Invictus Games Vancouver Whistler 2025 Marks One Year to the Games with a Week of Events in Vancouver and Whistler
Last month, Invictus Games Vancouver Whistler 2025, presented by ATCO and Boeing, hosted a week-long series of events to mark One Year to Go until the Games, including a Participating Nations Training Camp, community engagement activations in both Whistler and Vancouver, a Stewardship dinner, and a selection of media events to help drive excitement for next year.
The Participating Nations Training Camp saw participants from all over the world come together in Whistler to learn about the new winter adaptive sports that will be included in next year’s Games, such as Alpine Skiing & Snowboarding, Biathlon, Nordic Skiing, Skeleton, and Wheelchair Curling. Competitors, coaches, and team managers from Participating Nations around the world were able to meet and get to know one another as well as gain skills and knowledge to bring back to their home countries and use to support year-round adaptive sporting programs. Many Participants were ecstatic to visit Canada for the first time and have the opportunity to continue on their journey of shared recovery with one another. Over the course of the Training Camp, international and local media also joined in on the fun at a few demonstrations to highlight Alpine Sit-Skiing, Skeleton, and Wheelchair Curling as newly included Winter adaptive sports for next year’s Games.
Invictus Games Vancouver Whistler 2025 hosted a series of community engagement activations concurrently throughout the One Year to Go week of celebrations, spanning from Mountain Square in Whistler all the way to the Seaforth Armory in Kitsilano. Aimed at raising awareness for the Games, the events allowed community members in both Whistler and Vancouver to try some of the adaptive sports featured in the first-ever Winter hybrid Invictus Games and learn through sport. Members of the public had the opportunity to deepen their knowledge through trivia and other interactive activities, as well as to chat with volunteers and team members to learn more about the Invictus Games Vancouver Whistler 2025.
Throughout the week at Mountain Square, community members had the opportunity to win a Skeleton experience at the Whistler Sliding Centre and take home branded gifts like cowbells, bookmarks, and postcards. It also offered a daily one-hour special activity each day, made possible by the Squamish Lil’wat Cultural Centre, including a Drumming workshop, a Bannock Donut tasting, and a Paddle Necklace craft. Overall, the activation hosted roughly 400 guests per day, and we could not have run it without the help of our wonderful volunteers!
The I AM Trying Curling event on Friday offered the public an opportunity to experience Curling for the first time through the Vancouver Curling Club at Hillcrest Community Centre. Families were coached by Curling Club staff in both Curling and Wheelchair Curling, and roughly 150 community members had the opportunity to learn about the Games through this activity and our presence in the foyer of Hillcrest.
Over in Kitsilano, on Family Day Monday, more than 1,200 visitors experienced the first ever Invictus Games Vancouver Whistler 2025 Unconquered Sports Day at Seaforth Armoury. Offering an opportunity to experience the adaptive sports featured in the Invictus Games Vancouver Whistler 2025, visitors learned more about the Games through play. This Family Day event was free to enter and welcomed community members of all ages and abilities, while bringing together adaptive sport partners and the military into one venue. Four different sport organizations provided guidance and sport expertise to activate their own adaptive sport stations, including BC Wheelchair Basketball, Volleyball BC, Rowing BC, and Curl BC. There were also partners from Musqueam teaching cedar bracelet weaving and tours through the messes and museum from the Seaforth Museum Curator himself.
To finish off a fantastic week of community, sport, and healing, Invictus Games Vancouver Whistler 2025 held a Stewardship dinner recognizing the vitally important contributions of our valued Partners, without whom the week and next year’s Games would not be possible. It was a great opportunity to come together and celebrate a week of fantastic accomplishments across the board, and to look to the future as we continue to prepare for the Invictus Games Vancouver Whistler 2025 next year.
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