World Ninja League championships return to Greensboro for sixth year

Greensboro has turned a youth obstacle course championship into a repeat tourist draw, and the payoff showed again at the Greensboro Complex’s Special Events Center. More than 2,900 athletes from 10 countries came to Guilford County for the World Ninja League World Championships Season XI, extending Greensboro’s run as host to six straight years and reinforcing the city’s place in the regional events economy.

The scale reaches far beyond the course floor. Greensboro Area Convention and Visitors Bureau officials estimated the championships will generate more than $6.8 million in economic impact, while the Greensboro Sports Foundation said the city hosted three major youth sporting events the same weekend that together were projected to bring more than 12,000 athletes and more than $22 million to local hotels, restaurants, attractions and small businesses. For a city that has leaned into sports tourism as a development strategy, the ninja championships have become a reliable summer anchor.

The competition opened June 17 with a ceremony at 4 p.m. hosted by Akbar Gbaja-Biamila, the co-host of NBC’s American Ninja Warrior. That program also included recognition for Coach of the Year and the Makoto Nagano Sportsmanship Award, underscoring how the league has built its own culture around performance and sportsmanship. In the arena, Season XI brought Tier 1, Tier 2 and Head to Head competition under one roof, with athletes starting on four guaranteed full-length courses and some advancing to six or more if they kept qualifying.

The event also delivered a local storyline for younger competitors chasing their first big breakthrough. Eleven-year-old Moriah Shaver was among the athletes who reached a milestone by hitting her first world championship buzzer during the Greensboro competition. At Level Up Gym in Thomasville, on-site qualifying rounds ran June 17-19, pulling part of the championship footprint deeper into Guilford County and spreading the economic benefit beyond downtown Greensboro and the Coliseum district.

The 2026 championship was larger than last year’s Greensboro event, which drew more than 2,600 athletes and was estimated to generate about $5 million to $5.3 million for the local economy. This year’s field and projected impact showed why Greensboro keeps getting the call: it can host a national-scale youth event, fill hotel rooms, and send thousands of visiting families into the local economy all at once.