BY NOAH GRIFFITH
FOR THE OBSERVER
AUBURN — Zach Dickey has spent his last eight years at Auburn University building his reputation as an adaptive sports legend, and now he is preparing to represent the orange and blue on a national stage.
Dickey is one of eight players on Team USA playing at the FIFPA Power Soccer World Cup in Buenos Aires, Argentina, starting Saturday, Oct. 17.
“Anybody who plays against me has to Google what ‘War Eagle’ means,” Dickey said. “I love [Auburn] as much as I love soccer, and anyone who knows me knows I love soccer. It’s given me everything — I don’t think there’s any way I make any of these national teams without Auburn’s investment in adapted sports.”
It is Dickey’s second trip to the World Cup after playing for Team USA in Sydney, Australia, in 2023. It is the fifth edition of the Power Soccer World Cup, with the U.S. winning the first two in 2007 and 2011 and France taking home the trophy in 2017 and 2023.
Team USA finished third in the 10-team tournament in 2023, which is the lowest finish for the Americans in tournament history after also being runner-up in 2017. Despite losing to England in the semifinals, the team felt it played well against an increasingly competitive field.
The loss led the team to intentionally seek growth opportunities, such as traveling to England in 2024 to face “some of the top competition in the world.” The learning experience helped the U.S. squad put together a 7-0 run at the World Cup qualifier in 2025 – the APFC America’s Cup in Phoenix, Arizona – without allowing a single goal.
“They say ‘You’re not losing, you’re learning,’ and we learned greatly from the ’23 World Cup,” said Team USA head coach Tracy Mayer. “We’ve grown tremendously over the three years since, and this team is well prepared.”
But the dominant showing at the qualifier, capped by a 1-0 win over Argentina, hasn’t slowed the work ethic of the U.S. team. The squad has enjoyed several camps in 2026 at the newly constructed Arthur Blank National Training Center.
“It’s a purpose-built space just for us,” Dickey said. “It’s been really surreal, eating steak in the dining halls and just being treated like a real, professional athlete.”
For Dickey, it’s been a roller-coaster ride from the last World Cup to this one.
During the team’s trip to England to play a series of exhibition games, Dickey was benched and left off the team’s lineup card.
One summer day in 2025, Dickey was wrapping up practice at Auburn’s Beard-Eaves Coliseum when Mayer called to tell him he had been left off the national team roster for the qualifier tournament. His brother, Jordan Dickey, made the roster.
The eight-man roster remains highly competitive.
“We have a surplus of talent on this roster,” Mayer said. “In fact, we’re leaving home several players who could be starting for other nations at the World Cup.”
Dickey described watching that tournament as “one of the hardest things in my life,” but he used the experience as a wake-up call. He realized he had fallen to “the eighth or ninth-best player” and had a lot of work to do to earn a spot back on the roster.
Instead of losing hope, Dickey sought growth opportunities overseas. He first signed with Australia’s Western Sydney Wanderers, winning a club championship with them before joining West Bromwich Albion for the 2025-26 English Premiership season.
Although that season ended with an early elimination, Dickey learned how to play a “four-man-up” style, with all four players straying out from the goalie box to allow a full team attack on offense.
After displaying his growth and improvement at a national team camp, Dickey regained his roster spot for the 2026 World Cup. Not only that, but his role with the team is bigger than ever.
“We’ve got another dimension to our team because of what [Dickey] learned in England over the last 12 to 18 months,” Mayer said. “He’s going to be able to play multiple positions, but him being at goalie opens up our game considerably. I’m looking forward to what he’s going to be able to bring us.”
Dickey has helped expand the American game of power soccer by studying it thoroughly, experiencing different strategies, experimenting with what works and discarding what doesn’t.
His impact extends beyond the national team. Working with Auburn University wheelchair basketball coach Robb Taylor, Dickey helped found the nation’s first collegiate power soccer program. Dickey had envisioned starting a power soccer team at Auburn for several years, but it came to fruition after donations made funding possible in 2023.
In 2018, Dickey came to Auburn from his hometown of Pendleton, Indiana, as one of the foundational recruits on the wheelchair basketball team. As his disability – Charcot-Marie-Tooth disease – continued to progress, he changed his focus to power soccer. With power soccer being one of the largest sports for powerchair users, Dickey said he knew it was something he could excel in for years to come.
The program found early success. After a fifth-place finish in its first year at the national tournament, the Tigers won the club national championship in 2025 to earn promotion to the sport’s top division. They finished fifth again in 2026, maintaining their division standing in the Premier Cup.
The 27-year-old Dickey also served for several years as an assistant coach for Auburn’s wheelchair basketball team, which won the 2025-26 NWBA National Championship.
“[Dickey] has dedicated himself to making Auburn better by pouring into Auburn Adapted Athletics,” Taylor said. “From perfecting his coaching with wheelchair basketball to helping create the first collegiate power soccer team, Zach has made his mark on Auburn. We couldn’t be prouder to support him while he represents Auburn and Team USA at the World Cup.”
This year, however, Dickey has stepped away from coaching wheelchair basketball to focus fully on his power soccer team. The squad is welcoming three new recruits this year: Zander Helfrich, Cosmo Rudd and Krishna Renjith.
One of Dickey’s most meaningful experiences as a power soccer coach has been watching his players cheer him on as he competes for the national team. During the 2023 World Cup, his team held a watch party to root him on.
While Dickey said moments like that are his biggest motivation to perform, he noted that watching them compete in future World Cups might be even more special.
“That meant so much to me. I had a screenshot of their watch party on my phone wallpaper during the World Cup,” Dickey recalled. “This might be the last World Cup where they’re watching me, and then I might be watching them or even playing with some of them next time around.”
For now, the squad consists of returning stars such as the Dickey brothers, Riley Johnson, Pete Winslow, Nathan Mayer and Lexi Heer, along with newcomers David Dowling and Lindsay Muench.
Head coach Tracy Mayer got his start in power soccer when his son, Nathan Mayer, began playing more than 20 years ago. Nathan, 27, lives with spinal muscular atrophy and plays for the Minnesota Shockwave. The Shockwave have won nine national championships, including six consecutive titles.
Mayer began coaching the Shockwave in 2006 and interviewed with U.S. Soccer for the national team coaching position in 2022. His second FIFPA World Cup represents a full-circle moment.
“[Power soccer] is something that’s filled a space that I never thought I’d be able to fill when Nathan was diagnosed,” Mayer said. “It’s been a wonderful experience. It’s been fun, to say the least.”
Dickey regards Mayer as one of the “hardest workers in the sport,” and even though their relationship has had its ups and downs in the past several years, they trust each other now more than ever. There’s never been a better time for the U.S. to bring home a trophy — the trophy.
Team USA will begin its chase for gold with a matchup against Australia on Saturday, Oct. 17. The 10-team tournament will feature nine games, one against each team, in pool play before the semifinals lead to the championship on Oct. 23.
The tournament bracket can be found on U.S. Soccer’s website, and all matches will be streamed on FIFPA’s YouTube channel.
“The ultimate goal is a World Cup championship. There’s no reason why we can’t do it and do it with authority,” Mayer said. “It’s not being arrogant, not being cocky – it’s just being strong in the belief that we can do it. If every player does their job, I’ll be excited to see our athletes lifting the trophy.”
