President Donald Trump is traveling to Ohio to watch the final day of the Patriot Games, a high school athletic event created by his administration to mark the 250th anniversary of America’s founding. The Patriot Games have drawn teen competitors from every state, along with participants tied to military bases, Native American tribes and US territories.
Two teenagers from each state were selected for the competition, which is being held in Geneva, about 50 miles north of Cleveland. The athletes had to answer questions about American patriotism to qualify. The winners, one boy and one girl ages 14 to 17, will each receive $125,000 in scholarship money. Trump is scheduled to attend Tuesday’s final round, where the top 32 athletes will compete.
The event began Sunday at SPIRE Academy, a sports training facility and boarding school. It is being run by Freedom 250, a White House-backed nonprofit that has organized other events tied to the coming semiquincentennial. That group also helped stage the UFC fight at the White House last month and the Great American State Fair on the National Mall in Washington, D.C.
Freedom 250 spokeswoman Danielle Alvarez said the Patriot Games are about more than sports. She said they are about “the grit, character, and optimism that have carried America for over 250 years.” Alvarez added that the young athletes “represent the very best of who we are and the promise of what’s still to come.”
