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St. Peter's student wins national title
Truax tops in soccer challenge

By José Alfredo Flores
Gannett News Service

WASHINGTON – Ben Truax is something special is a wizard on the soccer field,
a gem on the baseball diamond, a force on the football field, and a
straight-A student at St. Peter’s Elementary. Now he can add national
champion to his list of accomplishments.
In his first trip to the finals of the New York Life Dribble, Pass and Shoot
soccer-skills competition on Saturday, the Lucas native beat out over 20,000
kids nationwide in the Boys 10-11 year-old division championship.
“I always knew he was a national champion,” said Truax’s mother, Kay, 38,
beaming with pride as her son lifted up his championship trophy. “Now he has
a trophy to prove it.”
The finals were held at Washington’s RFK Stadium, site of Sunday’s Major
League Soccer championship match, in front of over 100 friends and family
members of the 24 finalists in the competition’s six age divisions.
Truax was cool under pressure, playing in front of spectators, a camera crew
from Nickelodeon, photographers, and even beat out defending champion Edgar
Carrera – who was featured in Thursday’s USA TODAY.
“I was a little nervous out there,” said Truax, who finished with a total of
252.5 points in the competition. “But I think I did pretty good out there.”
This was after a poor start. In the dribbling portion of the competition,
where the athletes dribble around poles, Truax slipped on the wet grass only
seconds after he began. The Liederkrantz Mid-Ohio United forward quickly got
up and finished the race under 23 second, good for 92.5 points.
“He just went a little too fast out there,” said his father, Bruce, 42. “But
he recovered very nicely.”
Truax then dominated the shooting portion of the competition (80 points),
where he shot at targets on the goal, and in passing (80 points), where he
passed the ball through a line of flags set 10-20 yards away.
“I never thought anything thing like this would ever happen to me,” said
Truax, who will be featured on Nickelodeon’s Games and Sports for Kids
program segments airing October 29 between 2 to 4 p.m. ET. “I was expecting
to maybe finish second, but I’m much happier getting first.”
Sunday Truax will join his fellow DPS participants and watch MLS Cup (1:30
p.m. ET on ABC), concluding what has been an event-filled weekend.
On Friday Truax had the time of his life at the ESPN Zone in downtown
Washington. There he played everything from a basketball jump-shot game to
horseracing and paddleboat video games. His competition during the games -
MLS all-stars Clint Mathis (New York/New Jersey Metrostars forward) and
Steve Ralston (Tampa Bay Mutiny midfielder).
“He’s an outgoing kid. He even beat me in basketball,” said Mathis with a
chuckle. Mathis, a finalist for league MVP, praised the DPS program for its
efforts to develop soccer in the U.S. at the grassroots level.
“I wish there was a program like this when I was a kid,” Mathis said. “Who
knows? Maybe this kid could be one of the players to join our league after
us.”
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