By james art 
Stevens Pass, Wash. – Under the sky of Bluebird on MLK’s holiday weekend, a uniformed instructor followed a skier along a path at the pass of Stevens.
But this student was no ordinary client who wanted to improve his parallel turn.
With the American door that protects against the cold, Bremerton’s resident Bianca Hayden stopped at the foot of Kerr’s chair to swallow advice from David O’Donel. The 24 -year -old Hayden is an army sergeant who will compete in Invictus games this week in British Colombia.
Founded by the British Prince Harry in 2014 to help members of the service recover from wounds or injuries, to find an updated goal, Invictus games will debut a first winter edition in Vancouver and Whistler.
The event, which began on Saturday and continues in February 16, will gather 550 military service members from 25 countries, and Hayden is the only Washington on the US list of 51 people.
Almost three years after Hayden received a shoulder injury, while in the placement of it, it threatened her ability to stay in the army, she would compete in swimming, rowing indoors and alpine skiing.
While participating in the “open” division for those who, with the help of experiences, from combat wounds to diagnoses of cancer.
Under the starry gaze of her Stevens Pass instructor, Hayden concentrates on a fine adjustment of his form-macar and not quite at the level of precision of Lindsay Vaughn or Mikaela Schiffrin. After all, it was just her 15th of skiing.
But Hayden’s desire to compete, even in a sport, which she did not learn, is a testimony to determine this helicopter a machine gun and a cavalry scout.
While some soldiers would see a potential career injury as an easy ticket, Hayden was struggling through military bureaucracy to complete his service commitment.
Only from the use of one hand to the restoration of physical strength and mental confidence to push his body with both, Hayden is a testament to the prerequisite of Invictus games that sport can motivate the wounded members of military service to regain hope for the future S
“She has never given up. I saw her pass from no range of movement to 90 degrees, “said Cindy Abrahamson, a fellow soldier who serves with Hayden in Afghanistan. “I saw the bright spark again in the eyes. Now that she is from the Invictus game team, this Spark is a huge fire. “
Retardation
18-year-old Hayden made a promise when he joined. “I told myself at the beginning of my career that if I was given the opportunity, I would take it,” she said.
In June 2019, Hayden, who grew up in Eugene, learned that her department of the National Army Guard in Oregon was located in Afghanistan. Its role was to charge Chinook helicopters, dismantling bases against the background of US departure. But Hayden seeks to do more than to stay on the ground, to burn fuel in readiness. So she became an artiller at the door, located next to the Chinook window with a machine gun.
The upcoming deployment, now in a combat role, has intensified the concerns of his family.
But Hayden kept her cool for about five months, which she spent in Kandahar, even though the fighters fired at her chopper and headed for her base.
According to the engagement rules set by the US peace treaty, it cannot return the fire.
“From time to time I questioned myself: Why did I choose a more dangerous job?” She said. “But then I just love him.”
Hayden’s department left Afghanistan in October 2020. Later, she was promoted to a sergeant and became a cavalry scout.
With his new unit, Hayden settled in Eastern Poland in February 2022, just when Russia began its full -scale invasion of Ukraine. Its unit made a display along the border of Poland-Berlarus and visited orphans in which Ukrainian children were accommodated, but the placement was otherwise quiet.
Hayden has accepted the physical requirements of military service. She hit the gym most days, on top of the runs of five miles, sprints, football games and wounds with 50-pound packages.
But in June 2022, while Hayden was making a shoulder strap for dumbbells, something jumped into her left shoulder country and swelled.
She was diagnosed with a strain and said to wear a sling. Two weeks later, she couldn’t wash her hair or put on a shirt and had to sleep with her hand hanging out of bed. MRI showed a broken knit.
The driven soldier is struggling with his newly discovered restrictions. The culture of military bats, combined with the feeling that it was held to a higher standard, as the only female cavalry scout of its unit strengthened Hayden’s impotence.
“When wounds, no one wants to say anything,” said Hayden, who tried to remain active despite his injury. “The last thing I wanted to do was sit in my room with limited debt.”
By November 2022, Hayden’s shoulder was still dysfunctional and it was posted to the joint base for the restoration of the Lewis-Mcchord soldier. In low spirits, she was denied in denial of the seriousness of her injury and the self -awareness that she was too weak for military service.
“The shoulder injury dragged her down and turned her into someone I don’t recognize,” Abrahamson said.
The surgeon diagnoses Hayden with a torn labum and remembers that she wondered if she wasted the doctor’s time with a “little tears”.
It turned out to be not so tiny. Surgery in January 2023 showed that Labrum’s tear had torn Hayden’s biceps and doctors had to shave 50% of cartilage before installing six anchors.
The recovery was painful. Hayden started physical therapy, but saw a little improvement. JBLM medical staff began to push her to return to her ward or take medical release. She felt caught between two bad choices, and he was mentally at all time.
Hayden did physical therapy in the gym one day, when soldiers conducting an adaptive sports program created an air rifle that could be fired with one hand. Intrigued, she shot him-and quickly immersed in other adaptive sports such as rowing one weapon, swimming, archery, discussion and shot. Her racing juices began to flow, and she set the goal to beat the best times and distances of the JBLM record in various sports with one hand.
After seeking a second opinion of a stagnant recovery, Hayden underwent an additional operation in October 2023 to add seven more anchors.
On the other side of this operation, 16 months after injury, Hayden finally turned an angle.
“I was able to do things like a pulled door open and I wasn’t scared of my shoulder,” she said. Until her shoulder improved and her prospects to complete her military service. “Finally, I felt that there was some hope for me to stay in the army.”
By November 2023, Hayden received a full medical authorization to stay in the army: “The moment I had all the approvals for a stay, it was a huge burden on my shoulder, literally,” she said.
In the adaptive sports community of the US military, the ultimate goal is to win a place in the branch team to compete in the Games of the Ministry of Defense, the event that inspired Prince Harry to start Invictus games. Hayden made the team army last year and even threw out the first pitch in Seattle Marinrs’ game (with his good shoulder).
In June, she joined more than 200 members of the Orlando Office, Florida, for the warriors’ games. Until then, she had progressed until she could use both hands-although she had only trained for competition in one armed formats, such as capture.
Competing in the “open” division of the event, for those who, using the hands and feet and without visual damage, gave rise to some impostor syndrome.
“I felt I didn’t belong because my injury seemed so insignificant,” she said. “I was afraid to swim with both hands because I was training with one (in the meantime) there are amputated ones who are unable to swim with both hands and feet.”
Meeting other athletes without visible disabilities, such as the survivors of cancer, confirmed the validity of her own injury. “Many athletes suffer from” invisible wounds “that may include recently healed physical injuries in the case of bianca or other invisible illnesses or injuries such as traumatic brain trauma, cancer or PTSR to name a few,” writes our team from TEAM US US US Delegation Head David Pashal by email. “Events such as Invictus games recognize the traumatic impact of invisible wounds and the participation of these athletes in adaptive sports significantly helps their journey to recovery.”
Hayden brought significant hardware for the team army – gold of 50m freestyle and 50m bust; silver in shot, discussions and 100 m freestyle; And bronze in the female swim of the relay – but she said: “Then winning a medal feels like the less important part of the race.”
Based on Hayden’s performance, she was invited to try our team in Invictus Games.
Athletes will compete in sports such as wheelchair and rugby basketball, seated volleyball, swimming and rowing indoors. The winter edition also includes events of ice and snow such as alpine skiing, biathlon, Scandinavian skiing, snowboarding, skeleton and wheelchair curling. Like the Paralympic Games, athletes compete in divisions based on how much use the hands, legs and vision have.
When the Invictus Games app asked about winter sports, Hayden noted “skis” – although she only spent two days of skiing.
She attends team training camps in Park City, Utah and Lake Placid, New York, but the rest is self -financing. While Okley donated helmets and glasses, she still trains on a pair of SEAP Shap ski and boots.
Just weeks before hitting the slopes in Whistler in the pursuit of gold, Hayden refined new concepts such as separation with the upper and lower body to make smoother, faster spins through racing gates.
While the day of snow is awarded, her instructor, a former Australian Special Forces soldier, eager to help a member of his colleague, suggest a saying from his old unit: “Train hard, be easily.”