'Rugby On Ice' - Phoenix Winter Games' Newest Sport Makes Debut

Forty military veterans have been competing at sledge hockey, in the first time the event has featured at the Phoenix Winter Games.

The sport is the Paralympic variant of ice hockey, with its origins dating back to the 1960s.

 Royal Navy veteran Jill Collins told us:

"I’ve never done anything like this before, but with Help for Heroes and the Phoenix Winter Games we get the opportunities that more than likely some of us have never have even contemplated in our lives."

Not everyone competing at the Games is a beginner, however.

Former soldier and Iraq veteran Jon Legalloudec plays the sport for Great Britain, and describes it as 'rugby on ice':

"I joined the Army in ‘98... toured all over the world, the last one being Iraq.

"In 2007 I was shot in the spine by a sniper, and that kind of changed things, but the one thing I never left was sport.

"I knew it was important - I tried lots of other sports...but none gave me the same drive pre-injury, until ice hockey.

“For the last four years I’ve been playing for Great Britain.

"It is such an honour and a pleasure to play for your country again - this time on the ice rather than the battlefield."