The third stage in our Back to Boccia Roadmap includes supporting a small number of organised local/regional competitions to take place with restrictions in place.

We're very pleased to have supported volunteer competition organisers to run two local boccia competitions at the end of 2021. There are three more planned for early 2022.

  

Bristol

Nine athletes took part in a competition held at Bradley Stoke Community School in Bristol on 23rd October. For most of the participants, this was their first boccia competition since the beginning of the pandemic.

The competition was run by Lauren Kianchehr. Lauren said:

“It was great to be able to host a local event again. To have everyone in the same room for the first time in over 18 months was very special and I can’t wait to be able to do it again!” 

Archie Eaton (BC4) took gold in the throwing category, and Jonathan Brough (BC3) received the gold medal in the rampers category.

    

    

  

Canterbury

Our second local competition was held at Christchurch University Sports Centre in Canterbury, Kent on 5th December. It was organised by Terry Fearn and Jan Mulligan and featured 26 athletes, playing in 56 matches, refereed by a team of 10 volunteer officials. A total of 2,912 balls were thrown!

Congratulations to all the players that took part, it was fantastic to see you all back on court! The winners were as follows:

Group A (BC1/2/3) - Owen Porter (BC2)

Group B (BC4/5) - Gabriella Rolls (BC5)

Group C (BC6) - John Beddow (BC6)

Group D (BC8) - Shonie Fitch (BC8)

    

    

  

Future plans and how to get involved

We’re already planning competitions in early 2022 in Nottinghamshire, Cambridgeshire and Norfolk.

If you play boccia in these areas, look out for information about how to enter.

If you’re interested in volunteering to organise a competition in your area, please email [email protected]. Don’t worry if you’ve not delivered a competition before, we can provide full training and support. Check out our Delivering a Boccia Competition resource for an overview of what is involved.

We’ll also be running a webinar on 27th January so you can find out more about organising a competition and ask any questions you may have. Find more details and book onto the webinar.

  

Thank you!

These competitions wouldn’t have been possible without our wonderful volunteers and generous funding from the Bruce Wake Charitable Trust and the St James’s Place Foundation.