In 2005, Joe Jackson, a Hamilton High School graduate, was paralyzed from the chest down from an accident during a football game.
Now, as a member of the Ability360 Phoenix Heat three-time national wheelchair rugby champions, Jackson will be shooting for his first Paralympic gold medal this summer having been selected to the 2021 Team USA Wheelchair Rugby Paralympic team.
Not one to let a disability get in his way, Jackson started playing wheelchair rugby in 2007 and joined the Ability360 Phoenix Heat. He began training at the Ability360 Sports & Fitness Center right after the venue opened in 2011.
Jackson was a member of the 2020 U.S. Paralympic squad that was trying out for the Games, which were ultimately canceled because of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Jackson—who is now 31 and lives with his wife, Sarah, whom he met when she worked at Ability360—found out he was chosen for the 12-man squad during a Zoom announcement that was organized and hosted by the Colorado Springs-based United States Olympic & Paralympic Committee.
His was the first name called.
“It was super emotional,” Jackson says. “It was validating to have your skills recognized and to be able to go and compete for your country.”
The team leaves on Aug. 17, with the Games to begin on Aug. 25. Team USA is ranked second in the world behind two-time defending gold medalists Team Australia in the eight-team field.
Other than during a six-week period when training opportunities were restricted by the pandemic, since last summer, Jackson has consistently worked on his game, skills, and conditioning. In addition to his rugby training at Ability360, Jackson also works out at a North Phoenix outdoor facility owned by another Hamilton High School football player, Dontay Moch, who was selected by the Cincinnati Bengals in the third round of the 2011 NFL draft.
On May 12, Jackson traveled to the U.S. Olympic & Paralympic Training site at the Lakeshore Foundation in Birmingham, Ala. Similar to last year’s NBA playoffs, paralympic athletes operated in a “bubble” under strict health and safety protocols. Tryouts and twice-a-day training for three hours each day ran from May 14-22.
Arizona is well represented on the 12-man squad, with three veteran players from Tucson affiliated with the University of Arizona wheelchair rugby program joining Jackson in Tokyo.