Local Athlete Named
All-Tournament Basketball Player
Athlete Ben Kenyon was named
to the All -Tournament Team at the 2006 National Wheelchair Basketball
Tournament in March in Houston, Texas. This honor identifies Kenyon
as one of the top wheelchair basketball players in the country for
the Junior division. The 15-year-old Minnetonka High School student
says that being named to the team was his “proudest
moment.”
Kenyon’s involvement
in athletics does not stop at basketball. He also participates
in track, soccer, tennis and more. As a wheelchair track athlete,
Kenyon is a regular at local 5K and 10K events, including the 2005
Dave Huffman Memorial 5K and the annual Firecracker 10K Run. He
is a five-time participant and three-time winner of the Race for
the Cure. Kenyon is also a competitive swimmer winning at the National
Junior Disability Championships from 1999 to this current year.
He was named center for the PI Division All-Tournament Team in the
2005 State Adapted Soccer Tournament sponsored by the Minnesota High
School League. Kenyon most recently participated in a demonstration
event sponsored by the United States Tennis Association (USTA) at
Mall of America.
“Ben is happiest when he’s participating in some sort
of competitive sport,” says his mother, Darla Kenyon. “And,
if it includes a ball, all the better!”
The Minnesota Junior Rolling Timberwolves basketball team was started
in 1993. Sponsored by Courage Center, the team is a perennial Final
Four participant. It was ranked third in the nation in 2005 and fourth
in 2006.
“I remember the first day I saw [Ben] peeking
into the gym during junior basketball practice,” says Sharon
Van Winkel, Courage Center’s director of Sports & Recreation. “From
that day, he wanted to try every sport – and he excels at every
sport he tries. His ‘can do’ attitude makes him a role
model to many people. Ben is a serious athlete.”
