To Tyler Bennett, soccer is much more than a sport. For the recent Wadsworth graduate, being able to lace up the cleats, put on the shin guards and step onto the pitch has more significance than he can describe.

It’s something he thought he’d never do again after suffering a traumatic brain injury.

Wadsworth graduate Tyler Bennett will represent the United States in the 2012 Paralympic Games. (PHOTO COURTESY OF TYLER BENNETT)

“All the time, especially since I had to use a walker for a while after it happened,” Bennett said when asked if he wondered whether he would play again.

After an artery in his brain ruptured when he was 12 years old and the pair of 20-plus-hour surgeries that followed, Bennett had a magnetic shunt placed in his brain.

Then a sixth-grader, he lost all feeling on the left side of his body and used a walker until feeling started to return.

Soon after, thoughts of returning to the soccer field, a place he had made his home since he was 4, came back as well.

“Ever since this happened, I was in physical therapy for a year, but I still practiced,” Bennett said. “At first, I couldn’t move my leg much, but slowly it came back. I have partial push on my left foot. It’s just harder to do cutting movements and my takeoff is a little slow.”

Bennett went on to have a solid career playing for the Grizzlies and earned a tryout with the United States Paralympic team last summer.

Little did the 19-year-old know he would be playing in Holland a year later, with a chance to help the national team qualify for the 2012 Paralympic Games in London.

“I thought it would be a lot harder to get on the team, but it wasn’t too bad,” he said. “I didn’t think I would get to go this many places.”

Bennett is the second-youngest player on the national team, which he has played on for the last year and a half.

On the recent trip to Holland, the 5-foot-10, 160-pound starting midfielder helped the U.S. to an eighth-place finish and the final automatic qualifying bid to next summer’s Games, thanks to a thrilling 3-2 victory over eventual runner-up Ireland.

That was an impressive feat for a team that had just a week to train, unlike national teams from Russia and Iran, which practice three times a week for a couple of months to prepare for the competition.

“It was really cool,” said Bennett, who played right wing. “This was probably the biggest tournament I’ve ever played in. Russia, which is No. 1 in the world, was the hardest game I’ve ever played in.”

Before he makes his trip to England in August 2012, Bennett will begin his first year as a student at Walsh University in Canton. He plans on studying physical therapy and helping those worse off than he was.

And it was soccer that helped Bennett overcome his setback.

“It’s not a bad thing; it’s actually a really good thing,” he said. “I’ve met a lot of great people and I’m friends with guys from the Brazil team and the Holland team, so it’s really cool.

“I’ve made friendships with a lot of people around the world and that makes me happy.”

Contact Dan Brown at sports@medina-gazette.com.

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