The 2025 Invictus Games in Vancouver brought together hundreds of currently serving military personnel and veterans from around the world, including a Maritime competitor who proudly represented Canada.
Andre Crocker of Fall River, N.S., has served in the Royal Canadian Air Force since 2001. He says the games were a great opportunity to stay active with the injuries he’s sustained throughout his career.
“It’s just a way to continue to be active and recover though sports,” he told CTV Atlantic’s Mike Lamb.
“I applied through Soldier On, and that’s the program that Canadian Forces has to help ill and injured veterans and current serving members to get out and be active and I put the application in and low and behold I got selected.”
Crocker says the experience competing with Team Canada was “fantastic.”
“Being like-minded and stuff, everybody out there has their particular issues and injuries. There was no great need put on to win. It was just about participating and enjoying the moment,” he says.
Crocker took part in indoor rowing, cross-country skiing, and sit volleyball. He also competed in skeleton, which he says was the highlight of his games experience. .
“It was just very exhilarating going down the track,” he says.
Crocker and fellow Team Canada athlete Lee Jarratt also had the opportunity to drop the puck at an NHL hockey game in Vancouver alongside Prince Harry, the Duke of Sussex.
“Meeting Prince Harry and his wife Meghan was a once-in-a-lifetime event,” he says.
Crocker says the Invictus Games are important because they get anyone ill or injured, either mentally or physically, out and active.
“I’m a big advocate of sports just helping people with their general health, getting out and moving, it’s good for the body, good for the mind and soul,” he says.
Crocker uses the analogy of a cup overflowing to describe his own mental health journey.
“You never know when your cup is going to overflow. I’ve had some very stressful positions throughout my career, I’ve dealt with a lot of friends committing suicide, airplane crashes,” he says.
“It’s one of those things that my cup overflowed and I was starting to bring stuff home and effect my family life, so for me that was a big step to go and seek help.”
Invictus Games 2025 chief executive officer Scott Moore says the event reported a profit of more than $5 million, which will go toward supporting various veterans programs across Canada.
It was the second time the Invictus Games were hosted in Canada, following the Games in Toronto in 2017. The 2027 games will be held in Birmingham, U.K.
With files from The Canadian Press
For more Nova Scotia news, visit our dedicated provincial page
