A large English squad made the long journey up north to Inverclyde last month for the first Boccia UK Challenger Event.

Caroline Robinson (BC1), Jabe Peake (BC1), Reshad Saraj (BC2), Jason Rolph (BC2), Lee Maddison (BC3), Matt Berry (BC3), and Penny Froude (BC4) were invited for this event based on their recent performance levels and performed well in what were some extremely competitive groups.

    

    

Some highlights included the performances of Lee Maddison and Matt Berry, who performed well in a group consisting of two Boccia UK athletes, with both athletes sharing victories throughout the group. On the final day, Jabe Peake came up against World Number 1 David Smith, with David claiming a 5.3 victory in what turned out to be a very close encounter in the BC1 playoff match.

Lee Maddison was awarded the Coaches’ Award by Boccia UK Coach, Glynn Tromans, for demonstrating an ability to engage in coaching and apply feedback in matches.

England coaches Sandra King and Bob Lathbury also attended the competition. Bob said,

“The Boccia UK Challenger in Largs was only the second event in the past two years to see the England athletes in action and I wouldn`t have missed it for the world.

The Inverclyde Sports Centre is a fully accessible venue allowing all those involved to not only compete but to socially interact together particularly at mealtimes when the banter was about a lot more than just boccia!

The competition provided the home nation athletes from England, Scotland, and Northern Ireland the chance to not only play against each other but more importantly against the players that recently were competing at the Tokyo Paralympic Games, an opportunity every athlete would relish.

The chance to ask questions of the Boccia UK staff about any aspect of the sport was, for me, a great learning tool and I have taken away ideas to support my coaching development.

I am pleased and proud of the achievements of all seven England athletes taking part and I look forward to the next UK Challenger in the new year.”

 

A big congratulations to everyone who took part at the competition and we look forward to seeing Boccia UK and the other home nations at the next Challenger event next year.