By Ryan Makuch
Zion Beaton has had a different summer than most his age, even when you factor in the average USL League Two athlete. Many players are returning home to their roots for the summer to play for a team in an area they grew up in, like Beaton. Unlike most, however, Beaton has had a thrilling summer on and off the field as he prepares for his next life step: medical school.
A graduate from the program of Public Health at Wright State in Ohio, Beaton, who hails from Belleville here in southeast Michigan, now looks to pursue a passion that he has held since middle school while juggling playing the sport he fell in love with at the age of three.
Beaton’s story on the field starts earlier than the passion for medicine, but they both intertwine. Beaton began playing the sport that was always around him at an extremely early age. “It was the first sport I started playing,” Beaton would say, before adding, “I don’t necessarily think I developed a passion for it at three years old, but I definitely enjoyed what I was doing.”
At around the age of 11, Beaton suffered a crushing blow as a young athlete: a torn meniscus. However, instead of this bringing him down, Beaton found fascination with the entire process. “From my original diagnosis and consultation to the operation day and the experience I had with that, and then through my rehabilitation and that whole process in getting me into proper shape to return to the field, it all intrigued me.”
This fascination with medicine did not come out of nowhere. Beaton found interest in the core sciences through elementary school, also sharing that he was an avid fan of Animal Planet growing up, and natural biological phenomena intrigued him greatly. The decision to pursue medicine as a career was firmly planted in middle school for Beaton, and since then he has been off and running.
As a freshman in high school, Beaton, an attendee of Belleville, made the soccer team as a freshman. As a 13 (going on 14)-year-old playing against kids up to the age of legal adulthood at 18, this was a huge step up for Beaton, who had up to that point only played with kids his age at his youth club.
But Beaton passed his high school test with flying colors, scoring 24 goals and notching 23 assists as a senior, and heading off to Duquesne to study Athletic Training and play soccer.
Of course, as with all journeys in life, none are ever really straight lines. Beaton, in discussing balancing both crucial passions in his life, said, “The balance was always there, and as soon as able to realize that I could do both at a higher level, it just naturally happened. The difficulty came after high school.”
Studying athletic training made it physically impossible for Beaton to be present for all required soccer team activities, with required classes and training sessions overlapping on many weekdays. With these conflicting interests in Pennsylvania, Beaton decided to transfer to Wright State and pursue his dreams there.
Beaton switched to the Public Health major at Wright State, and over his three years in college, he logged eight goals, including four as a senior, and he would earn his degree in December 2021. It’s a major that Beaton notes have huge benefits, especially in the wake of COVID. “I have a lot of practical uses now for it,” he said.
Shortly after graduation, Beaton began his preparation for the MCAT, the standardized test for admittance into medical school. Starting in February, Beaton began a regular routine that those who have studied for the daunting exam know very well–studying regularly for 3-6 hours in a day, and taking lengthy practice exams in the days and weeks leading up to test day.
For Beaton, test day just so happened to be in the middle of the season, on May 19th. Beaton would say that the easing in process of studying for the MCAT while playing for AFCAA was not particularly troubling given his previous experiences with maintaining excellent standards amidst rigorous demands, but, as he noted, “It took a little bit of focus and dedication. I actually put my Xbox under my bed so I wouldn’t play video games,” Beaton added with a laugh.
Beaton’s test date has come and gone, and his primary medicine-centric focus is now on his hospital volunteer work. Beaton currently works at the DMC through Wayne State in a research assistantship role that includes people ranging from undergrads to people in his shoes, looking for high-level experience before their medical school careers begin.
“It is definitely more of clinical, emergency medicine, route, and I’m just getting started with my onboarding process, but I’m working hand-in-hand with physicians and nurses in the emergency medical unit in the DMC,” Beaton would share. “I think it definitely contributes to any experience that I will get in medical school, just as far as a patient care aspect. I’m getting ample experience with consent laws and being able to communicate with all different types of people about health information that is pertinent and helpful to them. And I’m also doing something that I think is really important in helping lower negative health statistics in the urban community, which, to me, is definitely a good purpose to serve.”
This is a summer years in the making for Beaton, who shared that he has wanted to play with the club for at least the past two seasons, both of which were canceled by AFCAA due to the COVID pandemic. Now that he’s here, Beaton has thoroughly enjoyed his time sharing in the community atmosphere of The Mighty Oak.
“Initially coming in, you want to gauge the atmosphere not just of the players, but of the coaching staff and the whole community, and everywhere there’s always a positive attitude or I’m always reached with great conversation or a smile, and it definitely feels like an at-home environment,” Beaton shared, while also emphasizing the importance of the international diversity that AFCAA has within the squad.
Beaton imparted some words of wisdom as well, sharing in the value of hard times, saying, “Obviously, everything’s not perfect, and as we grow and learn as individuals and as a group, there have been one or two bumps in the road, but nothing that I think has been detrimental to the team, and now as we continue to push forward into probably the meatiest part of our season, I think everybody is on board to put in a lot of work as we play two or three games a week.”
Not just content with excelling in dual-careers of sport and medicine, Beaton is also a testament to his community, and his commitment to doing right by it makes him a valuable leader on and off the pitch for AFC Ann Arbor as a club.
About AFC Ann Arbor
Association Football Club Ann Arbor (AFC Ann Arbor) was founded in 2014 and competes in USL2 (men’s) and USLW (women’s) national amateur leagues. We are a community-based club, focused on equity, justice, and anti-racism. We consider all of our stakeholders, including supporters, players, staff, and ownership to be part of the #AFCAAFamily. Come On You Mighty Oak!