Project VOLYA: Armed Forces Para Snow Sports team train Ukrainian ski instructors

Seven members of the Armed Forces Para Snow Sports team (AFPST) have returned from a three-week visit to Ukraine where they were training ski instructors in the country.

The aim of Project VOLYA is to help Ukrainian forces personnel who have been injured in the war. 

Funded by the Invictus Games Foundation, the team, which included four disabled British skiers, went to the Bukovel ski resort in the Carpathian mountains to train local ski instructors and then stayed on to assist 25 injured sick and disabled Ukrainian military personnel.

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The team's chief operating officer, Major (Retired) Elizabeth Winfield, says it was clearly a risk to go to Ukraine at the moment, but it was the right decision.

She said: "We knew the power of what we do, and having met some Ukrainian veterans, that is where the idea for the project came from.

"We decided it would be best to go to Ukraine itself. We did think we would have to wait until after the war, but that didn't appear to be coming anytime soon, so the need is there right now.

"I had no shortage of volunteers to join me."

Initially, the British team were unsure how their visit would be greeted at Bukovel, but on arrival, it was soon very clear they were more than welcome, not least by the local ski instructors who were anxious and hungry to hone their skills to the needs of adaptive snowboarders, alpine and Nordic skiers.

Such was the demand for places that it was oversubscribed within three days, with 25 veterans joining in the second week after the ski instructors had been taught how to train adaptive students. 

Major (Ret'd) Winfield says: "We didn't know the veterans who were coming. With the war still on, they were worried about travelling away from their loved ones in other parts of the country or whether they could even get there.

"Most were only six to 12 months post-injuries. We learned so much from them as they did from us."

The long-term benefits to injured, sick and disabled personnel of going on the slopes are well-proven.

Last year's Winter Invictus Games showed that in abundance, but it is not just about learning skills on the slopes to be competitive.

The majority of those who learn to snowboard, ski with prosthetics or sit ski, gain a newfound freedom without having to go racing.

By taking this to Ukraine, the members of Project VOLYA know they are laying the foundations to help hundreds more Ukrainians left broken by the war.

Such has been the impact that plans are already being discussed for future visits and sustainable training within Ukraine, and the demand will only grow.