There are many benefits to watching sports with your children. Learning an appreciation for teamwork and sportsmanship is an important lesson for little ones. But the Invictus Games also teach your children about courage in the face of adversity and the importance of adaptive sports for our Wounded Warriors.

What are the Invictus Games?

In 2014, Prince Harry of the British Royal Family founded the Invictus Games, an international sporting event specifically for injured service men and women. Competitions like the Invictus Games aid in recovery and rehabilitation process for 500 Wounded Warriors from 15 different countries. This year’s games are being hosted on American soil in Orlando, Fla. Military or not, anyone who experiences the Invictus Games will walk away changed.

How Do the Invictus Games Help Our Military?

For many service men and women who compete in the Invictus Games, the competition helps them embrace their “new normal” following traumatic injury.

American women’s lightweight power lifting gold medalist Sarah Rudder said that sport was central to her recovery. Rudder lost one of her legs following an injury sustained while in the Marine Corp helping to recover non-survivors from the debris of the 9/11 Pentagon attack.

“Sport saved my life,” Rudder said. “It showed me that I can do and be something and that I can be part of a community again.”

Metals are a great accomplishment, but in the end, the Invictus Games aren’t about the results. They are a collection of stories brought together under a single platform designed to bring faces and meaning to the service men and women worldwide who have endured visible and invisible injuries.

Where can I watch the games?

All of the action from Invictus Games Orlando 2016 can be seen on ESPN3.