Joey Ruettiger: Another Star is Born

He is an honor roll student and an altar boy at his church.

He plays youth basketball, flag football and holds a red belt in Karate.

Minooka’s 11-year-old Joey Ruettiger also holds his own in Pokemon Trading Card Game battles with the best players in the world. In fact, many nearly twice his age often seek his advice during tournament play.

“He’s a good kid—a level-headed kid,” said Ruettiger’s mother, Rose. “I’ve had comments from people who say he’s mature beyond his years. He’s so focused. The big kids are always asking him, ‘What do you think?’ Is this going to work?’

“He’ll say, ‘Yeah, let’s play it out. They treat him as equal because when it comes to the game they feel he is their equal.”

Like in many other card games, Pokemon Trading Card Game battles revolve around skill, strategy and luck. The best of the best are capable to make quick calculations in their head and able to keep a straight face at the game tables.

“It’s sort of  a combination of poker and chess,” Rose Ruettiger said. “You’ve got to have a poker face. You don’t want your opponents to know what kind of cards you’re holding. But your strategy—there are so many things going on and you’ve got to assess damages and plot different attack energies, figure out the numbers.

“It’s helped Joey with his math skills. There is no scratch paper on the side. It’s all done in his head.”

Ruettiger, a fifth-grader at Minooka Intermediate School, led the Junior Division (players born in 2002 or later) after the first day of competition in the 2012 Pokemon World Championships before going on to place ninth.

“The hardest person I faced was from Japan,” Ruettiger said. “He ended up winning the world championship. I beat him on the first day last year. I felt good about that.”

Over the course of the last three weeks, he has won state championships in Nebraska, Wisconsin and Minnesota.

"Earning the title of Pokemon State Champion is a huge honor and moves these elite players one step closer to competing at the 2013 Pokemon World Championships," said J.C. Smith, director of consumer marketing for The Pokemon Company International.

Ruettiger already has qualified for the 2013 Pokemon U.S. National Championships in Indianapolis in June and the 2013 Pokemon World Championships in Vancouver in August.

And he has his sights set on bringing home the world title.

“It’s going to be hard,” Ruettiger said. “But I think I have a shot because I did pretty good last year. Some of the people who beat me have moved up to the Senior Division.”

Ruettiger said he first started collecting Pokemon Trading Cards at the age of 4 and started playing in head-to-head trading card games about four years ago.

“I like using my brain to think and to put all the cards together,” he said. “Adding—because I like math.”

He said he gets nervous on occasion in close games, but he’s no different than anyone else in that respect. One of the other things that separates him from the crowd is his demeanor.

“I handle it pretty well,” Ruettiger said. “I don’t lose my cool or anything. When I lose, I don’t get really mad. I know there is always a next time. I think I’m a good sport.”

Joey’s story might not be the stuff of motion pictures. Then, again, you never know.

Rose Ruettiger’s husband, Don, is the first cousin to Daniel Ruettiger of “Rudy” fame.

“When Joey was about 18 months old, my husband’s aunt died,” Rose Ruettiger said. “She was a nun at Our Lady of Angels in Joliet. So, we went to the service, and do you know how sometimes you wonder, ‘Did I really say that?’

“I walked in and looked around and went, ‘Oh, my God, they really do all look alike.’ There is a striking family resemblance that you see with the majority of the Ruettigers.”