UNC Magazine
June 25, 2026
Written by Sydney Kern
Student by Day, Ninja by Night
Aspiring nurse Taylor Greene balances books with buzzers, tackling college life as a full-time freshman and American Ninja Warrior Champion
First-year student Taylor Greene didn’t start her college career in a typical fashion. While she did pack her belongings from her home in Broomfield, Colorado, and moved into South Hall with hundreds of other students in the fall of 2025, her bags didn’t stay unpacked for long. With only a couple of weeks of college courses under her belt, Greene traveled to Las Vegas at the end of September to compete in the 2026 American Ninja Warrior Championship.
“I thought, ‘my professors don’t really know me yet, I wasn’t sure if they were going to allow me to go’,” said Greene. “But they were very supportive and helpful to me, so it wasn’t as bad as I thought it was going to be.”
This isn’t the first time Greene has competed in what NBC TV calls the “world’s toughest obstacle course.” She’s tackled quad steps, jumping bars and climbing up the well-known, and very tall, warped wall in pursuit of hitting the bright red buzzer at the end of the course.
As the current American Ninja Warrior Women’s Champion, the 2026 competition marked her fourth attempt at an adult championship. She also competed in three junior American Ninja Warrior competitions. Saying it modestly, Greene has built an impressive Ninja career:
- Over three seasons competing at the junior level, she placed as high as third.
- At just 15, she made the leap to American Ninja Warrior’s adult competition, reaching the national finals in all three adult seasons she has competed in.
- She has seven buzzer-hitting course completions, tying her for second-most for women.
- In the upcoming season, she has the chance to set the record for course completions for women in show history.
While the competition is technically over, Greene’s story is still unfolding — season 18 is airing now, though the full outcome won’t be known to viewers until the end of summer 2026. An NBC film crew visited Greene at UNC in the fall to get footage of her prior to her competition, making it a good possibility she’ll be a featured athlete this season.
But how did the desire to swing on bars and wedge herself to crawl between vertical walls begin? At one of her childhood friend’s birthday parties.
“The party was hosted at a ninja-like gym, and I really loved it, so I started taking classes there,” Greene said. “A year later, I started participating in local competitions at 9 years old.”
From Flips to Tricks
Growing up, Greene’s original athletic focus was gymnastics, which she pursued for 12 years before switching full-time to ninja competitions. The leaps, tucks and required strength needed for gymnastics set her up for success on the obstacle course. Greene competed for the first time on American Ninja Warrior Junior when she was just 10 and placed 4th.
From there, she was balancing, spinning and swinging her way towards more and more competitions, inspired by the athletes she saw on the screen.
“That’s the kind of generation of ninjas that I grew up with,” Greene said. “Of course, I watched the show with my grandparents and loved it, but once you compete, the goal was to make it all the way to the TV show.”
And every time Greene got the call that she was heading to the national stage, she says the experiences happened in a flash.
“My friends can tell me what obstacles I’ve done on the show better than I could tell anyone,” Greene said. “I don’t remember. I think I black out because I’m so focused, like I don’t remember exactly what I did.”
Good thing for Greene, her victories are captured on film. She says leading up to her course runs, competitors have to be on set at 5 p.m., and filming lasts through the night until about 5 a.m. Added to the already intimidating lights and cameras, the ninjas compete on a course suspended above water.
“You look down, and there’s just a pool below you,” Greene said. “So, it’s definitely more nerve-wracking.”
And sometimes, gravity wins.
“I’ve fallen a couple of times, yeah, it’s really cold,” Greene laughed.
The opposite experience, she says, is to successfully and quickly hit the buzzer at the end of a competition.
“I feel so much relief when that happens,” Greene said. “It’s like all the stress and all of the waiting and pressure just immediately comes off and you just feel like, ‘OK, I’m done, I did it.’”
Buzzer Bound
Greene’s least favorite apparatus?
Cliffhangers, where she hangs by her fingertips because it can be painful.
Greene’s favorite apparatus?
A lache, which is when you swing between bars.
That’s when she can get in the best rhythm.
Greene allows herself to relish that happiness for a few days before thinking about her next competition, and she plans to continue the cycle — training, competing, training, competing — with no end in sight.
“I’m just going to keep doing it as long as I enjoy it,” Greene said. “I have fun doing it, I make money doing it, so why would I stop now?”
The revenue Greene receives from competing in American Ninja Warrior goes toward her education. Driven by a lifelong calling into healthcare, she is studying to become a nurse and chose UNC due to its strong Nursing program.
Navigating coursework, training and competing, Greene says she is happy she can continue her education at UNC while living out her latest American Ninja Warrior journey. And while the biggest obstacle right now is leaving everyone in the dark on how she performed, Greene says she had a blast.
“It’s always such a fun experience being there,” Greene said. “It is very stressful, and it’s a lot of pressure, but it’s an exhilarating experience that I can’t get enough of.”
Tune in to NBC on Monday nights for the 18th season of America Ninja Warrior to watch Greene compete.
