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“He’s genuinely interested in your journey. ‘How’s your coaching? What’s the learning experience like? How are you being treated?’ " Bourgeois said about Prince Harry’s inquiries. “He even asked one person about their accommodation and thoughts on the food.”
“His focus is on understanding the athletes. It’s about recognizing those embarking on a journey of recovery. That’s what drives him,” Bourgeois added.
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“I can only speak from my own experience. For us, you go from struggling in silence because it’s a pride thing. With the military, you never want to admit that you’re broken or injured. It’s always game-based, always machine-focused,” Bourgeois told reporters.
“I think that when you get exposed to this level of recognition where the Duke of Sussex gets down on his hands and knees and looks you in the eyes and talks to you, it’s like you’re somebody,” he continued. “He sees you and hears you. That’s what it was like for me. And I know that’s what it was like for a lot of my teammates.”
Throughout the outing, Bourgeois couldn’t help but notice how “super genuine” the Duke was. He said, “This is where the Prince gets recharged. He’s with his people now; he’s with the soldiers and the veterans, and that’s shared experiences.”
He continued, “And so you can just watch him get filled up as the day goes on. In the moment, he cares about each and every individual athlete and their families. So that was really the whole day. And with the Duchess, we’re just chit-chatting while Prince Harry is doing his thing.”
“He knows he’s on a tight timeline, but he just really doesn’t care too much. If he can get an extra 10 minutes with an athlete, he’s right down in the snow,” Bourgeois explained. “When an athlete asks, ‘Can I get a picture for my kids?,’ then the plan goes out the window because Harry is going to get down in the snow, and you’re going to take a picture for the kids.”
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source: people.com
