Santa Barbara’s Ben Rupnow has been selected to represent the state of California at the 2026 Patriot Games, an athletic competition in celebration of America’s 250th anniversary (Freedom 250) at SPIRE Academy in Ohio.
Rupnow, a rising junior basketball and volleyball player at Providence School, is the lone male competitor from California and is one of over 100 competitors from across the nation. One male and one female were selected from each state and territory.
“It’s a bigger deal than I think I realized at the beginning,” Rupnow said of representing California. “It’s a big state, and there’s a lot of kids, but it’s definitely an honor. I’m looking forward to it. There’s a little bit of pressure because it’s like ‘Hey, if you don’t perform well, we could have chosen someone else.’
“I’m just excited because there’s one person from every state and territory, because it just means that there are a lot of good athletes. So it’ll be a close competition.”
The athletes will compete in “a series of athletic challenges designed to test strength, endurance, agility, teamwork, and perseverance while highlighting the values that have helped shape generations of Americans,” from August 9-11, with the event culminating in an ESPN special on Thursday, August 13.
There will be one male and one female winner, who will be awarded a $250,000 scholarship prize pool.
“I’m almost 100% sure I want to pursue a degree in mechanical engineering, and I think it would be a great opportunity to use that money to go to a school where I can get that and set me up for my career well,” Rupnow said.
This won’t be Rupnow’s first Freedom 250 event, as he competed in the Presidential 1776 Award, a competition dubbed the “Ultimate Civics Showdown” where participants are tested on their knowledge of American history, earlier in the year.
He advanced past the online portion and was one of three people from California who competed in a regional tournament, where he was eventually eliminated.
“My email and name were in their system then from that event, and then I got an email about the Patriot Games, and I was like ‘Wow, this is something I could actually do, and it sounds super fun. Let’s go for it,’” Rupnow said.
Rupnow’s application process began with a 1-2 minute video where he was required to pitch why he was a good fit for the Patriot Games. He included footage of himself cycling, playing basketball and running on the track.
After he advanced past that stage, he was asked to list his athletic and academic achievements, along with what makes him the best fit to represent California on the nationwide stage.
“Maybe a week and a half after submitting everything, I received an email that I had gotten in and was representing California, which I was super stoked about. I had to call my parents and friends and tell them, and that was really exciting,” Rupnow said.
After receiving this news in mid-July, Rupnow has been training and fine-tuning many of his skills before making the trip out to Ohio. However, he must do so with just a vague outline of the competitions he will be taking part in.
“There’s going to be presidential fitness test components. Basic strength exercises like pull-ups, push-ups, curlups, like a mile run, that sort of thing. That’ll come together in that type of circuit, but I’m not sure how it’ll be scored or anything like that,” Rupnow said.
“They also said it would involve bringing in a lot of sports with strength, speed and agility components.”
Rupnow has been training at a local rock climbing gym, maintaining his strong physical condition and dieting to put himself in the best position to succeed.
“We were notified about this probably two weeks before the actual competition, so it’s not much time to (learn) a new strength. It’s more that you have this foundation; now what are you gonna do with it?” Rupnow said.
“I think it really puts an emphasis on how I’m training, because the difference between the best of one state and the best of another state could be one second in the mile or something like that… Whatever work I put in, I just have to follow through with the quality result, hopefully, on competition day.”
Rupnow will look to leave Providence School, Santa Barbara and California well represented when he begins competition on Sunday, August 9.
“I just want to glorify God in the process. He’s designed me this way, and it’s such a privilege to be able to compete like this. I would do that to the best of my ability. That’s my hope, and we’ll see how it goes,” Rupnow said.
