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.”