Almost 26 years in the Army has played havoc with Damien Batty’s body.
The 50-year-old Kempsey man is battling numerous injuries and complications to his legs, ankles and hips as well as post-traumatic stress disorder and anxiety from a number of deployments.
But this internal struggle hasn’t dampened his spirits. Mr Batty has taken every opportunity to grow and rehabilitate. The latest, a successful application for Team Australia at the Warrior Games in Florida.
Mr Batty said the application came after he accompanied a mate to last year’s Invictus Games in Germany, where he was given some words to live by.
“I went into a bit of a funk since leaving the Army,” the father of four said.
“I used to play rugby league, but I can’t do that anymore.
“(Invictus archery coach Steve Slack) basically gave me a bit of a rebuke at the airport on the way out and said, ‘Don’t worry about what you can’t do, do what you can do’.”
Those words inspired Mr Batty to start training, which led him to competing in archery, sitting volleyball, swimming and wheelchair rugby at the Warrior Games in the US, which continues until June 30.
While pulling on the Aussie kit isn’t a new thing for Mr Batty, who has represented Australia in Masters rugby league against the Kiwis, he said feeling like part of a unit meant a lot.
“To pull on that green and gold jersey, it makes you feel 10-foot tall and bulletproof,” he said.
“To wear the flag on your arm again … you wear the flag on your uniform every day so to be able to do that again and represent Australia is a great honour.
“It’s really buoyed me and changed my mindset.
“Going to perform is just the icing on the cake. But the actual cake itself is the encouragement and the inspiration from the team.”
On the home front, a renewed focus on training has paid dividends as well, with wife of 12 years, Carly, putting him through his paces as home swim coach. The experience has brought the couple together in new ways.
With the community also bearing witness to Mr Batty’s wheelchair interval training on the local netball courts, he has had a great opportunity to open up adaptive sports to the wider community.
“Sometimes I get a bit of a crowd of onlookers,” he said.
“They say ‘well, how does that work, you’ve got two legs and you’re doing wheelchair rugby?’.
“Anyone can play wheelchair rugby; my teammates have varying conditions and limbs.”
Mr Batty’s strong community focus will come to the fore during the games, where his role with local community radio station Tank FM, support from Macleay Valley Presbyterian Church and sponsorship from local business North Coast Steel, will result in a host of supporters alongside Carly and daughter Eva (10), tuning in from Australia.
He will have friendly faces at the games with him as well, as an American friend and her sister will temporarily switch allegiance to support Team Australia.
The Warrior Games is underway at the ESPN Wide World of Sports Complex at Walt Disney World Resort near Orlando, Florida.
