Team Canada unveiled for the 2018 Invictus Games

Team Canada unveiled for the 2018 Invictus Games

Ryan Melanson, Trident Staff ~

The Invictus Games comes with all the excitement of a large international sporting event, including stadium venues, cheering fans, skilled competitors from around the world, and plenty of training beforehand.

Athletes, coaches and volunteers were in Halifax July 25 for the team’s final group training camp before the 2018 Invictus Games, being held in Sydney, Australia, Oct. 20-27.

At the end of training Canada’s 2018 team was officially announced.

Team Captain, Maj (Retired) Robert Hicks, described the group as “representative of all three Canadian Armed Forces elements, with diverse backgrounds and different experiences with injury, illness and recovery.”

“But what’s shared is that everyone here has sacrificed in service of their country, whether their injuries were physical, or involved mental health, or a combination of the two,” he said.

Venues for the training camp included the STADPLEX, Dockyard and Shearwater gyms, as well as MacDonald Beach, the Royal Nova Scotia Yacht Squadron, and Beazley Field in Dartmouth.

BGen Mark Misener, Commanding Officer of the Joint Personnel Support Unit and Mission Head for Canada’s Invictus team, was also in Halifax for the training camp, and said he’s been inspired by the dedication shown from Team Canada. For some, being in Halifax among peers and overcoming social isolation is a success in its own right, with the physical training adding to the intensity of the week.

“These athletes have faced great adversity and they’ve met that challenge. They’ve actively chosen to bolster their recovery through sport, and through reconnecting with family, peers and community,” he said.

Canadians are encouraged to follow along with Team Canada on social media at www.facebook.com/TCInvictusEC as the athletes continue to prepare for October, and to tune in on television and online for the main event in Sydney this fall.

About Invictus

Founded in 2014 and with subsequent events in 2016 and 2017, The Invictus Games is a multi-sport competition in which all participants are serving or retired military members who have overcome an injury or illness in order to participate. Canada’s 40 athletes will compete against more than 500 competitors from 18 other nations, in adaptive sports like wheelchair rugby and basketball, cycling, track, sailing, archery, powerlifting and more. Canada’s team in Australia, managed and selected through the Soldier On program from a pool of hundreds of applicants, will include 18 serving and 22 retired CAF members.

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