Prison Break: Stone Coming to America
by Jac Coyne | Lacrosse Magazine Online Staff | Coyne Archive
|
| Trying to crack the Lindenwood (Mo.) line-up will
be a whole lot easier for Australian Jesse Stone than trying
to kill two days holed up in a sparse, South Korean hotel room by
himself. © Jac Coyne |
Talking with Jesse Stone, the affable freshman long pole on the
Lindenwood men's lacrosse team, you'd never guess he'd been in
prison.
No, he's not an ex-con, but he was certainly treated like one
during his visit to South Korea this summer for the Asian Pacific
Lacrosse Tournament (ASPAC games).
Stone was a member of the Australian U-21 national team that
traveled north in order to compare itself with some of the other
teams in its neck of the woods, but ended up living in its own
personal Shawshank.
It started at the Incheon International Airport where a
heat-sensing camera detected an anomalous reading from one of the
Australian players, who was pulled aside.
"We were like [shoot], what's happening?" said Stone. "Then he was
taken into a room behind all of this reflective glass."
The clichéd, spy-movie theme continued, as the players and
coaches were hurried off to their hotel and segregated. After
several hours, Stone and the team members who flew in with him
learned their fate.
"We were told that he had the swine flu, so we'll be in quarantine,
as well," said Stone. "They cleared out the whole level of the
hotel usually reserved for back-packers, so all we had was a
television and a bed. That was it. We barely saw our friends for
the next couple of days."
In an attempt to escape captivity, one of the Aussie players said
he had already acquired the swine flu and was immune from coming
down with the illness again. He went so far as to produce an
official record, delivered from the Australian Embassy, notifying
the South Korean officials that he was safe. The request fell on
deaf ears.
"The South Korean government wouldn't let him out," said Stone,
shaking his head. "They called us liars and said they couldn't
trust us."
With each player locked in his own small room with a television
that emitted only Korean productions, Stone and his teammates tried
to pass the time. They resorted to Facebook mostly, but Stone was
fortunate to have a corner room, so he was able to hang out his
window and speak with a couple of his friends also held under lock
and key.
After two days, the complete lockdown was lifted, but the players
were restricted to the one floor of the hotel. They were buoyed by
the news that the second airplane full of 'Roos, consisting of just
seven players, had defeated the entire Hong Kong team by
themselves.
Three days later, the quarantine was lifted and the team headed
back to Australia with a story they would never forget. Upon
arriving back in his hometown of Canterbury, Stone was besieged by
national television and radio stations to tell the harrowing
story.
Stone certainly is in no hurry to head back to South Korea, but he
wasn't about to let a little international incident dampen his goal
of trying to play lacrosse in the States.
He had committed to play for Lindenwood, located in St. Charles,
Mo., and no travel horror stories could change his course.
Instead of ornery South Korean security personnel, Stone knew he'd
have a helpful face when he finally arrived in Lions head coach
Troy Hood.
"Coach Hood's been really good to me," said Stone. "I checked out
Detroit Mercy and Coach Hood said I could come and spend a week [at
Lindenwood] afterwards. I absolutely fell in love with the place.
The players and coaches are fantastic. He said when you make up
your mind, give me a call. A week after I arrived home, I called
him up straight-away and said I'm coming."
"Jesse is an excellent player, an excellent student and just an
excellent person," said Hood. "He's very talented in the classroom
and I love him to death."
While Hood is glad to have Stone, there are no guarantees for the
Aussie at Lindenwood, which has become a fixture at the Men's
Collegiate Lacrosse Association (MCLA) national tournament. The
best case scenario is he'll be part of a rotation on the backline
during his freshman year. He should be helped by putting some meat
on his lean, 6-foot-4 frame and improving his stick skills,
according to Hood.
Fortunately, Stone doesn't have to relive his South Korea travails
with his new teammates. No one has broached the subject with him so
far, and the only good-natured ribbing about the ASPAC games is
from his friends back in Australia. The Lindenwood guys give him
barbs for other reasons.
"They make fun of him because girls ask him out just to talk," said
Hood.
Such is the plight of an Aussie in America. Stone will take it,
though.
It sure beats prison.
