Motivational speaker and Paralympian athlete Aaron Cross spoke to a group of over 700 students and staff at the Becker Middle School last Friday morning on the importance of staying focused on life goals and overcoming adversity, a program which included a demonstration of archery, a sport in which he has won a number of medals in international competition.
Cross was a student at St. Cloud Tech High School who was avidly in pursuit of his dream of becoming an Olympic cyclist when an accident in a training race changed his life forever. Cross recounted the day more than 20 years ago when he collided with a support vehicle that had stopped to aid a cyclist who had blown a tire on the course, as they were supposed to do, he said.
Cross was exiting a series of “S” corners and did not see the stopped vehicle in time, colliding with the rear of the vehicle at 40 m.p.h. with such force that he and his bike broke the rear door of the vehicle off of its hinges and up into the body of the vehicle. The impact literally destroyed the race bike, and left Cross paralyzed with a broken neck.
Doctors at the time told his family that he would never walk again, and would not be able to regain function in his arms and hands due to the injury, he said, an outcome he did not agree with and set about to change as much as he could.
He also told a number of stories about the power of friendship and the lengths his buddies went to in encouraging him as he fought to reclaim his life after the accident.
For example, when he was told he could not return to St. Cloud Tech because it had no wheelchair access, and he would have to transfer to Apollo High School, so many of his senior classmates at Tech applied to transfer to Apollo with him that the district rescinded their previous order, allowing him to graduate from his beloved school.
Cross “pushed the envelope” further than most people will ever do, having mastered sky-diving, scuba diving and even completed a training program with the U.S. Navy SEALS special forces troops, a unit he had dreamed of joining as a student prior to the accident.
Though he does have limited hand strength and movement, archery was a sport he believed he could excel in, and he began a determined regimen of training to develop his skills. In his presentation, Cross recounted how some of his early training efforts lacked promise, such as the time he shot himself in the foot while loading an arrow into his bow.
A friend with him said: “Doesn’t that hurt?” When Cross replied: “No.”, he recalled his friend responding with an astonished “Cool!”
Mastering the bow, which he fires with his teeth, Cross went on to win medals in international competition, including a bronze medal at the Paralympic Games in Greece. In his presentation, he provided a demonstration of his technique with a small target block set at the rear of the platform from which he delivered his presentation.
The program was very well received by the students and staff in attendance in the BHS field house, as Cross’ low-key delivery and inspirational stories were interspersed with many very funny stories of his life experiences since his accident, and before.
He had spoken to business and school groups in Minnesota and around the country in recent years. The program is called “FOCUS on YOUR Target”.
