“I never felt I was an athlete in my life, but I knew I needed something because I was medically released from the military with a mental health injury related to military sexual assault, and for me, I needed to find something where I would feel alive again, right? Military sexual trauma is really debilitating. It really affects your self-confidence and your ability to really understand where you fit into things,” she says.
Labonté got involved with the Soldier On program, which is an offshoot of theCanadian Armed Forces Transition Group workingto aid the recovery of ill and injured Canadian Armed Forces members and veterans through sports and recreation.
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“What I saw with the training camps, because we did several training camps throughout the year, was I saw my progression not just with my physical fitness or my skills in the sports that I played, which were discus, shot put, rowing and seated volleyball, but I saw a change in my self-confidence, and I also saw my ability to trust a fellow soldier, right? You know, I lost a lot of trust with what’s happened over my military career, and I was starting to gain that back, because this was Toronto, Canada, and we were all in it together,” she says.
“I remember when we threw the disc, I was number one, New Zealand was number two, a wonderful woman, and U.S. number three, also a wonderful woman, and the three of us were so happy for each other. And there’s so many photos of us hugging and celebrating each other. Regardless of where we placed, we were just so happy for each other in that moment. That’s the kind of feeling it is, we celebrate each other,” she says of the memory.
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As for what it means to have Prince Harry amplify and shine a light on the service personnel and veteran community through Invictus?
“To me, it means the world because what it does is it gives the participants a real feeling like we matter, that what we’re doing and the sacrifices we made in our career is important. And he’s redirecting the world’s attention to us, right? We may feel forgotten, left out, disillusioned in our careers, in the end in some cases, but he’s saying, ‘That’s not your story. Your story is you’re moving on, you’re succeeding in life, you’re succeeding in sport, and that’s what’s important.’ And we’re listening to that message loud and clear, loud and clear.”
Prince Harry, a former captain in the British Army, founded the international adaptive sports tournament for wounded, injured and sick service personnel and veterans in 2014. Invictus means “unconquered” in Latin, and the competition’s motto “I am” comes from the William Ernest Henley poem of the same name, which ends with the lines, “I am the master of my fate, I am the captain of my soul.”
“The poem is a reminder that you have the power to take control of your life," the Duke of Sussextold PEOPLEin 2022.
source: people.com
