A young athlete is staying positive about the sport he loves despite being ruled out of international competition.Alex Dickson, 16, was all set to represent New Zealand in boccia later this year. But a recent classification test has found he has too much function to compete in the sport internationally.This is despite Alex having cerebral palsy which impedes his mobility and speech and requires him to use a wheelchair or walking frame to get around.Boccia – pronounced botcha – is a cross between petanque and indoor bowls and designed for people with significant physical impairment.Alex has been playing since 2002 in the BC2 class – a classification for people with cerebral palsy who have locomotor dysfunction affecting the whole body.Last month he was named the youngest player in the eight-strong Boccia New Zealand high performance squad.

via Boccia athlete out of contest 

Dunedin’s Henk Dijkstra will return to the international stage at the Asia-Oceania championships in Sydney in October.

He will be competing in the BC3 ramp in his first major international event since competing at the Beijing Paralympics in 2008.

Dijkstra (52) first competed internationally at the world championships in Sydney in 1995 and his highlight was to finish fourth in the pairs with Greig Jackson at the Athens Paralympics in 2004.

His first Paralympics was in Atlanta in 1996. A top performance in Sydney would help his selection chances for the Rio de Janeiro Paralympics in 2016.

Dijkstra was born with cerebral palsy and has severe physical disabilities. Simple things that most people take for granted create difficulties for him. Travelling outside his home is a big ordeal for him.

This makes the fact he has done the hours of training to be able to amass 90 caps for New Zealand even more remarkable.

via Boccia: Dijkstra to compete in Asia-Pacific champs | Otago Daily Times Online News : Otago, South Island, New Zealand & International News.

Palmerston Norths Greig Jackson has been selected in the New Zealand High Performance squad to compete at the Asia and Oceania Boccia Championships in Sydney in October.He will compete against the best in the world, many of whom won medals at last years London 2012 Paralympic Games.Boccia is a precision Paralympic sport that is played by individuals with high levels of physical impairment such as cerebral palsy, muscular dystrophy and other related locomotor deficiencies.

The sport combines the accuracy needed in petanque with the tactics of traditional bowls.Boccia is played competitively in more than 50 countries and New Zealand has been on the world boccia scene since the 1996 Atlanta Paralympic Games.The pinnacle achievements so far include a team silver medal at the 2004 Athens Paralympics followed two years later by a team world title at the 2006 world championships in Rio, Brazil.During this time, Jackson has been a key figure in helping New Zealand to become a power on the international stage.

via Jackson key figure in NZ boccia team at Sydney | Stuff.co.nz.

AFTER a series of wins at the National Senior Boccia Titles, Tait Jenkins has his sights firmly set on competing in the Paralympics in Brazil in 2016.

Tait, who only took up the sport about 18 months ago, took out the overall best and fairest award and finished second in the pairs competition at the national titles staged at the Academy of Sport and Recreation in Sydney recently.

He was also a member of the Australian team that won the Trans-Tasman Cup against New Zealand.

ON TARGET: Paralympics hopeful Tait Jenkins works on his game with exercise physiologist Mark Roberts after starring in the Trans-Tasman Cup.

Mireille Merlet-Shaw

Tait is already a member of the Australian Paralympic boccia team but his next challenge is to be at the top of his game for the Australian Oceanic Games to be played at Sydney’s Olympic Park in October.

via Tait targets Paralympics | Northern Rivers Echo.

Boccia may not be one of our region’s well-known sports, but three Northlanders’ success at the Lower North Island Boccia Championships show there is some strength in it.

Originating from a Greek ball tossing sport, Boccia is a cross between indoor bowls and petanque, which is designed for people with disabilities.

However, having a disability did not stop 16-year-old Alex Dickson coming away with a gold medal in the combined BC1, 2 and 4 grades during the weekend.

via Northland boccia players come up trumps | Northern Advocate.

Special Wanganui athlete Diederik Struijck just missed out on his first medal in the world on Boccia in Wellington last weekend.

Struijck was competing at the Lower North Island Championships at the ASB Sports Stadium in Kilbirnie.

Luke Morriss, Director of Boccia, said despite having only a year of playing under his belt, Struijck lost out to local favourite Hyran Daymond in the bronze medal match of the BC3 grade 7-9.

“Apart from Diederik, other promising players such as Northland’s Alex Dickson and Wellington’s Daymond showed that they are going to be forces to be reckoned with over the next few years,” Morriss said.

via Special effort goes close to first medal | Wanganui Chronicle.

A number of disabled sports were on offer at the ASB Arena for Have A Go Day on Saturday.

Members of the public, both able bodied and disabled, were invited to take part in the different sports on offer, which included para triathlon, blokarting, boccia, wheelchair basketball, wheelchair rugby, table tennis, indoor bowls and more.

The Wheelchair Rugby North Island Championships were also held at the same time and the public were invited to give it a go (see photo gallery here).

Among the participants were volunteer Shirley Bacica and her daughter Georgina, 10.

Mrs Shirley said Georgina had enjoyed having a go at wheelchair rugby, but had come out of it with a rash on her wrist from pushing the wheels.

via Disabled sports open participants’ eyes | Bay of Plenty Times.

The 39-member team is in the midst of training for the August Games, which will be held at Michigan State University in the US.

It is only the second time Australia will send a team to the tournament.

In 2009, Australia won 24 medals, including eight gold, from the event held in Ireland. With almost double the number of competitors this time around, expectations are high to improve on that, according to the team’s oldest member Margherita Coppolino.

“In 2009 we only had a small team of 15 and the only team sport we had was basketball,” the 53-year-old said.

via Australian World 

CRANEBROOK High School took out the Boccia NSW school knockout competition at Sydney Olympic Park recently.

Sixteen teams contested the grand final, with Cranebrook High winning.

The school was led by team captain and junior and open boccia state champion Connor Hamlin.

Boccia is a cross between Italian bocce and lawn bowls, played by people with cerebral palsy and other disabilities. Head of the Cerebral Palsy Alliance’s boccia program and Boccia NSW president Peter King said the competition was a great success.

“It has shown us how a Paralympic sport can deliver valuable social benefits to young athletes with disabilities,” he said.

“We also identified some strong up-and-coming new talent, which bodes well as we look towards the 2016 Paralympic Games in Rio.”

via Boccia tournament ‘a great success’ – Education – News – Penrith Press.

Illawarra sports star Mecenzi Howard was bowled over when she received an invitation in the mail to “meet Charlie”.

“I can’t wait, I’m really excited,” said the 15-year-old from Horsley.

The boccia star, who has cerebral palsy, didn’t think twice about accepting the invitation to tonight’s Diamond Jubilee Reception at the Sydney Opera House for Prince Charles and Camilla.

“He’s famous, I’m going to meet Charlie,” she said yesterday.

Mecenzi’s mum, Toni Howard, is intrigued as to how the invitation came about.

“When she got the letter she was screaming, ‘mum, look, look’, she was so excited I came running,” Mrs Howard said.

“We have no idea where this came from; it’s because of all her sporting achievements, someone has obviously put her name up but we don’t know who,” she said. “She was so happy, it’s really exciting for her.”

Mecenzi, who has been selected in the senior team for the Paralympic Preparation Program, said she couldn’t wait till tonight and would report back on how it went.

via Horsley teen to meet Prince ‘Charlie’ | Illawarra Mercury.