On Saturday 1 October 2022, we held our first in-person Boccia England Awards since 2019 at Stoke Mandeville Stadium in Buckinghamshire, the home of the Paralympic Games.

During the annual awards ceremony, we celebrated our exceptional clubs, players, volunteers, supporters and partners.

The awards were hosted by Boccia England’s Head of Development, Kate Moss, and attended by nominees, their friends & family, as well athletes who had competed in our Teams and Pairs competition earlier that day.

Once their names were announced, award winners were invited up to the stage, or to unmute themselves if they were attending by Zoom, to collect their award and give a short acceptance speech.

We are delighted to announce the Boccia Awards winners for 2022, along with their accompanying nomination, were:

Club of the Year: Solent University Boccia Club

Solent University Boccia Club consistently competed well to win the National League in their first season of entering. Particularly thanks to Barry Bowden, Head Coach and congratulations to Pete Langton - Club Captain, James Clowes - On Court captain for league finals, Tim Hayes & Mitchell Robinson.

Coach of the Year: Lauren Kianchehr

Lauren has been my coach for just over a year now and in that time. I have gone from just competing at National level to being invited to my first International competition. Her coaching sessions are always enjoyable, and she is always adapting them to suit the individual athlete at any given time. She has been absolutely amazing and I have no doubt she will continue to be and I cannot think of a better recipient of this award.

Performance Athlete of the Year: Jason Rolph

Jason has demonstrated significant success throughout the year, winning numerous back to boccia competitions and July’s Pathway competition.

Participation Athlete of the Year: Roxy Regan

To participate in Boccia, Roxy travels over 5 hours each way to attend her club’s weekly sessions. Despite, regular bus delays and cancellations, plus the occasional traumatic wheelchair failure (leaving her stranded enroute), Roxy always has a positive attitude and provides support and encouragement to other club members. She is a committed member of the club and played a vital role in the team which came 4th in this season’s National League.

Official of the Year: Matthew Sullivan

Matthew is now going through the Level 2 Official Programme and over the last year, I have seen Matthew grow in confidence both on and off court. Matthew is always keen to learn and develop, he takes onboard all the feedback from the Officials Developers following his mentored matches as well as feedback from Head Referees on the day. Matthew is always very professional and is in full control of his court, he will clearly and confidently communicate with the athletes, explain situations to the athletes ensuring that they fully understand before moving on with the game. Matthew is also not afraid to seek support or guidance from the Head Referee should a situation arise that he is not 100% sure on. From experience of helping Matthew in these situations, he does generally know what the outcome should be from the situations. I look forward to seeing Matthew's continued growth and development over future seasons.

Fundraiser of the Year: Jabe Peake

England Squad athlete, Jabe Peake, took on the Winter Wonderwheels course in December 2021 accompanied by Emily Spridgens and raised a phenomenal £505! They cycled around the 10km course in some truly terrible weather conditions!

Partner of the Year: Association of Colleges Sport

Boccia England started to work with AoC Sport in recent years and although Covid-19 stopped delivery of some of our plans, AoC Sport continued to work with us creatively to find ways to provide boccia for students. As the disruption continued, AoC Sport postponed their face-to-face boccia competition delivery and delivered virtual competitions. The AoC Sport Virtual Boccia Competition saw 638 students engage in the competition. With a return of physical competitions, 48 students competed in the new boccia regional competitions with six colleges qualifying for the inaugural boccia competition at the AoC Sport National Championships held in April this year.

Boccia England was invited to present alongside AoC at the annual AoC Sport Conference this year. The session was titled ‘Building competitive opportunities for disabled students’ and Boccia England co-delivered, providing an opportunity to promote the sport and benefits the partnership has brought to date.

Boccia England have started to work with AoC to plan Leaders Awards to support the delivery of future regional boccia competitions. We look forward to continuing to work with them to grow the opportunities and bring boccia to more students.

Unsung Hero of Boccia: June Cray

Having been persuaded to take on an administrative role on the club’s committee, and despite continually saying she could not get involved in the Boccia side of things, following the sad loss of Herne Bay’s cofounder, Derek Appleton, June stepped up and covered weekly club duties during Sheila Appleton’s understandable absence. Without June’s continuous support during that time the club would have had to close; certainly temporarily and possibly permanently.  As a direction result of June’s commitment, the club has thrived this season and the Heron’s team finished 4th in the National League.

 

  

We would like to congratulate all the winners and nominees of the 2022 Boccia England Awards.  We would also like to thank all those who attended, it was fantastic to have a live audience for the awards again!