Students taking part in the Becker Middle School “Olympics” next Friday will also have the chance to hear motivational speaker Aaron Cross, an athlete who overcame devastating injuries to keep sports a big part of his life, according to Principal Nancy Helmer.
Aaron Cross had a dream of being a world-class bicycle racer destroyed when he collided with a support van on a training run. His injuries left him a paraplegic in 1991, when doctors advised his parents to get him “a color television and a good remote” as their best advice for his future, according to his website.
Cross thought differently, however, and went on to become a three-time Paralympian in archery, where he was a member of the team that won the first U.S.
medal in the discipline in the 2004 games in Athens, Greece. He has also done SCUBA diving, sky diving, taken part in marathons and triathlons plus trap shooting and taken part in training programs with U.S. Navy SEALS.
He will be speaking to Middle School students from 8:30-9:30 a.m. Friday, Feb. 21 in the BHS field house before the start of the student games, Helmer said. In Olympic years, students at the school take part on a classroom-by-classroom basis, with each room selecting a participating country and learning as much as they can about it before taking part in the games.
Cross’ program is titled “Motivation on Wheels”, and he travels the country giving talks to educational, civic and business groups.
