Archery keeps pulling 19-year-old girl back in

“My sister started archery at school, and me, being the little sister and wanting to do everything she does, also wanted a bow to start shooting. “So, in 2013 I got my first bow. I didn’t really shoot competitions until late 2013, the beginning of 2014.

“But I only fell in love with the sport around 2016/2017 when I realised that I could accomplish something in archery. From there on it just grew,” this Hoedies sportswoman told the Herald. “It hasn’t always been easy, but the archery community is so loving and like an actual family to each other, every time I say I’m going to take a break from archery, it keeps pulling me back in,” said Canell.

Canell went to Drakensig Primary School and attended Merensky High School in Tzaneen where she wrote matric in 2020. She is currently studying teaching through Unisa while she is working. She says she used to practice at her school’s range but for the past two years practices at home. Sometimes for the longer distances, she goes to the Phalaborwa range to practice.

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“I don’t have a coach, everything that I’ve learned was self-taught from bits and pieces of advice that I got from people that I competed with at competitions.

I must admit it is quite hard at the moment, I rarely find time to practice and at the most recent competition, I barely managed to practice for more than two hours altogether.

“At the moment my degree is more important and I first have to focus on that. But I still manage to find time on my off days for practice,” she added. Canell’s achievements include two gold medals at provincial competitions, one silver medal at nationals in 2014, 12 golds at provincial competitions, and gold and silver at national competitions in 2015.

In 2016 she bagged three gold medals at provincial competitions and one gold medal at national competitions. She brought back ten golds from provincial competitions and two golds from national competitions in 2017. “In 2018 I won eight golds at provincial competitions, three golds at national competitions, and won gold at the world championships,” she said.

In 2019 Canell pocketed five golds at provincial competitions, one silver at the African championships in Zambia, and won gold at the world championships in New Zealand. “In 2021, I won one gold medal at national competitions, and this year, I won gold medals at provincial, one gold at the national level, and won gold at the African championships.

“So, all together I was awarded thirteen provincial colours and four national colours. “I received Protea colours twice, was the African champion once and world champion twice,” she added. “At the moment the future is very unsure, I am waiting on confirmation when the next big international competition will be because if it’s before my birthday I will compete in Namibia and try to make the Protea team again.

“But if not, then for now I will just shoot the local provincial competitions until life slows down a little bit,” she concluded.