Kyle Schulze

Kyle Schulze is a motivational speaker from Rochester, New York (formerly Glenwood, Illinois). He has a hearing impairment, thus he is known as “The Deaf Ninja”.

He is known to have taught various ninjas sign languages, and has a series of videos called Sign Language Sundays on his Instagram, which he currently does with Jessie Graff.

American Ninja Warrior 9
Kyle first completed in American Ninja Warrior 9, in Kansas City. He failed the Bar Hop in qualifying, but still placed 24th and advanced to the city finals. His run in the city finals was digested, but it was shown that he once again failed the Bar Hop, and didn't move on to the national finals.

American Ninja Warrior 10


He returned to complete in American Ninja Warrior 10 in Indianapolis. His run in qualifying was digested, but it was shown that he was one of many who failed the Spin Hopper, after he banged his head on the final pipe while trying to dismount from the second-to-last pipe. Fortunately, he still advanced to the city finals as he placed 20th overall. In the city finals, he got his revenge on the Spin Hopper but failed Cane Lane. He was still able to advance to the national finals by placing 10th.

In the national finals, he shockingly failed Archer Alley on Stage One because his strides were too long, thus losing his balance.

American Ninja Warrior 11
He returned to complete in American Ninja Warrior 11 in Cincinnati. His run in qualifying was cut, but it was revealed that he shockingly failed the Spinning Bridge. This ultimately marked the first time that he didn't make the top 30, thus also not advancing to the city finals.

American Ninja Warrior 12
He returned for his fourth season and participated in the last qualifying episode. He managed to get revenge on the Spinning Bridge, but then he once again failed on the fifth obstacle, Sideways, and didn't advance to the semifinals for the second straight year.

American Ninja Warrior 13
He returned for his fifth season in American Ninja Warrior 13, participating in the last qualifying round. In qualifying, he injured his shoulder on Double Down and struggled in one of the most memorable runs of the qualifiers. He made it all the way to Sideways and nearly made it through. However, he failed there for the second year in a row. At the end of the episode, he was in danger of being knocked out by the person who had brought him to season 12, Michael Torres. Luckily, but bittersweet, Torres surprisingly failed just the second obstacle, Double Down so he ended up advancing to the semi-finals, placing 30th.

Trivia

 * He is the first known deaf competitor to compete on American Ninja Warrior.