Mackenzie Soldan (born May 14, 1992) is an American

wheelchair basketball Wheelchair basketball is basketball played by people with varying physical disabilities that disqualify them from playing a non-disabled sport. These include spina bifida, birth defects, cerebral palsy, paralysis due to accident, amputations (of ...

and

wheelchair tennis Wheelchair tennis is one of the forms of tennis adapted for wheelchair users. The size of the court, net height and rackets are the same, but there are two major differences from pedestrian tennis: athletes use specially designed wheelchairs, a ...

player. She represented the United States at the 2011 Parapan American Games where she won two gold medals, 2012 London Paralympics in wheelchair tennis and

2016 Rio Paralympics ) , nations = 159 , athletes = 4,342 , opening = 7 September , closing = 18 September , opened_by = President Michel Temer , cauldron = Clodoaldo Silva , events = 528 in 22 sports , stadium = Maracanã , sum ...

in wheelchair basketball. She has played for the U.S. women's wheelchair basketball team since 2013.

Early life

Soldan was born in

Saginaw, Michigan Saginaw () is a city in the U.S. state of Michigan and the seat of Saginaw County. The city of Saginaw and Saginaw County are both in the area known as Mid-Michigan. Saginaw is adjacent to Saginaw Charter Township and considered part of Greater ...

. She lost the use of her legs because of a spinal cord tumor at age 2. At age 18 she graduated from

Christian Academy of Louisville Christian Academy of Louisville (a.k.a. "CAL") is a private Christian school system in Louisville, Kentucky. It is composed of several schools in the Louisville metropolitan area, the largest of which is CAL-English Station on the city's east side ...

. When she was in

high school A secondary school describes an institution that provides secondary education and also usually includes the building where this takes place. Some secondary schools provide both '' lower secondary education'' (ages 11 to 14) and ''upper seconda ...

, she was a top-ranked player in the Junior wheelchair tennis team. She was also the Women's division' number one player as well. In 2010, due to her passion for

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appr ...

she was signed to the

University of Alabama The University of Alabama (informally known as Alabama, UA, or Bama) is a Public university, public research university in Tuscaloosa, Alabama. Established in 1820 and opened to students in 1831, the University of Alabama is the oldest and la ...

's wheelchair basketball team, where she earned another national number one rank.

Career

In late October 2011, she got a phone call saying that she might be qualified for the

Parapan American Games The Parapan American Games is an international multi-sport event for athletes with physical disabilities held every four years after every Pan American Games. The first Games were held in 1999 in Mexico City, Mexico. The 2003 Parapan American Ga ...

. Soldan decided to go, and brought home 2 gold medals for singles and doubles. Besides winning those medals she also carried an American flag which was given by her coach. She represented the United States at the

2022 Wheelchair Basketball World Championships The 2022 Wheelchair Basketball World Championships were held at the Dubai World Trade Centre in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, from 8 to 20 June 2023. Both men's and women's tournaments have been played, with 12 women's and 16 men's teams compe ...

and won a bronze medal.

Personal life

Soldan currently resides in

Tuscaloosa, Alabama Tuscaloosa ( ) is a city in and the seat of Tuscaloosa County in west-central Alabama, United States, on the Black Warrior River where the Gulf Coastal and Piedmont plains meet. Alabama's fifth-largest city, it had an estimated population of 1 ...

. Besides sports, she plays the

guitar The guitar is a fretted musical instrument that typically has six strings. It is usually held flat against the player's body and played by strumming or plucking the strings with the dominant hand, while simultaneously pressing selected stri ...

and

piano The piano is a stringed keyboard instrument in which the strings are struck by wooden hammers that are coated with a softer material (modern hammers are covered with dense wool felt; some early pianos used leather). It is played using a keyboa ...

as a hobby. In 2007, she participated at the U.S. Under 19 Wheelchair Basketball Team and in 2011 won a gold medal in the U.S. Under 25 Team. The same year, Mackenzie was a member of Collegiate National Wheelchair Basketball Championship and represented University of Alabama there. In 2016, she graduated with a master's degree in marketing.

References

External links

* * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Soldan, Mackenzie 1992 births Living people American female tennis players Wheelchair tennis players American women's wheelchair basketball players Paralympic wheelchair tennis players for the United States Wheelchair tennis players at the 2012 Summer Paralympics People with paraplegia Sportspeople from Saginaw, Michigan Basketball players from Louisville, Kentucky Sportspeople from Louisville, Kentucky 21st-century American women 21st-century American people Tennis people from Michigan