Help for Heroes is very proud to support Battle Back, a recent UK Military initiative. Battle Back uses Adaptive Adventure Training and Sports Rehabilitation to help seriously wounded Service personnel gain confidence and return to an active life.

Although the scheme has only been running since 2008, Battle Back is already making a phenomenal difference to the lives of many wounded Servicemen and women. By encouraging those who have suffered serious injuries to play sports and try new activities in a sociable atmosphere, the team work hard to prove that disability need not spell the end of participation in physical challenges.

Battle Back also has close links with the British Paralympic team and works to identify wounded personnel who show a talent for a particular sport and may benefit from inclusion in Paralympic Development programmes.

Lance Corporal Rory Mackenzie, who was injured in a roadside bomb attack in Iraq, explains how the scheme has made a difference to his life:

“After seven months at Headley Court I had made a full physical recovery but I became aggressive, angry and upset at the hand which had been dealt to me. I had created in my mind a long list of things I would never do again.

It was at this time that I received an invitation via Help for Heroes to go adaptive skiing in Bavaria, Germany under a new military initiative called Battle Back. I didn’t waste a second and jumped at the opportunity! Within five minutes of the initial brief I knew this was going to be HEALING. It gave me freedom like Inever thought I would feel again; I came off those slopes with a completely different frame of mind towards my life and my future. I no longer had a list of all the things I couldn’t do; I now had a long list of the things I could potentially do! Anything is possible!”

Battle Back Activities
Battle Back provides a varied programme of events which include: 


• Water Skiing
• Paragliding, Sub-aqua diving and Sailing 

• Ski Training
• Athletics
• Kayaking
• Diving

• Training with the Para-Olympic teams of the world!



What Does Battle Back do?
Battle Back is not a charity; it is a department based at Headley Court which encourages wounded Servicemen and women to participate inadaptive adventure training and sports. All seriously injured Servicemen and women are eligible to participate in the adventure training and sporting opportunities, including overseas expeditions.

The Battle Back staff, in conjunction with DMRC Headley Court, Headquarters Adventurous Training Group (Army), or the Combined Services Adaptive Sports Association, are the authorising authorities for all adaptive adventure training and sport.

The History of Battle Back
The idea for Battle Back came about in 2007 when Lieutenant Colonel Fred Hargreaves OBE saw a group of disabled skiers returning home from the slopes, carrying their adapted skiing equipment. The equipment would, he realised, allow his comrades, wounded ... to take part in one of the military’s ski trips.

Following the success of the first adaptive skiing expedition, a group of individuals within the military began to work on a programme of sports that could be adapted to aid in the rehabilitation of wounded service personnel. The team established a series of sports and challenging activities that would expose patients at Headley Court to a degree of controlled risk and encourage courage, confidence, leadership, fitness and team spirit.

The Battle Back scheme was formally launched on 28th July 2008, exactly 60 years after Sir Ludwig Guttmann created the first Stoke Mandeville Disabled Games, set up for injured World War 2 veterans. These games led to the creation of the modern Paralympic Games and the scheme has strong links with the British Paralympic team.

 
How Help for Heroes Supports Battle Back
A grant of £308,000 from Help for Heroes has allowed Battle Back to expand its range of adventure sports. Martin Colclough, Officer Commanding Battle Back, says:

“To all those who have raised money for Help for Heroes to support this project, I would like to say thank you. You have helped to put grins back on the faces of over 200 men and women who, not that long ago, thought their lives would never be the same again.”

  

Contact Battle Back
Visit the website for more information:

www.mod.uk

For further information and enquiries please contact:

Major Martin Colclough
E-mail: dmrc-so2battleback@mod.uk
or Telephone: 01372 381 199