SWIMMERS, coaches and parents from a York club will be cheering on Team UK with extra pride as the 2016 Invictus Games opens in Orlando this weekend.

David Wiseman, a former Army captain from Tadcaster, is a York City Baths Club swimmer and will be leading out the UK Team as Captain in Sunday’s opening ceremony.

The 33-year-old, who swims with the club’s Masters section, is leading a 110-strong team over the week-long competition which challenges wounded, sick or injured service personnel, and those who have left the Armed Forces, to strive for sporting excellence.

His selection came just weeks after he received an award from the Prime Minster for leading a team of army veterans in tackling the Boxing Day flooding disaster in Tadcaster.

David and Team UK will take on 500 competitors from 15 countries in 10 adaptive sports.

The Tadcaster-based swimmer is a former Captain with the Yorkshire Regiment and was commanding a small British Infantry team embedded within the Afghan National Army in Nad-e Ali district, Helmand province in 2009 when he was shot in the chest by the Taliban.

Alongside his physical rehabilitation, the father of two was treated for Post Traumatic Stress Disorder which he says is now manageable.

David said he had a huge emotional attachment to the Invictus Games and was proud to have been selected to captain the UK Team at Orlando 2016.

The six-foot-seven tall sportsman has had to fit his training around his job with the London-based Endeavour Fund. Set up in 2012, this organisation helps other wounded soldiers fulfil their ambitions to use sport as a vehicle for recovery.

Training with YCBC, at Tadcaster Pool and at Team UK training camps, means David is in good shape for his first event, the swimming heats on Saturday morning. He will have his eye on a spot in the Finals next Wednesday morning, whilst also competing in the Indoor Rowing event on Monday afternoon.

Steve Creighton, chairman of York City Baths Club, said: “We are all very proud of the club’s connection to David and his role in the Invictus Games. Everyone at the York City Baths Club wishes David and the UK Team the best of luck. The Americans might ‘bring it’ to the competition but we are sure that David and his team will ‘deliver it!”

Television highlights of the Invictus Games 2016 will be shown on BBC 1 every evening from Monday to Thursday. To learn more about David and his teammates' journey to Orlando then tune in to the BBC1 documentary, The Road to the Games, on Sunday afternoon, at 14.45