Archery becomes reality for one Beaver River club member

Josh Katish gets ready to fire another bow during their archery club meeting Monday.

The archery club at the Beaver River Fish and Game has helped someone with disabilities participate.

“When I was younger I went to a camp that had it…I always enjoyed shooting arrows and that’s where it all started,” said Josh Katish.

Josh Katish approached the club to see if there was a way he could be part of the club and shoot a bow.

Katish suffered an accident as a kid that limited the use of his right arm, so when they tried the traditional method it didn’t work as well.

Monty Moore and several others with the archery club tried various methods for Josh to shoot.

In the end, they created an adaptive archery release system, although Moore says it’s just a prototype at the moment.

“It was quite an effort. Josh came to the club and wanted to shoot a bow. We tried a few different things. We ended up coming up with a mouth tab in the back of the bow, he would bite that, and release the bow that way,” said Moore.

“We figured out really quick that wasn’t going to be a long-term solution. After some research and some input from a bunch of different people. We came up with this rig.”

It had taken weeks and several attempts, but now they havea a mechanism for Josh to shoot as seamlessly as anyone else and participate in a sport he loves.

Katish said having people come together to help him made him feel fabulous and happy.

Moore said the feeling was mutual.

“The progress we’ve made in three months is phenomenal and we’ve still got some work to go. Josh is part of the archery club and he’s just a member having fun, shooting a bow,” said Moore.

Josh, who stays at the Dove Centre, was sponsored by the Cherry Grove Big Buck and Sportsmen Show/Lakeland Sportsman Foundation, who supplied him with a bow, along with the help of Franchere Sports, Fatal Impact Outdoor, and Sylvestres’ Source for Sports.

These organizations were presented with the Outstanding Community Vision award “by changing Josh’s world and to letting him change theirs.”

The Beaver River Fish and Game archery club also earned the award.