Team U.S. Athletes Reveal What Prince Harry's Invictus Games Mean to Them (Exclusive)

Mar. 15, 2025

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Mike Murphy

Mike Murphy of Team U.S.Courtesy High Fives Foundation

Courtesy High Fives Foundation

“I’m blessed to come here for a second time returning for winter sports. I was able to do summer sports [the] first time, and now I get to come and try a different craft and just show the world what is possible.”

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Family and Camaraderie

Mike Murphy of Team U.S.Anthony Beauchamp

Anthony Beauchamp

Murphy, 34, became visually impaired after an airfield accident in 2018, and says Invictus is “way bigger than competition.”

“Everything they’ll let me do,” he jokes to PEOPLE.

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Leandra Moehring

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‘Just the Beginning’

“Adaptive sports has saved my life, truly. It’s life-changing,” explains Moehring, 28. “I know a lot of us can relate to the mental health struggles following injuries or diagnoses or just getting out of the service. I think a lot of people would look at an injury as the end of their time, whether that’s their career or athletics or whatever. They look at it as the end. But really that was just the beginning, because without that happening, I wouldn’t be here.”

Moehring is participating in Nordic skiing, skeleton, swimming and rowing at Invictus in British Colombia, taking on two of Invictus’new winter sports.

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Bryce Ewing

Bryce Ewing (left) and Jacquelyn Marty (right) of Team U.S.Anthony Beauchamp

Bryce Ewingtells PEOPLE that it’s “truly such an honor” to compete for her country at Invictus.

06of 08More Than WordsBryce Ewing of Team U.S.Anthony BeauchampEwing medically retired from the military after navigating a breast cancer diagnosis, and cites adaptive sports as a joy in her life.“Just walking out there today was just amazing. Oh, I can’t even explain it. Adaptive sports has really changed my life, and I’m just so glad to be here,” she tells PEOPLE, and will spend the week competing in snowboarding, swimming, indoor rowing and sitting volleyball.

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More Than Words

Bryce Ewing of Team U.S.Anthony Beauchamp

Ewing medically retired from the military after navigating a breast cancer diagnosis, and cites adaptive sports as a joy in her life.

“Just walking out there today was just amazing. Oh, I can’t even explain it. Adaptive sports has really changed my life, and I’m just so glad to be here,” she tells PEOPLE, and will spend the week competing in snowboarding, swimming, indoor rowing and sitting volleyball.

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Christopher Bryde

“So I just thought I’d try to be a positive example and be like, ‘You can go out there. You can do something more rather than just give up,’ " Bryde, 36, tells PEOPLE about how Invictus fuels his fire. “That’s basically it for me.”

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All in on Invictus

Christopher Bryde (center) of Team U.S.Anthony Beauchamp

He tells PEOPLE that his military history created an immediate connection with Prince Harry when they met at Invictus, because “we were both in Afghanistan in 2008.”

“He was a really kind guy,” the competitor says of the Duke of Sussex.

source: people.com