Nathan Mayer will be playing in the 2017 FIPFA World Cup Power Soccer Tournament in Kissimmee, FL. July 5-9.
Mayer, a current University of Minnesota student studying product design and former graduate of Monticello HS, is leaving Monday with his family, Lisa and Tracy (mom and dad) and sister Hannah (14) and brother Alec (12), to make the trip south for practices and workouts in preparation for the huge event. Ten teams from all across the globe will be competing in the international competition bringing the top powerchair soccer players from all over the world to compete for the World Cup title.
Opening ceremonies are July 5 with USA kicking off the event with a game against Denmark at 8:30 p.m. Thursday, Team USA will play Uruguay at 11 a.m. and Japan at 5 p.m.
Friday, USA plays Argentina at 9 a.m. which leads to bracket placements for the July 8-9 weekend. The FIPFA World Cup finale is at 3 p.m. Sun., July 9.
Power Soccer is the fastest growing sport on four wheels. It combines the skill of the person with the speed and power of the chair to create a fun, competitive, and accessible opportunity to play the most popular sport in the world.
Team USA is coached by Mike Hayes and Steve Misgen and features 12 other players besides Nathan on the squad.
Mayer has a genetic condition called Spinal Muscular Atrophy that he was born with. It’s a type of muscular dystrophy that affects all major muscles in his body. He has never crawled, nor walked. His breathing and coughing is affected by the condition so he needs lots of machines to breathe — especially when he has even a little cold. He is almost completely reliant on others for care.
He began his early mobility with a power wheelchair when he was two and it wasn’t until he turned seven did he hear first hand the idea of playing powerchair soccer. At the time, Nathan was playing t-ball and wasn’t enjoying it as much as he thought he would. He and his family decided to check out the wheelchair soccer and went to Courage Center to check it out.
At first, Nathan’s parents assumed wheelchair soccer was just a recreation sport played once a week on Sundays. However, Nathan was told the wheelchair soccer team was looking at signing up for a tournament in Birmingham, AL and Nathan got very excited. Since then, he is a regular on a couple local teams and in the fall of 2014, he sent in an application to play for Team USA.
Fifty applicants were allowed to petition for the team and from there it was whittled down to 20. Nathan advanced to final 20 and after tryouts, made the final 12. All 12 finalists have been going to training camps all over the country for the last 2.5 years and from those 12, eight were selected to represent the USA.
Nathan was selected and though he usually plays wing or center on his local teams, the coaches for Team USA saw that he’d be a great goalie and thus made the team.
Now, he is just less than two weeks away from playing his dream sport in front of his biggest fans on the worlds’ biggest stage.
“It is an honor to be a part of Team USA because I have always dreamed of playing for this team, but it also proves that I belong with the best athletes in the country - and the world,” Nathan says. “Also, it will allow me to grow my game even further by playing with and competing against the best players in the world.”
The game of power soccer is played in a gymnasium on a regulation basketball court. Two teams of four athletes in power wheelchairs attack, defend and spin-kick a 13-inch soccer ball in an attempt to score goals.
Team USA consists of Mayer and two others from Minnesota including, Riley Johnson of St. Cloud and Pete Winslow of Woodbury. Other team members are, Michael Archer of Greenwood, IN; Case Calvert of Indianapolis, IN; Ben Carpenter of Tampa, FL; Andrew Cunningham of Syracuse, NY; Jordan Dickey of Pendelton, IN; Katie Dickey of Pendelton, IN; Tyler Hernandez of Tampa FL; Natalie Russo of Carmel IN and Peyton Sefick of Syracuse, NY.
The World Cup can be live streamed at: livestream.com/powersoccershop/2017/fipfaworldcup.
