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ORIGINAL RESEARCH article

Front. Sports Act. Living
Sec. The History, Culture and Sociology of Sports
Volume 6 - 2024 | doi: 10.3389/fspor.2024.1395672

The experiences of attending an international veteran sporting competition and preparatory camp for Team Ukraine during the Russo-Ukrainian conflict

Provisionally accepted
Claire L Castle Claire L Castle 1,2*Nikki Heinze Nikki Heinze 1Renata S M Gomes Renata S M Gomes 1,3
  • 1 BRAVO VICTOR, London, United Kingdom
  • 2 University of Leeds, Leeds, England, United Kingdom
  • 3 Faculty of Health and Life Sciences, Northumbria University, Newcastle upon Tyne, North East England, United Kingdom

The final, formatted version of the article will be published soon.

    This article offers unique insight into Team Ukraine's experiences of attending an international sporting event for veterans living with disability and injured active-duty personnel (the United States' Department of Defense Warrior Games, "The Games") and a 5-week preparatory camp in the United Kingdom (UK). A survey gathered qualitative data at three time points: during the second and final week of training camp, and the in the two weeks immediately following participation at The Games. Forty-four out of 55 members of Team Ukraine (including veterans, active-duty personnel, support staff, and family members) provided responses in Survey 1, 20 in Survey 2, and 18 in Survey 3. These responses were thematically analysed to explore experiences and motivations for participation. Six main themes were identified: Rest and recuperation; The ongoing conflict as a source of motivation; The sporting experience; Veterans in sport; and Relationships. Whilst physically demanding, the camp was an opportunity for respite and emotional processing, and participants reflected on benefits to physical health, sporting abilities, and social resulting from participation. Perhaps of greatest significance was the role of the ongoing conflict in their motivations to attend The Games. The conflict brought participants together in their collective goals of representing Ukraine on an international stage, raising awareness of the war, and demonstrating strength through sporting success. Findings highlight the challenges experienced and overcome by Team Ukraine and provides insight into the role that competitive sporting events may play during times of conflict as a means of demonstrating national strength and pride, and meeting individuals' health and well-being needs.

    Keywords: Sports, Disability, Veterans, military, conflict, Sports competition, training, Well-being

    Received: 04 Mar 2024; Accepted: 28 Nov 2024.

    Copyright: © 2024 Castle, Heinze and Gomes. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

    * Correspondence: Claire L Castle, BRAVO VICTOR, London, United Kingdom

    Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.