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Former Cambs Cadet Wins Medals at Invictus Games

Former Cambs Cadet Wins Medals at Invictus Games

7 June 2022

  • Cambridgeshire ACF

Former Cambridgeshire Army Cadet Chaze Melluish has won Bronze Medals in Archery and Wheelchair Basketball at The Invictus Games which were held at the Hague, The Netherlands 16th-22nd April.

The Invictus games are designed to support ex-service (and currently serving) personnel recover from injury or illness and encourage respect for those who serve their country.

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Chaze, (middle) at the Invictus Games

Chaze served as a cadet at Chatteris Detachment between 1993 and 1998. He was a successful cadet, progressing through the ranks, teaching others and representing the County in football and cross country running. He said; ‘Cadets shaped me as to what I wanted, kept me out of trouble and gave me pride in what I was doing. I looked up to my instructors and they were a pivotal part of my teenage years.’

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Chaze at the Invictus Games.

His cadet experience inspired him to join the Army, which he did in 1998. He joined the Royal Logistics Corps, became a supply specialist and completed two operational tours in Kosovo. He left the army after four years, but finding he missed it, re-joined, this time retraining as a military dog handler with the Royal Army Veterinary Corps. He handled dogs in the search for explosives, and for personal protection purposes. In this capacity, he completed a tour of Afghanistan in 2010. After this, he became a Veterinary Technician, and returned to Afghanistan in 2014, and whilst there he suffered severe hearing loss due to a combination of noise exposure from his military experience and an underlying medical condition. After a period as an admin clerk, he was medically retired from the army due to his hearing loss in 2018, then joined Sommerset ACF in 2020 and in May this year he qualified as a Sergeant Instructor.

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With his Bronze Medal for wheelchair basketball.

He had practiced archery for three years, and so thought he would try to take part in the Invictus Games. At a try out session, he was also able to have a go at wheelchair basketball, which he really enjoyed and ended up competing in both sports.

He said; ‘taking part in the games was an amazing experience, I had never competed in anything on that scale. It was very exciting, and I was very nervous getting onto the archery shooting line, but once I started, it was a lot of fun.’

With his team-mates, he won a Bronze Medal in the Men’s Open Recurve Archery event, and then another Bronze Medal for the Wheelchair Basketball. He said; ‘I was ecstatic to win. I didn’t go there with that mindset, but once we knew we had the medal, it was mind blowing to realise what we had done, and to win alongside the two guys I had had the pleasure of training with, it was amazing. It proves that I have a sense of worth, it’s brought me on leaps and bounds, and showed me I am capable and can persevere through what I need to.’

Text by SI Doug Stuart

Photo credit: Theo Cohen and H4H