St Mary’s Hosts Help for Heroes Sports Recovery Programme

A small group of wounded, injured and sick service personnel recently used the new Strength and Conditioning facilities at St Mary’s University, Twickenham as part of the Help for Heroes Sports Recovery Programme. Organised by Jonpaul Nevin, Help for Heroes’ Lead Strength and Conditioning Coach, and an MSc Strength and Conditioning student at St Mary’s, the day offered a different environment for the ex-servicemen to train in as they continue to focus on living active, meaningful and fulfilling lives. Jonpaul said, “The camp is part of the wider Help for Heroes Sports Recovery programme which helps to deliver sport and adaptive adventurous training as part of the recovery process for Wounded, Injured and Sick (WIS) service personnel. As part of the programme I provide strength and conditioning support to WIS athletes who are on either developmental or performance sporting pathways. “We have excellent facilities at the Help for Heroes Tedworth House Recovery Centre, however it is good to take the guys to a new environment and conduct training at similar performance facilities. This helps to provide variety and gives them the opportunity to pick up some new, sometimes innovative training ideas from other athletes and coaches.” Some of the athletes that attended the training have been a part of the Front Line to Start Line programme, a partnership between the British Paralympic Association (BPA) and Help for Heroes, created to introduce military personnel and veterans to opportunities in Paralympic sport. Help for Heroes has been involved with Sports Recovery for six years, and in the past year alone have put on 300 events across 50 different sports enabling over 1,800 wounded, injured and sick service personnel and veterans to take part in adaptive sports.