The latest flashy celebration of America’s 250th anniversary touted by President Trump — a high school athletic competition known as the Patriot Games — begins Sunday morning. The games will feature one boy and one girl from all 50 states, plus some US territories and tribal nations.
The event is being organized by the White House-backed organization Freedom 250, which is also responsible for the UFC fight on the White House lawn, the Great American State Fair on the National Mall, and an upcoming IndyCar race in the shadow of the US Capitol Building.
Details have been relatively scarce in the lead-up to the Patriot Games, but here’s everything we know so far.
Who is representing Massachusetts?
Bobbi Vickers is Massachusetts’ female representative. The 16-year-old lives in Hanford, Calif., but her local connection comes through her maternal grandfather, who was born and raised in Boston. Vickers told the Globe she visited Boston a few years back, where she took a Duck Boat tour and stopped by her ancestors’ triple-decker home.
Bobbi’s mother, Michelle, said it was her great-grandmother who first immigrated from Syria to Boston, though they still have extended family who live in New England. Bobbi Vickers said representing the state “means a lot because my family’s from there, and Massachusetts is the birthplace of the American Revolution.”
She has experience playing softball and basketball (her favorite team is the Celtics), but is most passionate about volleyball, which she hopes to play at a private, Christian college while studying kinesiology.
Vickers said she got an “adrenaline rush” when she received an email on July 23 telling her she had been selected for the games and has been lifting weights and running laps on a track every day in preparation for the event.
Jonah Beauregard is Massachusetts’ male representative. The 17-year-old attends the Bancroft School in Worcester, where he plays baseball. He also competes nationally in American Ninja Warrior-style obstacle course competitions, a hobby he has practiced for nearly a decade.
His goal is to one day own a “ninja gym” after studying sports management at a local college.
Beauregard’s mother, Abigail Birdsall, told the Globe her son let out a scream when he learned he had been selected for the Patriot Games, calling it “a moment of excitement and shock.”
Beauregard said representing Massachusetts on the national stage “means everything to me.” Along with his “ninja” training, Beauregard said he’s been working on his cardio, push-ups, and pull-ups to prepare.
“I usually focus too much on the actual competition, and it gets too much in my head that I have to do well,” he said. “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 list of athletes has not been published yet, but many contestants, including some New Englanders, have announced their participation online via Freedom 250’s social media pages.
How were the athletes selected?
Each applicant submitted a short video explaining their background and why they wanted to compete in the Patriot Games, along with a short essay about what it would mean to represent their state.
However, there was no requirement that a contestant live in that state, only that they had some connection to it. (Vickers said she was asked to provide a list of states she had ties to).
Among the requirements were that athletes be US citizens in good academic standing who agree to compete under their sex assigned at birth. A total of 120 student athletes, ages 14 to 17, were approved.
What will the games entail?
Many of the events are ripped right out of gym class.
Athletes will compete in games of dodgeball, kickball, and tug of war. They will also do exercises from the Presidential Fitness Test, run a 100-meter dash, navigate a military boot camp-style obstacle course, and participate in skill competitions with elements of sports like basketball, football, and track.
While most of the competitions will be individualized and separated by sex, a few will be co-ed team events. What’s still unclear: How these events will be scored or judged, and how the competitions will actually unfold.
Where will the games be hosted?
The games will be played at SPIRE Academy, a boarding prep school in northeast Ohio with extensive sports facilities known for producing elite athletes, such as NBA player LaMelo Ball.
The athletes will room together at SPIRE Academy’s dorms for the duration of the games and have access to the school’s weight room and other amenities. Each night, themed banquets will be held for the competitors and their chaperones.
Trump held a rally at SPIRE Academy in 2016 just days before the election. Trump has carried Ashtabula County, where SPIRE is located, in every presidential election since 2016. The county of about 100,000 has undergone beautification projects in preparation for the games, including the installation of a 150-foot flagpole at SPIRE Academy reminiscent of the massive new flag poles Trump erected at the White House.
What’s the grand prize?
By the end of the competition, one male and one female athlete will be selected to share a $250,000 scholarship prize pool.
Where did the idea come from?
Trump first proposed the games back in a 2023 video laying out his plans to celebrate the nation’s 250th anniversary if he reclaimed the presidency. In the Patriot Games announcement video, Trump called it “an unprecedented four-day athletic event featuring the greatest high school athletes.”
He went on to promise “there will be no men playing in women’s sports” — a reference to one of his top policy priorities: barring transgender women and girls from competing in female athletics. ”You’re not going to see that,” Trump added, “you’ll see everything but that.”
How can I watch the Patriot Games?
All three days of the games, from Aug. 9 to Aug. 11, will be streamed live on the ESPN app. On Aug. 13, ABC will air an hourlong special at 9 p.m. ET featuring highlights from the games.
Isn’t this kind of like ‘The Hunger Games’?
If you made that connection, you are not alone.
Many observers have compared the Patriot Games to the book-turned-film series “The Hunger Games,” in which a boy and a girl from each of the 12 districts in a post-apocalyptic country compete in a state-sponsored, televised battle to the death, promising the victor fame and riches.
Vickers has never read or watched the series, so she’s mostly unfamiliar with the parallels, but “I just know no people are dying” in the Patriot Games, she said with a laugh.
For Beauregard, meanwhile, “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 mother quickly added.
Julian E.J. Sorapuru can be reached at julian.sorapuru@globe.com. Follow him on X @JulianSorapuru.