Tea native competes on American Ninja Warrior

A 2010 Tea Area High School graduate competed on American Ninja Warrior this spring.

Jason Steinberg, pictured at left, made his American Ninja Warrior debut in Kansas City this spring, but cannot share how he did on the show until after it airs this summer. American Ninja Warrior will begin airing new episodes June 12 and every Monday after that for the summer on NBC. Steinberg does not know for sure when his city’s episode will air but he’s guessing July 3.

Steinberg grew up in Tea and after graduating in 2010, he went to the University South Dakota for kinesiology and sports science, with minors in health science and coaching. While in Tea, he was on the track team and competed in hurdles, relays, sprints and long jump. At USD, he continued with track and started competing in the decathlon as a sophomore.

After graduating in 2014, he moved to Denver, Colo., for his internship in sports performance.

Today he is living in Sioux Falls and running his own personal training business - Steinberg Strength Personal Training and Nutrition. He started his business in 2015.

Since he had finished school, Steinberg was looking for something competitive to do and people were telling him he should try out for American Ninja Warrior.

“Honestly, I didn’t know what the show was until a bunch of people were saying you should do American Ninja Warrior,” he said.

After looking into it, Steinberg filled out an application in January 2016. He did not make the show last year, but he traveled to gyms to compete in smaller American Ninja Warrior-type competitions. The closest gym that hosts an event is in Minneapolis.

He applied again in January and got the call that he made it on the show two days before his wedding.

American Ninja Warrior has competitions in six cities and they call 100 people for each city. Steinberg had to travel to Kansas City for his turn.