University device helps open up Boccia for the visually impaired
A new handheld grid enabling visually impaired people to participate in the sport of Boccia has been developed by Loughborough University designers.
Boccia is a Paralympic sport specifically designed for athletes with a severe degree of physical disability. Men and women compete together in teams, pairs and individual events, attempting to throw leather balls as close as possible to a white target ball.
Until now the sport was not suitable for people with a visual impairment, but this is set to change thanks to a new device created by George Torrens from the Loughborough Design School.
George was approached by sports coaches Mark Beeby and Faye Kanchelski to help develop their concept Tactile Boccia – a spin off from traditional Boccia that would enable the visually impaired to participate in the sport.
via University device helps open up Boccia for the visually impaired.
Boccia for the visually impaired – this device can help
A NEW handheld grid enabling visually impaired people to participate in the sport of Boccia has been developed by Loughborough University designers.
Boccia is a Paralympic sport specifically designed for athletes with a severe degree of physical disability. Men and women compete together in teams, pairs and individual events, attempting to throw leather balls as close as possible to a white target ball.
Until now the sport was not suitable for people with a visual impairment, but this is set to change thanks to a new device created by George Torrens from the Loughborough Design School.
George was approached by sports coaches Mark Beeby and Faye Kanchelski to help develop their concept Tactile Boccia – a spin off from traditional Boccia that would enable the visually impaired to participate in the sport.
via University device helps open up Boccia for the visually impaired – Loughborough Echo.
Daniel Bentley – Boccia Player Profile
Dan was first introduced to Boccia at Treloar College in Hampshire and he has now been involved in the sport for 12 years. His proudest moment in competition was winning the gold medal in Beijing in 2008.
Angmering team’s national Boccia game glory
Promising sports students in Angmering have wiped the board at a national competition – once again.
Disabled young people from The Angmering School dominated the week-long Stoke Mandeville Games, winning enough medals to make the school’s trophy cabinet groan under the weight of the new silverware.
Angmering proved a force to be reckoned with in the boccia tournament, with this year’s squad of students from year-eight through to sixth form winning in multiple age categories.
Newcomer Danny Southall took the title in the younger division, while squad members stormed through age categories B and C, earning the top four spots in both, with veteran Matt Berry leading team C to victory and year-10’s Ben Penticost winning in group B.
Manual wheelchair users and more able-bodied students also fared well. They took part in several events including archery, wheelchair basketball, table cricket and poly bat.
Year-nine student Lewis Edwards was the event’s overall winner in the younger category, while promising athlete Dan Ward clinched the prestigious Andy Wallace award for the competitor demonstrating international potential – an accolade with Paralympic legend Dame Tanni Grey Thompson among its previous recipients.
Team manager Steve Richards said: “It was an incredible performance. We dominated the competition from day one.”
via Angmering team’s national game glory – Local – Littlehampton Gazette.
See the top-of-range Boccia ramp – The Fusion on Youtube
The Fusion Ramp from DEMAND was recently introduced. See it on Youtube here.
- The Fusion is the result of almost a decade of development and research in this field. This is our most comprehensive and professional Boccia Ramp.
- The Boccia FUSION incorporates a whole new swivel mechanism allowing the ramp section to be rotated whilst the base remains stationary offering the player a more precise level of control. Other features include leveling feet with angle and length adjustable legs to guarantee stable and precise operation of the product.
- The FUSION also comes as a complete kit including two ramp extensions and head pointer all included in a custom made carry case for ease of transportation.
Meet Boccia champion – Nigel Murray
MAKE the most of your chance to meet a Paralympic Boccia athlete when he makes an appearance in the town on Friday October 26.
Leamington’s Nigel Murray will be in the town Sainsbury’s store on Friday between 9.30am and 11.30am to show customers the bronze medal he won in the London 2012 Games and chat about his experiences.
All welcome to come and get involved and chat to the sportsman.
via Meet sporting champion – Community – Kenilworth Weekly News.
Boccia medal winner’s thanks for top team
AN athlete has celebrated his Para- lympic success with the team that helped him become a medal winner.
Swansea University’s triple medallist David Smith thanked the physios who helped him train for the London Games — and showed off the precious metal he won.
The 23-year-old already had a gold in the boccia team event from Beijing when he scooped a bronze in the same event and a silver in the individual discipline this summer.
Boccia is a ball sport specially designed for athletes with a severe degree of physical disability — it was developed by the Swedish disability sports federation in the 1970’s taking inspiration from games such as bocce and boules.
David said his achievements would not have been possible without the commitment of his Swansea University-based physio team, Dean Locking and Amanda Taylor.
via Medal winner’s thanks for top team | This is South Wales.
The story behind the world’s 1st Boccia magazine – “Boccia Inclusive”
The article below was written by David Hill (above). the Founder of “Boccia Inclusive” – Note: the 2nd issue will be out in November – go here for more info.
Boccia is a truly unique sport in the fact that it caters for a wide spectrum of disabilities. At grassroots level everyone and anyone with any degree of disability can play. Even at elite level athletes, with and without cerebral palsy, can still play. Although, it is only when you look closely at the game you realise how special it really is; people with serve limitations can play using a ramp and an assistant; there are not too many top-level sports that offer this.
This is why I felt Boccia deserved to be recognised and celebrated along with everyone involved in the sport. I had therefore taken it upon myself to create the first magazine dedicated solely to Boccia. I named my magazine Boccia Inclusive; I felt this encompassed the all-embracing nature of the sport perfectly – plus inclusive was a play on journalist lingo, exclusive.
The original aims of the magazine were to bring together a wide range of stories and experiences from across Boccia and share these with everyone. I therefore didn’t just concentrate on players for Issue 1 of the publication; I also acquired contributions from various other people involved in the sport, including coaches, referees and even the Paralympic Boccia Competition Manager for London 2012.
The fact that I started work on the magazine just months before London 2012 was no coincidence; the Games inspired me to get the project off the ground. A friend had given me the idea to combine my two passions together, Boccia and Graphic Design, and create a publication. After dwelling on the idea for ages I decided to put it into action and set a deadline to release the first Issue before the start of the Paralympics. After announcing this on my new created Facebook there was no backing out.
The first thing I did was to try and source out people within Boccia to contribute contents to the edition. Without contents there would be no magazine. After advertising on my Facebook page with little success I began to personally ask people to write articles. As a Boccia player myself I have built up a vast network of friends within the sport. I made contact with some of these and was fortunate to discover that they were more than happy to get involved. Creating Boccia Inclusive has also widen my network of contacts in the world of Boccia, opening up further opportunities to gain new stories in future editions.
I made a feature of the Paralympics with profiles on the GB Paralympians and an article composed by the Team. GB was also helpful in giving my access and permission to use their photographs. This boosted my magazine greatly as photographs had been a major concern due to Data Protection and Copy Right laws.
Having secured articles for the magazine I set about designing the grid system in which the contents would fit. After some trail and error I created a clean composition that worked well with the type and photographs and provided flexibility in the design.
I released Boccia Inclusive Issue 1 on the 23rd August 2012 and got an incredible response from everyone who read it. This completely justifies the time and effort that had gone into creating the magazine. I am currently working on Issue 2 of Boccia Inclusive, due out at the end of November. My future aims for the publication are to make each issue better than the last and to reach more people involved within Boccia, as I am only reaching a fraction on them at the moment.
You can download the 1st issue of “Boccia Inclusive” here.
You can contact him by email – david AT davidhilldesigns.co.uk
Go visit his Face Book page – http://www.facebook.com/BocciaInclusive
Subscribe for free to future editons of the world’s 1st Boccia magazine – “Boccia Inclusive” – here.
Download new brochure for the Boccia NOVA ramp from DEMAND
We have recently created new brochure in PDF format for the popular ramp from DEMAND – The Nova. It can be downloaded from here – http://tinyurl.com/d8743c6 -.
(1) Description
- This Ramp is best suited for players who have more experience and who want to take their game up to the next level.
The Ramp Top
- The guide rails are made from aluminium tube which gives the ramp great strength and rigidity. The ball runs along a clear, plastic base, designed to allow the player to visibly aim the desired shot through the ramp. The ramp is gently curved at the end to give the ball a smooth transition onto the court.
- The unique, flexible tip is designed to enable the ball to maintain a more constant speed and not lose any kinetic energy, even at steep angles. This makes for a more predictable, repeatable, powerful and ultimately more accurate shot.
- The ramp is connected to the base by a front mounted laser cut, steel support and at the rear by a telescopic aluminium arm. The front support allows the ramp tip to be either in contact with the floor or to hang outside the box without touching the floor. The telescopic arm is used to alter the angle of the ramp, achieved with a simple quarter turn of the locking ring using only one hand.
- The guide rails have been powder coated to give an attractive and durable finish.
The Base
- Experienced players made it known that they wanted a stable base to give them increased accuracy whilst playing a shot. To achieve this, the base is constructed from steel to give it weight, yet it is easily adjusted to offer maximum stability for the player. It has been deliberately designed to be heavier than other ramps to minimise the problem of accidental contact by the player, or the ramp assistant, moving the ramp off line when taking a crucial shot.
- Many years ago, for some of the GB squad players, we came up with a shape for the base which has now become standard. The classic T shaped base can be adjusted quickly and easily for use and can be folded down just as quickly for transporting in the carry bag supplied. The base is powder-coated to give an attractive and durable finish.
(2) Features
- Flexible tip
- Folds for ease of storage and transportation
- Curved ramp
- Clear perspex ramp
- Telescopic ramp arm
- Stable steel base
Now the DEMAND Boccia NOVA ramp can be purchased with the new Flip Top which has been specially designed to improve the Nova ramp performance allowing players to more accurately line up shots.
The NEW Flip Top NOVA Boccia Ramp
The all new Boccia Nova Flip Top Ramp has been specially designed to improve the Nova ramp performance allowing players to more accurately line up shots. The new design includes a ‘built in memory’ so that the ramp assistant can easily lift the ramp top for players to aim their shots, once lined up the ramp can be returned back to the same angle of the previous shot. On lowering, the ramp top simply clicks back into place smoothly so as not to disturb the ramp settings.
Just like the original NOVA ramp top, the guide rails are made from aluminium tube which gives the ramp great strength and rigidity. The ball runs along a clear, plastic base, designed to allow the player to visibly aim the desired shot through the ramp. The ramp is gently curved at the end to give the ball a smooth transition onto the court.
The unique, flexible tip is designed to enable the ball to maintain a more constant speed and not lose any kinetic energy, even at steep angles. This makes for a more predictable, repeatable, powerful and ultimately more accurate shot.
The ramp is connected to the base by a front mounted laser cut, steel support and at the rear by a telescopic aluminium arm. The front support allows the ramp tip to be either in contact with the floor or to hang outside the box without touching the floor. The telescopic arm is used to alter the angle of the ramp, achieved with a simple quarter turn of the locking ring using only one hand.
The guide rails have been powder coated to give an attractive and durable finish.
For more information – go here – https://boccianews.com/boccia-ramps-from-demand/
Swansea ceremony pays thanks to Olympic Boccia hero
Among the Paralympians present were Swansea-based boccia player David Smith and table tennis star Paul Karabardak, along with swimmers Graham Edmunds and Gemma Almod.
The area’s Olympic stars had been invited but apart from weightlifter Natasha Perdue, sent their apologies.
As well as the sporting talent, volunteers, known as Games makers, who helped out at the two London-based Games, several torch bearers and young ambassadors for sport were also present.
Council leader David Phillips said in his address: “What an amazing summer it was. It proved, as if proof were needed, that Swansea truly is a city of sport.
via Swansea ceremony pays thanks to Olympic heroes | This is South Wales.
news from the world of Boccia 