A former Lone Star College-Kingwood student will face fierce obstacles and delight fans as she moves on to the Finals of the American Ninja Warrior show on NBC. Barclay Stockett is competing on the show for the eighth time.
Barclay says she grew up competing in gymnastics and became a ninja warrior purely by accident.
“I accidentally walked into a ninja training gym and it totally changed my life. It was such a perfect mixture of gymnastics, and parkour, and rock climbing, and trapeze, and it was everything I had been searching for.”
Barclay trains in everything from rock climbing to sprint training and says there is no typical day in training.
“Being a professional ninja warrior is not like being a professional basketball player, where you’re on the same court and the hoop’s in the same spot and the ball is the same every day. Every time you go in to train for ninja warrior, you’re setting up a different type of course with new obstacles and you’re pushing yourself to fly further and jump higher and go up the taller wall, so there isn’t a typical day, which is what I love.”
Barclay says the mental aspect of training can be tougher than the physical at times.
“Anyone can get incredibly strong with hard work ethic but not everyone can overcome the mental struggles of competing, especially, ninja warrior is very insane, you’re up on this course, you’re the only one, there’s all these lights on you, there’s all these cameras on you, there’s like a roaring crowd and if you fall in, you’re done, it’s over. You get one shot.”
Barclay has competed internationally for American Ninja Warrior Team USA in three countries, among other international competitions. She has won The Titan of Texas Challenge, USA vs. The World, and The Four Nations Special in Germany. Now she trains other Ninja Warrior athletes and helps design the courses the show utilizes.
Besides being passionate about Ninja Warrior training, Barclay is also passionate about her time spent at Lone Star College-Kingwood, where she earned an associate degree in Math and Science.
“My time here at Lone Star was actually incredible. I had two professors who made a lifelong impact on me. My English teacher, Professor (Lisa) Darling - she blew my mind, really taught me to question things and to be a little bit rebellious against ideas, against perception. And that was beautiful, because I felt like, I just kind of grew up just listening to what I was told and she just kind of broke that open for me.”
She also praised Professor Stephanie Kelly.
“She was my history professor, and I still keep in contact with them years and years later. Being a part of clubs, learning ASL here, that has been so incredible, because I can communicate with the deaf community. I use ASL regularly in my life and with fans, and that’s just like, such a beautiful thing. I would say I was greatly impacted by my time here.”
She also found community in her American Ninja Warrior family.
“I think the best thing that has come from competing on Ninja Warrior is the community. The people who gravitate towards training ninja are just a very special group of people, very unique, usually just super welcoming. It’s definitely the most welcoming community I’ve ever been a part of in my life. Pretty much all my best friends, I‘ve met through Ninja Warrior.”
As for her greatest accomplishment, Barclay says…she hasn’t done it yet.
“I think I’m really proud of the life that I’ve lived and really proud of the person that I’ve become but I don’t think that I’ve done it yet…I’ve done a lot of things that I can be proud of, but I think honestly just continuing to live and learning to be happy. After I lost my mom in 2020, I think that has to be my proudest moment, because that’s hard, it’s hard to keep living and keep fighting for yourself and find happiness and push through.”
You can see Barclay’s full interview with Lone Star College-Kingwood here.
Lone Star College enrolls over 80,000 students each semester providing high-quality, low-cost academic transfer and career training education. LSC is training tomorrow’s workforce today and redefining the community college experience to support student success. Stephen C. Head, Ph.D., serves as Chancellor of LSC, the largest institution of higher education in the Houston area and has been named a 2022 Great Colleges to Work For® institution by the Chronicle of Higher Education and recognized by Fortune Magazine and Great Place To Work® as one of this year’s Best Workplaces in Texas™. LSC consists of eight colleges, seven centers, eight Workforce Centers of Excellence and Lone Star Corporate College. To learn more, visit LoneStar.edu.