he explained.
Daily motivations
Regarding his daily motivations, he shared, “Oh my goodness. Honestly, ever since i was a little kid, I’ve had this dream of being great. I’ve always had lofty goals. I’ve always been hard worker and a high achiever. I was gifted in schooling and I accelerated in learning.”
“Once I got into high school, I realized that there is only so much merit to that because the world doesn’t revolve around how well you do in school, and how you’re doing eighth grade level classes as a sixth grader. So, I really wanted to diversify what it meant to be great and exceptional. That’s when I really got into this ‘American Ninja Warrior’ because I realized that I had potential there,” he explained.
“I got good at it relatively quickly just because I was training so much. I saw it as just a huge opportunity… this is something unique and something I’m talented at,” he noted. “I feel like this mindset also carried over into everything else in my life such as work and athletic competitions.”
“Just knowing that if you just like put your head down and grind, and you recognize where your strengths are, then great things can happen,” he added.
Advice for hopefuls that wish to go into ‘American Ninja Warrior’
For people that wish to go into ‘American Ninja Warrior,” he said, “My biggest piece of advice would be to find somebody to train with and not necessarily a mentor because the way I got brought into this sport I didn’t have a coach. I didn’t have anybody teaching me how to do it. I was really lucky to train with John Mack, who is another competitor on the show. We have a very similar track record, which is super good.”
“Even though we both have a four-year age gap, we have this common goal. We had no idea what we were doing, but we both wanted to be on this show so badly, and we wanted to do well in it. So, we would just train after hours at this local ninja gym that was in this steel factory of crazy obstacles. It was just the two of us night after night and we would just grind until we got better and better,” he elaborated.
“We would figure things out together, we would learn from each other’s mistakes. It is very important to have that other person there to always push you to be better,” he observed. “I would say as far as training goes, he was always a little bit better than me. So, that always kind of gave me that edge.”
“I wouldn’t be the same athlete if I was just doing this by myself… zero chance. This is all thanks to the constant cycle of having someone there to push you and train with you. So, find someone that you can learn from and learn with… that’s my biggest advice,” he added.
Stage of his life
On the title of the current chapter of his life, he remarked, “There are a lot of things going on right now. So, I would say it’s an interesting middle ground in my life. I’m entering adulthood.”
“I haven’t lost sight of a normal life or getting a job. I work in a normal job for wealth management at a big bank in Salt Lake City. I think the goal in the future is to integrate these things that I love and turn them into my real full-time job,” he said.
“I’m trying to get on some more TV shows, trying to get a network with casting agents and casting producers and trying to get into something new so I can keep going down that route. In the future, my ultimate goal would be to build a personal name, a personal brand for myself, and then use that to open a gym/ I really want to own my own gym,” he elaborated.
“Then, I want to start building that community that I fell in love with, where people can just show up and train and have people around them that they can learn from and grow with. I think that’s the most powerful lesson I’ve learned in my life,” he acknowledged.
“I want to be able to reciprocate that to everyone who follows in my footsteps, for sure,” he added.
Success
On his definition of the word success, Colton said, “Well, the biggest overarching thing is doing something every day that I’m inspired by and that has a purpose. I hate wasting my time. I hate slaving the days away just to get through the days. I want to wake up every day and be excited about some new challenge or some new opportunities.”
“I think success for me is when I get to the point where every single day I wake up with a purpose and a passion for what I’m doing, and it just keeps on going. Right now, I’m prioritizing doing the things that inspire me and the things that help make each day a good one,” she added.
Message for his ‘American Ninja Warrior’ fans
For his fans, he expressed, “I would honestly tell them to ‘not give up on their dreams.’ I’ve had some crazy dreams with ‘American Ninja Warrior’ being one of them, and I made it happen! I’ve made other things happen too that I didn’t even think I was capable of.”
“Just don’t give up on your dreams and believe in yourselves. Don’t be afraid to be uncomfortable. Once you get comfortable in life, then you are not doing enough. Always try and find what’s next. Find what makes you different. For me, that is being around other people, inspiring people and being that guy that someone points to go goes, ‘he has energy in life.’ I want to inspire people to pursue their passion,” he elaborated.
“I want people to love my character, and from that, learn how they can love themselves and their character more, and just become better people,” he concluded.
To learn more about Colton Skuster, follow him on Instagram.
