Abingdon Boccia Club is one of Boccia England’s new BE Member Clubs - we recently caught up with the lead there, Rachel Hornibrook, to find out why she set up the club, how she did it and what advice she would give to anyone looking to do the same.

 

Abingdon Boccia Club in Oxfordshire was set up by Rachel around Easter 2024, shortly after she attended a three-hour Boccia England Leaders Award workshop hosted by Active Oxfordshire. She set up the club to provide her disabled son, who thoroughly enjoys playing boccia at school, with more sporting and social opportunities. When setting up the club, she was supported with training, equipment and insurance cover from Boccia England as well as funding from Active Oxfordshire for court hire and to purchase further equipment.

 

The club currently provides Boccia Games for beginners, and Rachel told us that the long term vision for Abingdon Boccia Club is to provide a second offering called “Boccia Teens” for players who want to focus on competitions. This is in the hope that one day, a player from the club may be competing and winning gold for GB at future Paralympic Games.

 

The one thing which Rachel loves about boccia is that it puts everyone on a level playing field, and said:

 

“We have children attending our club with the very widest range of needs and no-one bats an eye. It is completely normal for the children who are all facing their own difficulties to come together and be equal on the boccia court.”

 

When asked what advice she would give to anybody looking to set up their own club, she said her advice would be to “roll with it” and added:

 

“Start off by obtaining a set of balls and inviting some friends to play. See how it goes and expand it from there!”

 

Rachel explained how her local leisure centre and council had been very supportive in the process by offering discounted rates for venue hire.

 

Her mission now is to perfect the art of advertising and branding so that she can get the word out about the club that little bit more! 

 

For guidance and support about setting up a new boccia club in your local area, please get in touch with Boccia England by emailing [email protected] or calling 0115 967 8455