Veteran Sport to continue leveraging the power of sport as Invictus Australia

Invictus Australia – previously known as Veteran Sport Australia – is aiming to work in collaboration with sport, community and veteran organisations to deliver more opportunities for veterans and their families, enabling them to engage in sport from grassroots participation through to international competition. 

In a world-first for the Invictus movement, the international Invictus Games Foundation is partnering with an individual nation for a purpose other than delivering the games.

Invictus Australia is now tasked with enabling all Australian veterans and their families to benefit from the power of sport and the ethos of those games.

According to James Brown, chairman of Invictus Australia, it is an important development for the Defence community in Australia.

"We witnessed incredible courage, determination and camaraderie when the Invictus Games landed on our shores in 2018.

"It brought attention to the challenges faced by our veteran community and a platform for those of us who support our Defence community to unite.

"The benefit of those games continues today,” Brown said.

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The Invictus Games have demonstrated the power of sport to positively influence the recovery, rehabilitation and reintegration of current and former serving Defence veterans.

This ideology will be employed by Invictus Australia to a broader audience of veterans – there are an estimated 640,000 veterans in Australia. 

The immediate priorities for Invictus Australia are to extend its reach to provide on the ground sport recovery services in all states and territories across Australia, as well as support Team Australia in partnership with the Australian Defence Force to attend the next Invictus Games in The Hague in April 2022. 

Due to the success of Invictus Games Sydney 2018 and implementation of an effective and ongoing legacy, the Invictus Games Foundation has chosen Australia to pioneer the next frontier of the Invictus movement, according to Michael Hartung, chief executive officer of Invictus Australia. 

"We are incredibly proud and honoured to be re-establishing the Invictus brand here in Australia, for the benefit of our Defence community.

"Invictus means ‘unconquered’, and our motto is 'Unconquered Together'.

"This is representative of the collaborative spirit sparked by Invictus and what can be achieved by working together. It is an exciting time, and we are encouraging everyone to get involved," Hartung said. 

In the three years since the highly successful Sydney Games, Veteran Sport Australia (VSA), has been testing and refining their approach, focused on sport recovery and mass participation in sport by veterans and their families. 

Invictus Australia will elevate the work started by VSA and scale this nationally to make the services offered available and opportunities to all veterans and their families.

To date, the organisation has been able to improve the services provided by ex-service organisations, support rehabilitation services and outcomes, deliver more social connection, create and strengthen service networks, while increasing participation in sport and recreation activities. 

Chief executive of the Invictus Games Foundation, Dominic Reid OBE, hopes Invictus Australia will be the first of many international partnerships after taking this first step in expanding the Invictus model.

"In recent years, the Invictus Games Foundation has reflected on how best to continue to support its international community of wounded, injured and sick service men and women, in particular beyond the success of our global Invictus Games." 

“We were delighted to be approached by Veteran Sport Australia, set up following the Invictus Games Sydney 2018, with a proposition to expand the Invictus model to boost the international impact Down Under," Reid said.

"With its unique position as a longstanding participating nation, a former host nation, and with a newly formed legacy organisation, Invictus Australia was born and the Invictus Games Foundation is excited to see how, through the power of sport and adventurous challenge, the Invictus community will continue to be unconquered together." 

Invictus Australia will be at the forefront of delivering sport recovery programs and services to improve the health and wellbeing of military veterans and their families, using the power of sport.

"At a time when the veteran community has faced challenges to their identity and seen mental and physical health issues grow in prominence, to the detriment of many, the Invictus movement provides a beacon of positivity and encouragement," Brown concluded.

[Related: Army veteran Curtis Mcgrath goes for gold at the Tokyo Paralympics]