In the seven NBA seasons since he was drafted by the New Orleans Pelicans, Zion Williamson’s career has been filled with twists and turns. From his promising rookie year to multiple injuries and now at the center of another Pelicans rebuild, Williamson is the subject of much frustration and speculation.
And now, it’s made him the subject of a high school science course.
Students at one New York City high school are using Williamson’s injury history, body composition and career trajectory to learn nutrition, psychology and kinesiology.
The Earl Monroe New Renaissance Basketball School, a five-year-old public charter school in the Bronx named after the NBA legend, builds its curriculum around the business of basketball and prepares students for careers off the court in sports medicine, broadcasting, analytics and more.
A list of science courses on the school’s website includes typical subjects like biology, chemistry, physics. The Zion Williamson course, introduced two years ago, has quickly become a student favorite.
School faculty could have decided to base the course on any professional athlete. They chose Williamson intentionally, said Dr. Santiago Vazquez, an academic director who supervises EMNR’s math and science department.
“He’s had that elite recognition pretty much at every level, from dominating in high school – the McDonald’s All-American recognition, Mr. Basketball – to the sweeping national awards that he got in college,” Vazquez said. “You look at his athleticism and you start thinking around things like physique and things where he doesn’t fit the typical mold, and it created an interesting entry point to have conversations. And so whether the students are huge fans of Zion or not, what it did allow them to do is to apply those critical thinking skills and make parallels to other players, to look at data and analyze.”
Zion Williamson class opening students' eyes to sports careers
Students in the class are sophomores, juniors and seniors who were still in elementary school when Williamson was selected No. 1 overall in the 2019 NBA draft after his standout freshman season at Duke. Some of the students are basketball fans, while others admit they didn’t know who Williamson was prior to enrolling in the course bearing his name.
When she saw the course on her class schedule, 10th-grader Alani Rodriguez didn’t know what to expect. The 15-year-old said she’d always thought she would pursue a law career, until the Zion Williamson class sparked a new interest.
“I didn’t even know he was a basketball player. I walked in completely blind,” Rodriguez said. “I’m an athlete myself, but I never saw myself going down the path of wanting to study athletes, their injuries and stuff like that. … Stepping into that Zion Williamson class was really an eye opener for me. It made me realize that I definitely see myself going down the future where I want to do sports broadcasting.”
The class inspired Rodriguez to talk to her school counselor, who arranged for her to attend a sports broadcasting camp this summer.
Xavier Rivera, an 18-year-old senior in the class, was intrigued to learn that Williamson is more injury prone because he lands on one foot instead of two feet. Rivera, who also completed a project on athletes’ oxygen intake, said he now plans to major in kinesiology at St. John’s University next year with the goal of becoming an athletic trainer.
“Instead of just us gaining the knowledge and knowing about the body, we took an example of a player most people would know and you get to apply the knowledge,” Rivera said. “It allows us to imagine what he’s going through.”
As any Pelicans fan knows by now, the science of Zion Williamson is not an exact one.
Lesson plans often correlate directly with Williamson’s experiences. After learning about Williamson’s upbringing in South Carolina, teachers and students compared nutrition in the southeast United States to other parts of the country. They also studied the weight requirement clause in Williamson’s contract with the Pelicans and designed fitness regimens that would help him lose or maintain weight.
Most importantly, Williamson is not the sole focus; he serves as a jumping-off point for discussion and projects. Students have designed workout programs for the elderly and examined the prevalence of ACL injuries in the NBA and WNBA. A physical therapist taught the kids how to apply kinesiology tape, and a psychologist visited to talk about athlete discipline and mental health.
“It is Zion but it is very much a conversation that lends itself to larger topics as well,” Vazquez said.
Williamson declined to speak with USA TODAY Sports for this story.
Taking a wider view allows students to connect with the material by relating it to their personal experiences. Rivera, whose stepdad suffered a torn ACL, said that after learning in class about ACL tears, he had a conversation with his stepdad about the injury. Another student, 16-year-old Christian Estevez, said that seeing how the Pelicans continue to bet on Williamson’s upside reminded him of when his school baseball coach identified his potential.
“I feel like everybody has a story that connects somehow with the class, whether it be about nutrition, sports psychology, the injuries, muscle tears and bones that we learn about,” Rodriguez said. “I feel like other people should kind of take inspiration of like, it’s always better for students to be involved in things that they feel connected to.”
'Why shouldn't school be fun?' School uses basketball as springboard
The school’s founder, Dan Klores, said that student engagement drives the school’s mission. Beyond its core curriculum, EMNR also offers specialized classes in sports team management, arena entertainment and sports law (the latter cleverly titled, “From the Court to the Courts.”)
The school’s total enrollment is more than 400 students – and yes, they do have boys’ and girls’ basketball teams, though as a public school they do not recruit. The priority is academics.
EMNR’s first graduating class in 2025 consisted of 89 seniors who were all accepted to college. The school is preparing for its second graduating class this spring. Although not every student is interested in basketball, Klores said that EMNR’s curriculum provides a stepping stone for students to explore their passions.
“Why shouldn’t school be fun?” Klores said. “I always say that basketball is a global common denominator. And that’s kind of the beauty of the game, you know – it’s filled with all of us.”
When it comes to the Zion Williamson class, Estevez said the greatest benefit is helping students expand their worldview.
“That doesn’t only impact our learning here at Earl Monroe, but outside,” Estevez said. “Whether that’s helping our family members or one day looking at ourselves being a doctor. The way that we’re put into these environments, it really shapes our mindset into seeing ourselves working with what we might want to do in our future careers.”
One guest speaker who has yet to visit the class is Williamson himself. Vazquez said the school doesn’t know if Williamson is aware of EMNR but added that the NBA star is welcome any time.
Rodriguez, a softball infielder, wants to ask Williamson how he mentally overcame his injuries. Rivera can see himself someday working for Williamson as an athletic trainer or physical therapist and is curious about how to make that happen.
Estevez said his dream meeting with Williamson is simple.
“I would want him to come to Earl Monroe and have a day learning with us about his class,” Estevez said, “and maybe help him learn something new about himself.”
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Zion Williamson's injury history is teaching high schoolers lessons
