Anita Campbell
County Reporter
Warsaw High School Archery students attended a three-day archery camp held on the WHS campus with the current World Archery 3D Champ Joella Bates from Cumberland City, Tennessee, on August 8, 9 and 10.
The camp offered to current archery team members taught by Bates was presented to help archery students to improve their skill for the coming school year.
Bates has been competing in archery for the past thirty-three years and is currently preparing to attend the World Archery Championship to be held in Terni, Italy. Bates teaches at archery workshops across the country to raise money for her trip to Italy.
“I thought all the participants had to pay their own way to the competition in Italy; however, I discovered only the USA team is considered amateurs, the rest of the participants from other countries are professionals who are paid by their country to compete,” said Bates.
Bates has competed all over the world and is one of the few archers and only female to kill the Big 5 in Africa. The Big 5 includes a lion, elephant, leopard, cape buffalo and rhino.
“Actually, with the rhino I used a tranquilizer on the arrow so he woke up after a while,” said Bates.
Bates started participating in the sport of archery when she was at a 4-H Conservation Camp when she was a freshman in high school.
“My father taught me to shoot a gun when I was just a kid,” said Bates. “We lived on a farm and we grew a garden and sold the vegetables, cantaloupe and watermelon,” said Bates. “Learning to shoot a gun was just a natural part of growing up.”
Bates received a degree in wildlife management at the University of Tennessee then completed her master’s degree in fishery at Tennessee Tech.
“I worked in the conservation department and I had a shooting sports scholarship so when I graduated, I didn’t have any student debt,” said Bates.
Bates trains those who want to try out for the shooting sports events on the USA Olympic team.
“I consider myself a talent scout for the Olympics as I hold workshops and camps across the country to train people for competition,” said Bates.
Bates holds the record for the most wins (13) at the World Archery 3D Championship. She is one of six Americans who will be traveling to Italy.
WHS Archery coach Jackie Downing arranged for Bates to come to Warsaw to give her students additional training to begin the new school year.
