Breathing to make a difference

Video - Kelly UnderKofler talks about being a two-sport athlete and her excitement for the Vancouver 2010 Paralympic Winter Games.

Her heart pounding, Kelly Underkofler slowly exhales as the barrel of her rifle rises. When it's pointing directly at the small metal target standing 10 meters in front of her: BANG.

She repeats four more times, then jumps back to her feet, straps the rifle to her back and skis away.

Underkofler is hoping that's the case, anyway. The 25-year-old from St. Paul, Minn., will be competing in every biathlon and cross-country skiing event at the Vancouver 2010 Paralympic Winter Games, and the two-time Paralympics veteran wants to leave this one with a medal.

That's where the breathing comes in.

Underkofler began as a cross-country skier. That's the sport she competed in at her first Paralympic Winter Games in Salt Lake City in 2002.

But two years later, in 2004, her cross-country coaches handed her a rifle, and she started to compete in the biathlon races, too.

At first, she handled the shooting part of the competition using her own technique.

"It was just instinct," she said. "Whatever felt right for me and whatever I could find got the job done."

And it worked pretty well. At the Torino 2006 Paralympic Winter Games, Underkofler finished fourth in the long-distance biathlon and seventh in the short-distance biathlon. Her top finish in the four cross-country events she entered was seventh, in the Nordic team relay.

Biathlon eventually became her preferred event, and last year she finally began working with a U.S. Biathlon coach.

That's when she learned about the breathing.

She spoke to the main shooting coach about her technique and said, "He was absolutely appalled that I would hold my breath.''

"But it works for me!" she told the coach.

When he responded that she would probably be the only person in the entire world who holds his or her breath while shooting, she gave in.

"OK, I'll try it," she finally told him.

Now, Underkofler will compete at the 2010 Paralympic Winter Games and has high expectations.

Besides the improved shooting technique, she also has a rejuvenated love for the sport. In 2008, Underkofler sensed a burnout coming and decided to take a year off from training. Instead, she went back to her high school in St. Paul and helped coach her old Nordic ski team.

That year helped her rediscover what she loved about the sport in the first place. She said she is coming into the 2010 Paralympic Winter Games in the best shape she has ever been. Bringing a medal home is openly her goal.

"I'm going to Vancouver to try to win a Paralympic medal, that's my goal," she said. "And as scary as it is to admit, what happens if it doesn't happen? But that's the goal, and that's the focus at this point. It's really exciting and really daunting, but it is going to be great."

Underkofler has been finding her own way since she was a young girl in Minnesota. Born without the lower part of her left arm, she viewed herself as different, much less disabled.

She never had to re-learn how to use her body. So she saw herself as learning to do things just like all her peers, only differently.

She started cross-country skiing when she was 3. Her dad initially tried duct taping a pole to her left mitten, but that didn't work too well. Underkofler found a way to ski using just one pole, and at 8, she began racing.

When she was 15, Underkofler went to the hospital to be fit for a prosthetic arm that might have allowed her to ski with two poles in high school competition. But when that didn't work out quite right, Underkofler continued finding a way to ski with one pole. And that's just what she did, through high school, through college, and then at the Paralympic Winter Games.

Her biggest challenge, perhaps, was mental.

Having people look at her and immediately label of her as "disabled" was frustrating.

"To have people look at me and say, ‘Oh, she's disabled' before they say ‘Oh, she can do this and that, and this and that,' was a tough thing for me to overcome," she said.

She never felt like she needed special treatment. After all, being born with one hand, "I wouldn't know what to do with another hand!" she said.

Over time, however, she has accepted that many people will stereotype her for the one thing she doesn't have rather than everything else she does. She now takes pride in changing the way that people look at her and other disabled athletes.

"It's been really great because at the same time people often see me as disabled first and only afterward find out, ‘Look at all these things she can do regardless of the disability,' which is a great message for me to share, too," she said.

"I think regardless of whether I had been very successful on the Paralympics scene, I think that was a great learning experience for me just to kind of realize I do have something I can teach to an able-bodied person. It's not the end of the world if you become disabled or if you have a disability, or I don't need you to carry all my stuff for me, I can do just fine. So I think that's been really good for me in the long run."

Story courtesy Red Line Editorial, Inc. Chrös McDougall is a freelance contributor for teamusa.org. This story was not subject to the approval of any National Governing Bodies.

Tags: Biathlon, Chros McDougall, cross country skiing, Kelly Underkofler , Vancouver 2010 Paralympic Winter Games