Aug. 11, 2026, 5:07 a.m. ET
WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump is set to travel to Northeast Ohio on Tuesday, Aug. 11 to attend the finale of the Patriot Games, a national youth athletics competition celebrating the 250th anniversary of the nation’s founding.
Trump’s visit to Geneva, Ohio, outside of Cleveland, will cap a three-day event that began Sunday. One male and one female athlete are to be crowned champions, with the two winners receiving $250,000 in scholarship prize money to be divided between them.
The competition, held at a boarding school called SPIRE Academy, has featured 120 teenagers ages 14 to 17 from across the country who have competed against each other in games straight out of gym glass: boot camp drills, track and field events, the presidential fitness test, obstacle courses, and team competitions in kickball, dodgeball and tug of war.
Democratic critics have mocked the event as “The Hunger Games” of youth sports.
The Patriot Games are paid for by Freedom 250, a Trump-backed group that has organized a series of events commemorating America’s 250th birthday including a UFC fight at the White House and the Great American State Fair at the Capitol Mall. The group is funded by both private and public dollars.
How competitors were chosen for the event has drawn scrutiny. High school students had until July 13 to apply for a contest that began less than one month later. CNN reported the overwhelming majority of contestants are white, with many either homeschooled or attending Christian private schools.
The competition was supposed to feature male and female representatives from all 50 states, but CNN reported several athletes are representing other states than where they attend school.
A one-hour recap special on the Patriot Games is scheduled to run on ABC on Thursday, Aug. 13 at 9 p.m. ET.
Reach Joey Garrison on @joeygarrison.
