KJ Stone - Who is He, and How He Became one of America's Best
 Editor's Note: Kevin James "KJ" Stone, of Kodak, Tennessee, a member of the U.S. Paralympics Archery National Team and Alpen Outdoors Hunt Team, recently qualified for the Czech Elite Archery Team after competing in the Annual Czech Republic Handi-Cup Series in the eastern Bohemian village of Nove Mesto nad Metuji. If you're wondering how an American qualifies to compete on the Czech Elite Archery Team, read on to learn more about this extraordinary individual whose archery skills leap boundaries.
Kevin James "KJ" Stone of Kodak, Tennessee, was enlisted as a Noncommissioned Officer (NCO) in the United States Army's 7th Light Infantry Division. On the way back from a climbing exercise, the soldier driving the vehicle in which Stone was riding miss-negotiated a turn, and the vehicle was dropped 144 feet off the side of a mountain. "I took the impact of the crash with my head," Stone recalls. "The collusion compressed my cervical spine, broke my second, third, and fourth cervical vertebrae and dislocated the third and the fourth vertebrae. I'm an incomplete quadriplegic, which means I have some paralysis in all four quadrants of my body."
 Question: After the accident, did you think that your opportunity for sports was over?
Stone: No, because I was receiving rehab in an army hospital. I pushed my body to prove that I could do anything and everything.
Question: How much longer did you stay in the Army after your accident?
Stone: Seven months and then I retired. Since I'd been on the Army volleyball team, after my accident, I looked for another sport outlet and found the U.S. Disabled National Shooting Teams. I was a rifleman in the military, and my skill was shooting. I was a heavy-weapons expert, but since I couldn't shoot a heavy weapon anymore, I naturally shifted to rifle and pistol shooting. With the amount of injuries I sustained, I thought that shooting was the sport I could become the most proficient in, while I was recovering.
Question: How did you transition from shooting pistols and rifles to shooting archery?
Stone: Once I started shooting as a sport, my goal was to go to Sydney, Australia, and participate in the 2000 Olympics with the U.S. Paralympics Team. I won the gold medal at the National Veterans Wheelchair Games for the open division, a division for the individuals who have the highest amount of function but still have serious injuries. From 1996 to 2001, I won the gold medal every year. However, I couldn't make the 2002 Olympic team because of the type of medication I was taking. My first international competition was the Can-Am Games. I was on the U.S. Disabled National Shooting Team and competed against athletes from Canada, the U.S. and Mexico, winning my first NDA Competition. One of the secondary sports at the time was archery. I was maintaining and defending medal wins in archery at the same time as rifle and pistols. My coach told me that if I continued to practice in archery, I had the skill level and the work ethic to possibly compete on the U.S. Paralympics Archery National Team, and if I switched from pistol shooting to archery shooting, I'd be eligible to compete in Beijing. I made the U.S. Paralympics Archery National Team, and within 13 months, I competed in the 2004 Paralympic Summer Games in Athens, Greece.
 Question: How did you and your teammates do in Athens?
Stone: There were three of us representing the USA, and we came home with the first-ever U.S. medal in the archery team event. We took a bronze medal, making us the first individuals to win any team medal in archery for the U.S. Paralympics.
Question: Since the 2004 Olympics, what have you done?
Stone: Since that competition, I've maintained a top-10 ranking in the world. I've been named to my third World Paralympics Team, and we'll be holding our World Championship in Cheongju City, Korea, in September. This competition is important because our performance in this world competition decides which countries and competitors get to compete in the 2008 Paralympic Games in Beijing, China.
Question: Did you leave the pistol and the rifle shooting behind after having so much success in archery?
Stone: Yes. I've dedicated almost all my time to archery to maintain my status. My real goal is to win an individual medal in archery for the United States in Beijing, China, and to achieve that goal, my bow and I have to become one. I have to stay mentally focused to make that happen. I shoot a PSE X-Factor bow. I'm also a member of the Precision Shooting Equipment's (PSE's) Pro Staff. The X-Factor bow weighs 40 pounds, and with it, I'm shooting Easton X10 arrows and stabilizers with Sure-Loc Quest-X sights.
Question: Why did you choose Alpen Optics?
Stone: I was first given binoculars by another company. They were nice. I mean, they were comfortable, and they had a lot of nice little features. However, they weren't quite as rugged as the Alpen binoculars. A lot of my disability has to do with my hands and how I hold things, so I kept dropping the other binoculars. When I got a pair of Alpen binoculars, I really liked the way they felt and the clarity they maintained. I was invited to join the Alpen family of shooters. Alpen was willing to do whatever they could to help me compete at the highest level possible.
 Question: Did you drop the Alpen binoculars as much as you did the others?
Stone: Oh, yeah, even more. Not only have I dropped them, I've run over them with my wheelchair many times. I also have one of the largest spotting scopes Alpen makes. Because it's large, and I'm setting it on a small tripod, it's top-heavy. I seem to have the unfortunate ability to bring rain and wind with me everywhere I go, so my scopes get blown-over, knocked-over and/or dropped. As much as I've beaten up that scope, I've never had a problem with it in competition.
Many times, heat also affects the accuracy of scopes and binoculars. Anytime I've had a problem with my binoculars or spotting scope, even if I'm in the middle of a tournament, Alpen sends new optics to me, so that I can compete at my highest level and see where my arrows are hitting during the competition. One of the biggest advantages Alpen offers is that their products are pretty-much crash-proof. I don't deliberately damage my binoculars, it just happens, and I know it will happen. But even when it does happen, the Alpen products continue to perform. Besides being crash-proof, the Alpen binoculars always give me a clear view of the field and the target.
Question: Why is clarity so important to you?
Stone: When you're shooting competitive archery on the level I shoot, little things make a tremendous difference. For instance, after I make a shot, I need to quickly drop my eye down to my scope, look through the eye piece and be able to see quickly and accurately where that arrow has landed. Then I have to get my eye away from the scope quickly so that my eye doesn't have an adverse focus when I get ready to make my next shot, which is critical. Because I can see quickly and accurately with the Alpen scope, I have a tremendous amount of confidence in how to aim for the next shot. I bet on Alpen Optics' reliability, dependability and clarity when I go to a tournament. Because I rely so heavily on my optics, I know that Alpen has played a major role in my success
|
