Invictus Games dream helps dual athletics, rowing athlete manage pain
He has served in keeping the peace in East Timor, smashed Australia's toughest marathons and thrives every day with a spinal injury, but Matthew Model is about to face his biggest challenge.
He is about to represent Australia in athletics and Indoor Rowing at the Invictus Games.
"I've never trained this much before in my life," Mr Model said.
"I have a really intensive training program leading up to the Games, but I'm excited and passionate about what I am going out there to achieve so I'm very pumped."
After injuring his spine on a tour of duty with the Australian Army in 2007, finding a love of sport again helped Mr Model health — physically and mentally.
"Sport for me was probably a saviour," he said.
"When I came home it was a very dark time for me. I couldn't pick up my twin babies so it was quite gut wrenching to not be able to do those small tasks that every dad dreams of.
"But I had a great support network around me, in my family, and finding ways to be physically active helped me heal mentally and physically."
Before too long there were dreams of running in races which expanded to goals of completing a marathon. He has now run three.
But it was because of a mate that he decided to try out for the Invictus team.
"I trained and went on operations with a close friend who also competed last year in Toronto," he said.
"I got a lot of encouragement from him to sign up and give the selection process a go. And here we are."
Wearing the green and gold
Like most sport loving Australians, Mr Model has always had a dream of representing his country as a sportsman.
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"I had a real sense of pride during my army service and deployment overseas, but pulling on the green and gold is something I never thought would happen in my life," he said.
"The 72 athletes within the Australian team are all a great bunch of inspiring individuals and we get to represent our country on a great platform."
So what is his competition like?
"I've seen names thrown up of past competitors and some of their results, but I'm not getting hung up on who else is competing," he explained.
"I don't want to give too much away at the moment, but I will say I'm happy with where my times are sitting compared to last years results."
Pride of Invictus
While his wife might be excited to potentially meet Prince Harry, Mr Model is excited to share stories and experiences with people who have shared similar experiences to him.
"We have 18 nations coming together to compete and the camaraderie is inspiring," he said.
"It's great to learn from other athletes and see what sort of coping mechanisms they have had to get to where they are now.
"It's helped me as an individual and increased my physical and mental capacity around how I cope and manage with my injury."
Secretly Mr Model is dreaming of gold, but ultimately his goal is to turn up to the Games fit, happy and ready to compete.
The Invictus Games will be held in Sydney from October 20 to 27. The ABC is the official host broadcaster of this year's Games.
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