Axios

Team USA's Paralympic roster includes multi-sport athletes, a pilot and a Purple Heart recipient.

The big picture: The United States is sending 72 competitors to Italy, five more than it did for the 2022 Games in Beijing.

Brian Ruppel could have left — instead of spending years on the sidelines as the backup goalie for the University of Maryland men's lacrosse team.

• But he stayed.

Why it matters: He did the invisible work of a supportive player and committed to something greater than himself. That commitment paid off.

• The redshirt senior from Catonsville, Maryland, is finally the starting goalkeeper.

Although transfers are common in college sports, Ruppel says he never considered playing anywhere else.

• "When you commit to a college," he says, "you make a commitment." It's not conditional.

The big picture: Players who put aside ego to support their teammates behind the scenes can be crucial to a team's culture and success.

• They're not just helpful during practice and after — when Ruppel would let teammates take extra shots on him and watch game film — but they're usually ready when called upon.
• Dodgers utility player Miguel Rojas spent most of the 2025 playoff season on the bench. But when he delivered a game-tying homer in World Series Game 7, teammate Freddie Freeman said "the game honors you" for putting in work nobody sees.

"It's about the team," Ruppel says of the Maryland lacrosse culture. "The better you get, the better you can practice, the better you help our team."

• And being a teammate is "bigger than lacrosse," the 21-year-old told Axios. When times are tough, "you have 50 guys around you that you can lean your head on, and that you can talk to."
• Ruppel backed up goalie Logan McNaney in 2024 and 2025, after starting several games in 2023 when McNaney tore his ACL.
• This year, McNaney is the team's director of player development and "one of my best friends," Ruppel says.

The bottom line: Ruppel finally got his starting role. But lessons from the bench may matter more.

• "Things that are worthwhile don't come easy," he said.