Para archers on target

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This article was published 18/10/2022 (1102 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Doctors questioned whether Rob Cox would make it out of the operating room a year ago.

There he lay with tubes protruding from his mid-section following a pair of stomach surgeries. While these were just the latest in a long line of surgeries over his lifetime, a series of complications this time became life threatening.

“They went back in and did X-rays and found out that my bowel was not connected to the colostomy, so once it started, it was gonna have to go back inside my body, which would have killed me,” Cox said Monday.

After going under the knife again to fix the issue, Cox, 55, was left with a “huge hole” in his stomach that took months to heal, gluing him to a hospital bed.

While many would be concerned about simply surviving another day throughout the taxing recovery process, the Selkirk product had other things in mind: reclaiming his spot among the best para-archers in the country.

“My whole thing… was, ‘Am I going to be able to go back to archery?,’” Cox said. “That literally was my question the whole time I was in there: ‘Am I going to be able to go back to my sport?’”

Not only did Cox, a T-10 paraplegic, return to his beloved sport, he quickly qualified for the Para-Panamerican Archery Championships in Santiago, Chile, which take place Nov. 19-26.

Cox is one of three para-archers who will represent Canada at the international compound archery event. He will be joined by fellow Manitoban Chris Waterman and Kevin Evans of British Columbia.

Those who perform well in Santiago will qualify for the 2023 Para-Pan Am Games next November, which, if backed by another solid performance, could secure a spot in the 2024 Paralympics in Paris.

“I’m excited. I’m nervous,” said Cox, who got out of the hospital in July and started shooting again in August. “This is really going to be my first step back since 2012. Really, this is going to be my big event. This is a long time for me getting back here and I’m thankful to be back.”

“For me, it’s exciting because of the fact that I was able to come out and be ready and able to go with this team to Chile.”

Cox, who has participated in archery since 2002, brings a wealth of knowledge and experience to the international competition. He’s attended multiple world championships and twice served as an alternate for Canada at the Paralympic Games (Beijing 2008 and London 2012).

An eight-year hiatus from the sport after the 2012 Games, owing to several illnesses and surgeries, basically forced him to start from scratch. After returning to full strength in 2020, Cox competed in a pair of high-profile international competitions, both of which he won.

“I’ve already been in that field and I want to be able to get back to that field,” Cox said of returning to the Paralympic team.

While Cox may be the most experienced Manitoban representing the country in November, he won’t be the only one.

The Para-Panamerican Championships will be the biggest tournament of Waterman’s career.

The 44-year-old Winnipegger isn’t new to archery, but he certainly doesn’t have the experience of Cox, whom he met in 2019.

Waterman shot for much of his childhood but quit when he was 16. An outdoorsman, his urge to shoot resurfaced as an adult in 2018 in the form of hunting, but was violently halted after a head-on highway collision shattered his T-12 vertebrae, leaving him paralyzed from the waist down.

His thirst to shoot persisted, but he didn’t know how to do it under his new circumstances.

“I figured for sure it’s going to be different. A different way to set up, a different way to position your body,” he said.

Around that time, Waterman received an email informing him of an upcoming accessible sports expo that would include archery. After learning the basics of shooting from a chair, he met up with Cox in Selkirk, where Waterman quickly adapted to his new circumstances, rising up the ranks before eventually joining Team Manitoba and competing in 2019.

Since that time, he’s competed in the World Para Archery Championships in Dubai and the Arizona Cup, both of which he finished in the middle of the field.

“It was a big milestone to be able to get back into this part of what I like to do,” Waterman said. “It was nice to be able to get back to going those types of things, and it is possible to do. There’s definitely different ways of doing it, but it is possible to do them.”

“I’ve been working at (the Parapan Am Championships) since last year. It’s been a hard go, I’ve been practicing lots. When I finally (qualified), I was like, ‘OK, I think it’s happening, this is crazy.’” I don’t know how to even explain it. It’s excited, nervous and scared, all at the same time.”

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In what he calls an “awe-inspiring experience,” Waterman isn’t setting expectations for himself in a tournament that will feature some of the best para archers in the world.

“That’s what I keep saying to myself and other people: ‘I’m two steps away from the Olympics. They’re giant steps, but the steps are right there in front of me,’” he said.

“I want to do the best that I can, and that’s all I can do. I’m just happy going and whatever happens, happens. But I do want to do my best and make anyone in my circle proud of me.”

jfreysam@freepress.mb.ca

Twitter: @jfreysam

Joshua Frey-Sam
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Joshua Frey-Sam happily welcomes a spirited sports debate any day of the week.

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