Zion Redington will start his final year of homeschooling about a week behind schedule, with good excuse. He’ll spend the final days of August in Paris, vying for gold in the 2024 Paralympic Games.
At age 18, Zion is the youngest member of the USA Wheelchair Rugby team, which will take on squads from seven other countries in a tournament beginning August 29.
“It makes me absolutely ecstatic to be able to do this,” Zion declared in a documentary for a digital sports channel. “It’s an honor to be able to represent my country, my state, my family.”
The opportunity to compete at the highest level attests not only to the teen’s personal commitment, but also to efforts by his parents to lay the groundwork for his achievements. Part of that foundation was choosing to homeschool.
Zion switched to homeschooling about five years ago, during the COVID-19 pandemic. About that time, Team USA began recruiting Zion to play at the elite level, and the demands of his schedule made it clear that homeschooling was the right fit.
Zion Redington, a homeschool student, is the youngest athlete on the USA Wheelchair Rugby team.
“We stuck with it,” explained his mom, Heather. “It really was a smarter option, because it gives him so much flexibility.”
One Step at a Time
Zion’s affinity for athletics was not necessarily apparent from an early age. As he describes it, his mom strongly encouraged him to try different sports to help him gain confidence as he learned to cope with his physical disabilities.
He was born with a genetic deficiency called ectrodactyly, which caused him to develop with a single finger on each hand and one toe on each foot. His medical condition helped expedite his adoption from China, and he quickly bonded with his American family.
As Zion approached school age, however, his growth put extreme pressure on his feet, and he suffered multiple fractures. Each recovery entailed spending weeks in leg casts. By the time he reached age 6, Heather and Zion’s medical professionals agreed the best solution would be to amputate the boy’s feet and fit him with prosthetics.
He has since become adept at walking and alternates between means of locomotion as the situation requires.
“I’m mainly on my prosthetics,” Zion said in a recent interview for HSLDA. “I’m very lucky to be able to choose whether I’m in my chair or on my legs.”
Sampling Sports
“Anything you can think of, I’ve probably done it,” Zion quipped. Some of the sports he’s sampled include running, cycling, climbing, swimming, surfing, sled hockey, and archery.
Ironically, when Zion first tried wheelchair rugby at age 9, he didn’t enjoy it because most of the other players were several times his age.
By the time he reached high school, Zion had become especially skilled in wheelchair basketball. In 2022, playing with other high schoolers on the Lakeshore Lakers, Zion and his teammates won the National Wheelchair Basketball Association Championship.
Through that participation Zion became heavily involved with Lakeshore Foundation. The nonprofit not only advocates for people with disabilities, but also provides them facilities for physical recreation and research—and serves as a training center for US Olympic and Paralympic athletes.
It is also the home of the USA Wheelchair Rugby team.
Zion’s increased involvement with Lakeshore meant driving three hours from the family’s home in Tennessee to the foundation’s facilities in Birmingham, Alabama.
His schedule picked up even more once he joined the national wheelchair rugby team. “There was something every single day,” he said.
His regimen at Lakeshore’s facilities entailed working out five days a week. He lifted weights, pushed his chair, conducted sprints, and completed cardio training.
Keeping up with Studies
To accommodate the teen’s schedule, Zion’s family moved to Birmingham about two years ago. Through all of the busyness, the flexibility of homeschooling really helped.
Heather said that when it came to schooling, she didn’t have to pressure her son to keep up with his studies.
“Zion’s very independent,” she explained.
Homeschooling also helped Zion accelerate his studies to the point that he often mentors his peers. For example, Zion encouraged a good friend who struggled to adapt to a new way of learning during the COVID-19 pandemic. He also tutors some students at the homeschool co-op he attends.
This year Zion will be taking dual-enrollment courses through the University of Alabama at Birmingham to lay the groundwork for when he finishes high school and enters college full-time.
“I want to be a business and finance major,” he said.
His top picks for college include Auburn and Michigan, which operate robust adaptive sports programs. Zion said he’d be excited to play wheelchair basketball at either school.
If he goes to Auburn, he’ll continue to play for Lakeshore’s wheelchair rugby team, said Zion’s stepdad Mark Whitlock.
If he goes to Michigan, he’ll play on their wheelchair rugby team and play wheelchair basketball. The rugby team includes Team USA’s captain, Chuck Aoki, who is a member of the university’s adaptive sports and fitness program.
Ready for Paris
For the moment, Zion is focused on helping his wheelchair rugby team unseat Great Britain as Paralympic champions.
He joined the national team at age 16 and has already traveled with his teammates for several international tournaments. He’s competed in France, Denmark, and Canada. In 2023 Zion helped the team take the gold medal in the Parapan American Games in Chile.
Zion's mother, Heather, and stepfather, Mark.
Aside from his youth, Zion said some of his top contributions to USA Wheelchair Rugby include his physicality and aggressiveness. He especially enjoys the vigorous nature of the sport, which employs wheelchairs designed to speed the length of an indoor rugby court in seconds and survive collisions with opponents.“Zion hits hard,” Heather observed on the documentary, noting that her son’s more jarring maneuvers have popped the wheels of his chair. “It’s like Mad Max,” she quipped.
The teen accepts his mother’s concerns for safety with the same aplomb as any other young athlete involved in contact sports. “It’s my role on the team,” he affirmed, adding that there won’t be any room for reticence come opening tipoff in Paris. “We are absolutely gunning for that gold.”
The Paralympics will be broadcast on NBC and streamed on Peacock in the US.
All images courtesy of the family