YATE and District Athletic Club coach, Mark Lodge, has just returned from the experience of a lifetime at the Invictus Games, the sports event for injured ex-servicemen and women started by Prince Harry, and held this year in Orlando, Florida. He was employed as the throws coach for the United Kingdon team.

At Yate, Mark coaches young athletes in most disciplines but he has always shown a passionate interest in athletes with disabilities, but the Invictus Games was whole different world.

Over the course of ten days in America Mark coached two dozen athletes, the majority of whom had lost limbs in combat. Others who are described as 'ambulant' had suffered other injuries that affected their mobility. He coached them in throwing discus and shot.

He remembers particularly an athlete called Lammin who had lost both legs and an arm and who won a bronze medal in the discus competition. Mark was delighted to be introduced to Lammin's wife and five children once the competition was over. He says that LamminM like most of these athletes, never spoke about how they gained their disabilities: they were just athletes, there to compete and represent their country.

Mark has always emphasised that disabled athletes are simply athletes who run, jump and throw the same as able-bodied athletes. Knowing the stories behind the anger that many of the Invictus athletes put into their performance could make no difference to their training and their approach to competition.

The anger that some athletes talk about is all part of the emphasis that Prince Harry was keen to put on the mental effects of combat. Mark was aware that some of the people he worked with had spent years shut away in their homes, traumatised by their experiences, and only now that they were involved with the Games had begun to change their lives.

A few of the athletes Mark worked with could be in line for selection for the Paralympics in Rio. Some of his throwers he describes as 'world class'. For more of them, the focus will be on Tokyo in 2020. Coaching for them will be the key.

Mark is hoping that a connection he has made with Tedworth House, the rehabilitation centre, will lead to a tie-up with the Yate club and Yate Outdoor Sports Complex.

The difficulty is transport, given that ex-military athletes tend to live near their old military bases and many are financially stretched.

He points out that he trained six or seven throwers who would form a terrific group with Yate and District's adult team.

"For many of these athletes being part of a team once more for the first time since their army careers was the main thing. "The whole thing is an awesome team. French table, Italian table, Australians. One awesome team," said Mark. "You don't get a tut, you don't get a sigh, a 'hang on a minute'."

One thing that surprised him a bit was their attitude to authority. "It's really sad in some ways, some of them still call you sir. Even if they've had their legs blown off, they're in a wheelchair and they've been out of the forces for ten years. That got to me a bit."

Mark says that what we could really do with is someone to come up with some money that will enable disabled ex-military athletes to travel to Yate to continue their work with Mark, to join our club and develop further their rehabilitation.

The Invictus Games will definitely grow, Mark says. Next year in Toronto, the year after possibly in Australia, and Mark hopes that he will be selected to coach the UK team again.

Meanwhile, he is back at Yate Outdoor Sports Complex where he not only coaches young athletes, but also, with his partner and family, runs the clubhouse bar and catering.