Luke who has Autism is part of the Paul’s Place Boccia Team and was introduced the sport through the charity Paul’s Place, in Bristol.

At Paul’s Place the boccia teams are run by disabled people, with the support of Paul’s Place staff. Paul’s Place regularly promotes the sport locally, taking their love of boccia into schools and colleges. They currently have six teams, three in Boccia England's Super League and three in the National League.

During a Zoom call with Paul’s Place staff, Luke shared his previous experiences with the sport as well as what he has been up to in lockdown. One of his particular highlights was at the National League in 2013:

"We were 6-4 down, we needed 3 to win. Then the referee was holding up his hand showing 3 fingers. I just looked at my hands and I was shaking, I couldn’t believe it, I was thinking - we've done it! We just won a competition! Everyone was celebrating, my mum came to watch and she was on the phone crying, everyone was crying but I was just jumping and celebrating!"

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You can watch the full interview and download the transcript below.

Download the transcript of Luke's interview

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Luke has a tattoo of his favourite sports on his arm, created by Mike from Freak or Unique in Bristol. As well as rugby, darts and ten-pin bowling, boccia is a very prominent feature!

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Here is Luke celebrating with his Paul's Place team mates at the Super League in 2018.