War Amps help local archer keep on target

By Herald on August 12, 2021.

Submitted photo by Minh-Tri Huynh Thu Shelby Smith, a 20-year-old archery athlete, has competed on the international stage as a member of Canada’s Para Compound National Team.

Dale Woodard – Lethbridge Herald

The War Amps Child Amputee Program (CHAMP) has helped Shelby Smith stay firmly on target.

For the 20-year-old Lethbridge archery athlete who was diagnosed as a right hand amputee before she was even born, that has helped take her to the international stage of competition as a member of Canada’s Para Compound National Team.

As The War Amps Key Tag Service celebrates 75 years of providing vital support to amputees across the country, Smith – who has competed at the 2019 Para World Championships and the World Archery Para Championships the same year – continues to work with the program as a counsellor while continuing her education and, eventually, a return to competitive archery.

“The Key Tag service is the beginning of the War Amps program,” said Smith. “They started up to give war veterans jobs so they could work. I think that’s so amazing because not only did it help them, down the line 75 years later they’re using that now to help kids who might not be able to get the funding to do what they want to.”

Smith was diagnosed a right hand amputee before she was born.

“They caught it on the ultrasound program,” she said. “So I’ve been part of the War Amps program for a really long time, basically since the day I was born until now. They got me all the funding I needed growing up for different prosthetics and different arms so I could be a part of all the activities all my friends were in. I did quadding, gymnastics and basketball, any sport you can imagine, they have a prosthetic to do it.”

Smith’s hand is amputated right below where the wrist attaches.

“I do have some movement in the ends of my arms, some tendons and muscles built up,” she said. “I actually have a huge fingerprint over the end of my nub.”

In 2016, Smith picked up her first bow.

After being fitted with a few devices, she eventually graduated to a custom archery prosthetic.

“I was on Team Canada pre-COVID for archery and was doing international travel with the team,” she said. “It was really fun. It took a little over a year to get the prosthetic to sit right. War Amps funded the whole thing. Even though I’m technically graduating from the program they wanted me to succeed. It’s really quite different. I think if I was trying to do an archery prosthetic back when I was a kid it would not be the same kind of technology that we have today. We just learn as we go. We know what it’s like and we know what we need.”

Smith began competing with three or four archery prosthetics which got lighter and less bulky over the years.

“I didn’t get an archery prosthetic until about a year after I started,” she said. “I had a different device and unfortunately that device broke when I was in full draw and hit me in the head. So I finally decided I should get a prosthetic fitted for this, it would be safer for me and the other archers around me.”

Her first prosthetic was nine pounds, whereas the one Smith has now is completely carbon fibre with the metal parts made of aluminum instead of titanium.

“So they’re lighter,” said Smith. “I believe my new one is about four or five pounds instead of nine, probably less than that. Maybe three (pounds).”

The difference was immediately noticed when she pulled back the bow.

“It made it so much better,” said Smith. “My arm would get so tired because it’s also the arm I pull my bow back with. Not only am I pulling back all the weight off my bow, I was also holding up this nine-pound titanium and plastic arm. The technology advancement is crazy and War Amps is a big part of that because they’re trying everything.”

Since picking up the bow in 2016, Smith – who trains with the Lethbridge Bowbenders – has travelled provincially and internationally.

She competed at the 2018 Alberta Winter Games in Fort McMurray.

That same year Smith placed second at the USA Para Archery World Ranking Event in Salt Lake City.

One year later, Smith went global with her sport, competing at the 2019 World Archery Championships in the Netherlands and placing 17th in the Compound Women’s Open.

“I hadn’t been shooting for that long,” said Smith. “It was really exciting. I went just to experience it, that was probably the biggest competition I’ve ever been a part of.”

But when the COVID-19 pandemic hit in March of last year, Smith’s competitive schedule ground to a halt.

“I was on the developmental side of Archery Canada, but then COVID hit and all the ranges closed. I’m getting back into archery now, but it’s going to take a little bit of time to get back to where I was.”

In the meantime, Smith gives back to the War Amps program as a junior counsellor attending seminars.

“I did a lot (of seminars) when I was a kid and around my pre-teens I stopped going,” said Smith. “But I applied to be a junior counsellor. So it’s like you’re a big role model for these kids. It’s like you’re the big sister and you can relate to them, which is really special. I remember going when I was a kid and my junior counsellors were my favourite. They really make you feel welcome and that’s all we really want to do. We have to make sure all the kids feel comfortable with their bodies and that they’re not alone.”

Smith said kids she talks to at the seminars have a lot of questions, but so do the parents.

“They’ll ask questions like ‘What’s bathing like?’ or ‘How was high school for you and the transition?’ and how I got into sports and what made me feel welcome to it. I did dance, badminton and archery and a bunch of other stuff growing up. I just want them to feel they’re not any different from anyone else.”

The Key Tag Service continues to employ amputees and people with disabilities and has returned more than 1.5 million sets of lost keys to their owners.

“Anyone who wants a key tag can get one,” said Smith. “On the back is a code and that code is confidential, but all your information is attached to it. If you find somebody’s keys on the ground and they have a key tag, you can take those keys and stick it into any mailbox in Canada and it’ll be shipped to the War Amps and shipped back to the person who owns the keys. It’s great and it’s all free or you can call the carrier number on there and the carrier will take the keys from you and to the original owner.”

Though she hopes to return to competition, Smith is now focused on her education, having applied to the University of Calgary for their radiology tech program.

“At the moment I’m just trying to get through school and work a bit and shoot for fun,” said Smith. “Hopefully after I graduate from post secondary I’ll get back into shooting internationally because I really enjoyed that.

“I’d love to get back into competing, but I really have to focus on school. Trying to do both took a bit of a toll on me.”

Smith said the the War Amps have been a big part of her life.

“Not only with the funding to do everything I ever dreamed and even now, but also with a family.”

That includes fellow amputee friends Smith has attended seminars with over the years.

“We still keep in touch all year round and see each other every year,” she said. “One of my friends from Winnipeg is coming to Alberta at the end of the month to visit everybody. We have a group chat and at every seminar we’re inseparable. We still hang out with everyone else, but there are four or five us of and we’ve been really good friends forever.”

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