Students Turned Superstars: 3 High Schoolers at the Paris Paralympic Games
By Trinity Alicia,
2024-09-06
While most teenagers are busy readjusting to classroom routines and tackling homework after a long summer break, 16-year-old Arelle Middleton is at the 2024 Paris Paralympics, competing for team USA in track and field.
At this year’s summer Paralympics in Paris, Middleton earned a silver medal in the F64 shot put. She also competed in the F64 discus event and came in 10th place. F64 is a classification for Paralympians with limb deficiencies and leg length differences.
“With able-bodied kids, they can use their body differently,” Middleton, a sophomore at Los Osos High School in Rancho Cucamonga, California, told The Daily Bulletin in an interview last year. “They have both of their legs. They can do certain things a lot stronger. But it doesn’t matter because I can still compete with them.”
Middleton was born with a congenital femoral deficiency, which means her left leg is shorter than her right leg and her left hip is underdeveloped. Despite physical challenges, she competes alongside athletes without disabilities in track and field high school meets.
In 2023, when Middleton was just 15 years old, she was named U.S. Paralympics Track & Field High School Female Field Athlete of the Year, and also clinched a spot on the U.S. Paralympics Track & Field High School All-American list.
Her mother, former WNBA player Sandra Van Embricqs, encouraged Middleton to get involved in sports at an early age.
Middleton joined the Challenged Athletes Foundation, or CAF, at age 12 and frequently won competitions. But when she entered high school, her mother strongly encouraged her to join the Los Osos track and field team.
“I didn’t know how I would feel being with able-bodied kids,” Middleton told The Daily Bulletin. “They wouldn’t really understand as much as kids with a disability would understand, but I met some great people here. It’s good to be part of something with your school.”
The Paralympian plans to compete in both wheelchair basketball and track and field after she graduates in 2026. She believes cross-training will benefit her performance in each sport.
Several college basketball programs have already approached Middleton.
At 15 years old, Jordan White is the youngest archer from the U.S. to qualify for the Paralympics this summer.
A sophomore at Hill Country Christian School of Austin, White’s math teacher Christopher Felleisen calls him a “phenomenal student.”
He’s also a quick learner. The Austin, Texas, native tried archery for the first time less than four years ago when he was looking for a new activity to keep him busy during COVID. He has since won six national records. And less than a year ago, he began working toward competing in Paris.
White was born with a right leg that is shorter than the left, challenging his flexibility. He dedicates six to seven days a week to perfecting his form, strength, and mental agility and understands the role he plays in enhancing the representation of people with disabilities in archery.
“I really hope that I can pave the way for other young disabled archers,” he told Hill Country News in August.
“Jordan is a hard worker, asks great questions and is an extremely high achiever,” Felleisen told The 74. “What’s exciting about having Jordan in class is that he’s dedicated to doing well and it’s seen in his athletic performance, but his level of achievement is not very different in the classroom.”
White, who is part of a close-knit group of friends known as the ‘Lunch Bunch,’ takes part in his high school’s engineering pathway program, which focuses on engineering and robotics classes. He’s also a member of the National Junior Honor Society and the yearbook staff.
“He’s known for being incredibly intelligent and he’s at the top of all his classes, and everyone knows it,” added his academic and college advisor Jessica Pyo.
His teachers say they’re closely following his performance at the Paralympics.
“It looks like he’s having a lot of fun and this is a great story for him to tell, especially with college applications coming soon.” Pyo said.
At just 17, Maylee Phelps has taken wheelchair tennis by storm and has secured a win in the first round of women’s singles in Paris.
Phelps, a high school junior in Portland, Oregon, was born with spina bifida, a condition where the spinal cord does not develop properly. This requires her to wear a leg brace and use a wheelchair.
The Paralympian began competing nationally at age 12, becoming the International Tennis Federation’s Wheelchair Tennis Junior of the Year in 2023 and she scored the No. 1 position on the Cruyff Foundation Girls’ Junior Ranking.
Phelps balances her homeschool schedule with at least five days a week of tennis practice and strength training.
“She just absorbs,” U.S. national wheelchair tennis coach John Devorss told the University of Oregon. “You tell her something and it just takes a few times and she’s correcting it herself, which is a great characteristic of any athlete is just be really coachable.”
Phelps and Devorss train in Salem, Oregon, which is more than an hour south of Phelps’ home in Portland.
In her free time, the tennis player enjoys puzzles and playing with her dog Otis. She also volunteers at Shriners Hospital for Children, introducing children with disabilities to tennis.
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