Kevin Evans is a two-time World Champion (2007, 2009), a three-time Paralympian (2008, 2012, 2016), and a gold medalist from the 2011 ParaPan Am Games. He’s been competing in para-archery since 2003 and has held as many as four World Records during his career. A proud father of two, and a grandparent to two, Kevin has also coached numerous able-bodied and para-archers over the years, primarily at clubs close to his home in the Kootenay region of BC – where he also owns and runs his own archery store – Kootenay Archery Ltd.
Named Archery Canada’s Male Athlete of the Year in 2009, and Coach of the Year in 2019, Kevin has had an enormous impact on the sport of archery in Canada, and the world since he first took up a bow at the age of 12 and entered his first competition in 2003 (which he won!).
Having spent more than 20 years competing for Canada, Kevin is officially retiring as an athlete from competitive archery. He’s not completely done with coaching and supporting para-archery though. We caught up with him just before he hopped on a plane to work as a development coach at the Para Pan Am Championships in Sao Paulo, Brazil to reflect on his career.
So, you’ve decided to retire as an athlete – why now?
I’m getting older, younger archers are coming in. And it’s just time – I found with my work, and some other things, it’s just harder and harder to find the time. I have grandkids now and I want to devote time to them too. I had a couple of injuries that kind of set me back, and it became a struggle to get fit and ready to compete and those things. I honestly couldn’t put the proper time in to be on that stage, competing. A guy can always run middle of the pack, but if you know deep down, there’s no hope to win a medal, what’s the sense? It’s been a great experience, and I’m going to miss the international side of things with friends that I’ve made, but everybody has to have a time, right?
You’re heading to the Para Pan Am Championships shortly to help coach the team, why was it important for you to stay involved with coaching and helping the para program?
I didn’t want to walk away from the para program in general. I wanted to be there to help if they needed it. One of my hopes was more so for recruitment, but in Canada, that seems to have been one of our hurdles. I think that’s why I stayed as long as I did – because we didn’t really have anybody really coming up in the ranks to take our place. If some of the senior athletes were to drop off, the para program would have kind of fizzled away. That was my fear – I didn’t want to see all our work go to waste. The biggest part for me was to still be some sort of support to the para team, and so for Brazil, I’m there to be the chauffeur, guinea pig, whatever they need.
You’ve been involved with the sport of archery for so long, what is that you love so much about it?
It’s relaxing. Especially when I first got hurt, it was something that just took my mind off pain, and a bunch of other things. That’s the biggest part – just being able to do something that I was able to do before my injury. I never did it for the competition part – I was hunting, and that was a passion we had with our family.
What are you most proud of from your competitive career?
I think just meeting people that have a disability of some sort and being able to compete at a high level and enjoy the sport. Whether you’re winning the gold, or not, just being there was always a good feeling. I remember with my teammate Bob Hudson, we were both in Italy and that was our first World Championships, and I remember telling him: “We’ll be on the podium one day”, and the very next time for Worlds, we were, and that was a pretty special moment to me. Winning a gold was pretty special too, but being there with a good friend, and knowing what he had gone through with his disability, and then making the podium together was pretty special. Also, the able-bodied bronze in France – those are two of my highlights in team. Winning an individual medal is a special moment too, but the ones that I’m the most proud of are the team ones.
What is something you wish more people understood about competitive archery?
It is an individual sport, but you have to still treat it as a team. You go to these events as a team, and you compete more so as an individual, but you have support from your team members while you’re there which I think is an important thing.
What is something you wish more people understood about being a Paralympian?
I think the biggest part of it is that people that have disabilities still have a talent. They can still do a lot of the same things that able bodied people can do. There are disabled archers that are shooting just with their feet, and we have blind archery, and there’s a whole bunch of the disciplines in para-archery that people don’t understand are actually available to people. The first time I saw blind archery, I was fascinated. We watched that for I don’t know how long – how these people could actually hit the target at 30 meters – it was amazing to see. The general public, I don’t think they know, or they don’t realize these different things, and how these people must feel to be able to do those types of things.
What sort of impact or legacy do you hope you’ve had on the sport in Canada?
Hopefully, I’ve inspired a few people to pick a bow up and shoot, whether they’re able bodied or para, or whether it’s for recreation or they want to be the next World Champion, that they go out and do their best, and try hard, and play fair, and all those good things that we try to instill in everybody in sport.
The big part of it, to me, was just to be able to go out and do the best that you can. If you came home with a medal, that was great. If you didn’t, you knew you still did your best and tried your hardest.
Any final words?
I’d like to say a huge thank you to all my past and present sponsors, coaches, and support staff from Archery Canada and to all my teammates – without them none of this would have been possible. And of course, to my family for allowing me to chase my dream of becoming a world champion – thank you!
CAREER HIGHLIGHTS:
Paralympic Games: 2008, 2012, 2016
ParaPan Am Games: 2011, 2015
World Championships: 2005, 2007, 2009, 2011, 2013, 2015, 2017, 2019, 2022
2018 ParaPan American Championships: SILVER (Mixed Team)
2016 ParaPan American Championships: SILVER (Individual)
2016 ParaPan American Championships: SILVER (Men’s Team)
2011 ParaPan American Games: GOLD (Individual)
2009 Para-Archery World Championships: GOLD (Individual)
2008 World Cup (Able-bodied): BRONZE (Men’s Team)
2007 Para-Archery World Championships: GOLD (Individual)
2007 Para-Archery World Championships: BRONZE (Men’s Team)
For more information, please contact:
Karl Balisch
Executive Director
Archery Canada
kbalisch@archerycanada.com