Select Page

Job Seekers - Achev - Connecting Skilled Newcomers with Employers 2
Job Seekers - Achev - Connecting Skilled Newcomers with Employers 2
Freedom Heart Ukraine
Job Seekers - Achev - Connecting Skilled Newcomers with Employers

Ukrainian Canadians Help Homeland Send First Team to Invictus Games

Nov 15, 2016 | Newpathway, Ukraine, Featured

New Pathway.

The Ukrainian Canadian community is cheering the fact that there will be a Ukrainian team at the next Invictus Games. The Invictus Games are an international sports competition in which wounded, ill and injured military personnel and veterans take part. Founded by Prince Harry, the inaugural Invictus Games took place in London in 2014, this past year they were held in Orlando 2016 and the 2017 Games will be held in Toronto. The organizers are expecting 550 soldiers from 17 countries. Many community activists have been lobbying for Ukraine’s participation in the Games for some time now. Their efforts have born the fruit and Ukraine has been invited to take part in the Games.

In August, the Ukrainian Canadian Congress (UCC) signed the Action Plan with the Ministry of Youth and Sport of Ukraine, the National Olympic Committee and the National Committee for Paralympic Sports. In October, Renata Roman, Chair of the UCC Invictus Games Organizing Committee, and Bohdan Kupych, member of the UCC Ukraine Advisory Council, met with Ukrainian officials to discuss further steps including applications for interested athletes, selection and training of team members, and how the UCC can best support these efforts, both in Ukraine and in Canada.

The New Pathway spoke with Renata Roman about the state of preparations for the Ukrainian team to participate in the Games. As a Physical Therapist, who has participated in several medical missions in Ukraine to treat wounded soldiers (organized by the Canada-Ukraine Foundation), Ms. Roman is well aware of the soldiers’ needs. She said that the Games are important because they give the soldiers a moral and physical boost, take their focus off the injuries and give them a goal. Whether the soldiers continue in their sports or move on into new careers, the Games will open a lot of doors for them. This is particularly important in Ukraine where “there has never been a lot of emphasis on rehabilitation and on PTSD”, said Ms. Roman, and continued, “I’ve been talking to a lot of physicians and I was shocked to learn that PTSD is a fairly new concept in the medical field in Ukraine. The war has forced the government and the medical system to look within itself on how to improve and move forward at a relatively quick pace. There is an influx of healthy young injured soldiers and civilians, who are now permanently injured and they have to figure out a way of how to treat them effectively and integrate them back into society.”

Renata Roman told us that UCC, being the umbrella organisation, is taking the lead in the efforts to organize Ukraine’s participation in the Invictus Games from the Canadian side: “The UCC has support from all our member organisations: League of Ukrainian Canadians, Ukrainian National Federation, Plast, CYM, a lot of the sport organisations. I tied together an organisation committee and we will be meeting soon. Each organization will get a specific role, whether it’s concentrating on volunteers, fundraising, PR, organization of events for the soldiers, etc. As an example, I’ve had an offer from the CUIA Fund's Ukraine Prosthetic Assistance Project and they said that if we need any specialised prosthetics for some soldiers – they are willing to help. It’s good because those specialized prosthetics can be quite expensive and difficult to fit. The dates of the Games are September 24-30, 2017. This is just after the Ukrainian Bloor West Festival and we are trying to see whether the soldiers can come early enough for the Festival. We would love them to participate in the Festival – a lot of people would be able to see them, it would put them on the high profile. At the same time, we don’t want to over burn the athletes with the activities before the Games, and we might have some events for them afterwards. We would also like to tell our people where to get the tickets and participate in the events, waving Ukrainian flags, cheering. I’ve been working with the Invictus team as a liaison and I have also had the experience of working with the Ukrainian Ministry of Sport in the past on various international teams, so I am trying to coordinate everything this time.”

We also asked Renata Roman how Ukraine’s participation in the Games will be organized on such a short notice. She said: “Timing is an issue because some of these soldiers are not professional athletes, they haven’t trained in years. Raising funds for the training is an issue too, and all of these issues are taken care of in Ukraine. We will be asked to help where we can, we are waiting for their direction. Soldiers are spread across various parts of the country: Lviv is going to be a major centre for training, so is Kyiv. Some of the sports, which Ukraine is thinking of participating in, are light athletics, swimming, powerlifting, archery and cycling. Other team sports like basketball may be too difficult to train for this time round, but in the future it may be a possibility.” Renata, who has volunteer-worked with the Ministry of Youth and Sport in the past with the numerous National Ukrainian Olympic teams, knows that a good showing in the Games is both beneficial and highly motivating for the participants and countrymen alike: “Ukrainians take pride in their athletes and the athletes proudly wear the Blue and Yellow uniforms with the Tryzyb. I know I did when I was abroad with the Ukrainian team.”

The other organisation that is quite involved as well is the Ukrainian World Congress as it is the global coordinator of the diaspora. This will be important as the Games will move to various other countries. In 2018, they will be in Australia and the local Ukrainians will be the hosts. The UWC recently signed a memorandum of understanding with the Ministry of Youth and Sport to facilitate this effort.

Have the Ukrainian organizers selected the participants for the Games? Renata Roman said that “the Ukrainian side already has some names. I think some of the Ukrainian soldiers, who participated in the Washington marathon in October and did very well, will be able to participate in the Invictus games. There have been soldiers who I know from the medical trips and who have asked me personally where to go and sign up. Ihor Sholtys and Vadym Ziablitsev, who came to Canada this summer on the Ukrainian Credit Union invitation, also were interested to participate. If there are very many soldiers, they will probably have a mini competition sometime in the spring. My understanding is that some of the top athletes are already picked, but there is room for more and those numbers will be made public as soon as they get that. Even if some wounded soldiers don’t get picked, at least they will be going to the gym and swimming pools to prepare. As we speak, there are invitations for all athletes in the Lviv and Western regions to come and sign up for the games.”

We encourage all to follow the Invictus general website http://www.invictusgames2017.com/ as well as the Ukrainian Invictus website http://invictusgames.in.ua/ for more information.

Share on Social Media

Announcement
Pace Law Firm
2/10 Years of War
Borsch

Events will be approved within 2 business days after submission. Please contact us if you have any questions.

Manage Subsctiption

Check your subscription status, expiry dates, billing and shipping address, and more in your subscription account.