Trump’s 2026 Patriot Games: Massachusetts athletes, methods to watch

Bobbi Vickers is Massachusetts’ feminine consultant. The 16-year-old lives in Hanford, Calif., however her native connection comes by means of her maternal grandfather, who was born and raised in Boston. Vickers instructed the Globe she visited Boston just a few years again, the place she took a Duck Boat tour and stopped by her ancestors’ triple-decker residence.

Bobbi’s mom, Michelle, mentioned it was her great-grandmother who first immigrated from Syria to Boston, although they nonetheless have prolonged household who reside in New England. Bobbi Vickers mentioned representing the state “means a lot because my family’s from there, and Massachusetts is the birthplace of the American Revolution.”

She has expertise enjoying softball and basketball (her favourite crew is the Celtics), however is most keen about volleyball, which she hopes to play at a non-public, Christian faculty whereas finding out kinesiology.

Vickers mentioned she bought an “adrenaline rush” when she acquired an e-mail on July 23 telling her she had been chosen for the video games and has been lifting weights and operating laps on a monitor on daily basis in preparation for the occasion.

Jonah Beauregard is Massachusetts’ male consultant. The 17-year-old attends the Bancroft School in Worcester, the place he performs baseball. He additionally competes nationally in American Ninja Warrior-style impediment course competitions, a pastime he has practiced for practically a decade.

His purpose is to in the future personal a “ninja gym” after finding out sports activities administration at a neighborhood faculty.

Beauregard’s mom, Abigail Birdsall, instructed the Globe her son let loose a scream when he realized he had been chosen for the Patriot Games, calling it “a moment of excitement and shock.”

Beauregard mentioned representing Massachusetts on the nationwide stage “means everything to me.” Along together with his “ninja” coaching, Beauregard mentioned he’s been engaged on his cardio, push-ups, and pull-ups to arrange.

“I usually focus too much on the actual competition, and it gets too much in my head that I have to do well,” he mentioned. “So I think this time, I’m just trying to relax and get the mind off of competing. But then, when I get there and I’m starting to warm up and all that, I’ll probably start turning more serious and trying my best.”

A full record of athletes has not been printed but, however many contestants, together with some New Englanders, have introduced their participation on-line by way of Freedom 250’s social media pages.

Each applicant submitted a brief video explaining their background and why they needed to compete within the Patriot Games, together with a brief essay about what it might imply to signify their state.

However, there was no requirement {that a} contestant reside in that state, solely that they’d some connection to it. (Vickers mentioned she was requested to supply an inventory of states she had ties to).

Among the necessities have been that athletes be US residents in good tutorial standing who conform to compete underneath their intercourse assigned at beginning. A complete of 120 pupil athletes, ages 14 to 17, have been authorized.

Many of the occasions are ripped proper out of health club class.

Athletes will compete in video games of dodgeball, kickball, and tug of warfare. They may also do workouts from the Presidential Fitness Test, run a 100-meter sprint, navigate a army boot camp-style impediment course, and take part in ability competitions with components of sports activities like basketball, soccer, and monitor.

While many of the competitions will likely be individualized and separated by intercourse, just a few will likely be co-ed crew occasions. What’s nonetheless unclear: How these occasions will likely be scored or judged, and the way the competitions will truly unfold.

The video games will likely be performed at SPIRE Academy, a boarding prep faculty in northeast Ohio with in depth sports activities amenities identified for producing elite athletes, reminiscent of NBA participant LaMelo Ball.

The athletes will room collectively at SPIRE Academy’s dorms all through the video games and have entry to the varsity’s weight room and different facilities. Each night time, themed banquets will likely be held for the rivals and their chaperones.

Trump held a rally at SPIRE Academy in 2016 simply days earlier than the election. Trump has carried Ashtabula County, the place SPIRE is positioned, in each presidential election since 2016. The county of about 100,000 has undergone beautification projects in preparation for the video games, together with the set up of a 150-foot flagpole at SPIRE Academy paying homage to the large new flag poles Trump erected on the White House.

By the tip of the competitors, one male and one feminine athlete will likely be chosen to share a $250,000 scholarship prize pool.

Trump first proposed the video games again in a 2023 video laying out his plans to have a good time the nation’s 250th anniversary if he reclaimed the presidency. In the Patriot Games announcement video, Trump referred to as it “an unprecedented four-day athletic event featuring the greatest high school athletes.”

He went on to vow “there will be no men playing in women’s sports” — a reference to certainly one of his high coverage priorities: barring transgender ladies and women from competing in feminine athletics. ”You’re not going to see that,” Trump added, “you’ll see everything but that.”

All three days of the video games, from Aug. 9 to Aug. 11, will be streamed live on the ESPN app. On Aug. 13, ABC will air an hourlong particular at 9 p.m. ET that includes highlights from the video games.

If you made that connection, you aren’t alone.

Many observers have in contrast the Patriot Games to the book-turned-film sequence “The Hunger Games,” through which a boy and a woman from every of the 12 districts in a post-apocalyptic nation compete in a state-sponsored, televised battle to the dying, promising the victor fame and riches.

Vickers has by no means learn or watched the sequence, so she’s largely unfamiliar with the parallels, however “I just know no people are dying” within the Patriot Games, she mentioned with fun.

For Beauregard, in the meantime, “most of my friends, when I post about [the competition] on Instagram, are telling me it’s like ‘The Hunger Games,’ which is really funny. But it actually is like it,” he joked.

“A little bit,” his mom shortly added.

Julian E.J. Sorapuru may be reached at [email protected]. Follow him on X @JulianSorapuru.