A WAR hero and Invictus Games gold medalist has inspired unemployed youngsters and primary school children in Stockton to find out the meaning of determination at a wheelchair sports session for injured army veterans.

Prince's Trust assistant team leader, Seveci Navelinikoro, took a team of students from Stockton Riverside College to Catterick Garrison’s Gaza Barracks where they met Help for Heroes soldiers and tried their hand at a variety of wheelchair sports.

Taking a group of children from Norton Primary Academy with them to share the experience, they were led by former soldier Mr Navelinikoro whose career in the army was brought to an abrupt end when he was injured in service by an IED explosion in Afghanistan in 2012.

Suffering a brain trauma injury, loss of hearing in one ear and nerve damage to his lower back and hip, in that instant the father-of-two’s life changed forever.

He is first to admit that the years that followed were tough. “The first hurdle was accepting that you are going to be out of the army,” he said. Then, he said, comes the fact that everything has changed.

With the support of Help for Heroes, Nav was gradually able to find a new way of life. He found work through the charity’s links with The Prince’s Trust and having previously been a keen sportsman he found he could still excel on the sports field, even going on to win a gold medal for sitting volleyball in the 2014 Invictus Games.

Today the 36-year-old enjoys a wide range of sports including sitting volleyball, wheelchair rugby, basketball and discus.

Visiting the barracks and getting to have a go at the wheelchair games, Stockton Riverside College Prince’s Trust student Jess Fox, 19, of Thornaby, said: “It shows that it doesn’t matter what happens in your life as there is always some sort of positive that you can get out of it.”

Fellow student Ryan Hutchinson, 18, also of Thornaby, said: “It was a really good day, everyone enjoyed themselves.”

Of the wheelchair sports he said: “It was difficult at first but once you got used to it, it was good.”

As for the Norton Primary Academy pupils, Learning Mentor Liam Corby said: “The day was brilliant and the kids absolutely loved it. You could really see them grow in confidence."

The Prince’s Trust Team programme is a 12-week personal development programme for unemployed young people aged from 16 to 25, helping to build their skills and confidence by taking part in a variety of tasks and challenges.

Help for Heroes has been working in partnership with The Prince’s Trust since 2010.