Danny gets the ball rolling on his Paralympics dream
Danny, who has cerebral palsy and relies on a motorised wheelchair for mobility, is hoping Warrnambool residents and businesses will support his fund-raising efforts.
Danny’s brother Keegan coaches him in the sport of boccia, a precision ball sport that is similar to bocce.
Danny won a silver medal at the Victorian titles in February and captained the state side at the national championships in Sydney in April. “He’s getting better all the time,” Keegan said. “He performed very well against tough competition in the nationals and he only lost to the captain of the Australian Paralympic squad and one of its best players.”
Danny now has his sights set on the New Zealand national championships in September, where he hopes the international competition will help him qualify for the Paralympic team.
Keegan said a squad comprised up to seven players, with only three people taking to the court at any one time.
“There’s quite a big showing for the sport in Queensland and News South Wales where the boccia program has been running for a long time, but it’s relatively new to Victoria.
via Danny gets the ball rolling on his Paralympics dream | The Standard.
Boccia athlete out of contest
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.
Boccia, one of the sports the 2013 Cumbria School Games
Primary and secondary school teams representing Furness, South Lakes and Copeland took on teams from Allerdale, Carlisle and Eden at the 2013 Cumbria School Games festival in Carlisle
The festival saw 650 school children represent their districts in tennis, hockey, netball, tri golf, table tennis, pan disability football, table cricket, boccia and orienteering.
Team Allerdale were first in the large schools tennis competition, just beating Copeland in second place and Furness took third place.
Securing an early win for Furness in table tennis were a mixed team including George Hastwell School, which also came second in pan disability football and third in boccia.
Paralympic Boccia gold medallist Dan Bentley inspires Dunmow children
EX-Bolton star Fabrice Muamba, who suffered a cardiac arrest during an FA Cup game at Tottenham Hotspur last year, has told the Observer that it is his job now to “get the message across” to youngsters to live healthily.
Muamba, along with Dunmow’s own Paralympic Boccia gold medallist Dan Bentley, was on hand to headline Flitch Green Academy’s charity sports day, nicknamed ‘Super Saturday’.
The day, set up to introduce the children of the housing development and surrounding areas to the sports available at local clubs, was raising money for Hearts and Goals, a charity which increases awareness of sudden cardiac arrest, of which Muamba is a patron, and the Saturday Play Club, a Saffron Walden charity for young people with disabilities.
Macedo takes IPC Athlete of the Month crown after gold winning performance at Boccia European Championships
Portugal’s Jose Macedo has been named as the International Paralympic Committee (IPC) Athlete of the Month for June after securing 59 per cent of the public’s vote.
The London 2012 Paralympic bronze medallist managed to woo the public with his outstanding performance on home turf at the 2013 Boccia European Championships, where he claimed two golds – one each in the individual and team events – in the BC3 classification.
Macedo’s triumphs at the competition in Guimarães helped Portugal lead the standings alongside Britain with three gold medals each.
Boccia featured at Derbyshire School Games
AROUND 1,000 youngsters took part in the Derbyshire School Games this week.
The event was held at Trent College in Long Eaton on Tuesday – in glorious sunshine.
West Park School celebrate their victory in the rounders at the Derbyshire School Games
School teams represented their districts in Mini Tennis, Tri-Golf, QuadKids athletics (primary) QuadKids athletics (secondary), cricket, tennis, rounders, touch rugby, Boccia Plus and Sportshall Athletics Plus.
Special guests at the event included Derbyshire Paralympians Andrea Green and Leon Taylor
via Youngsters take centre stage at Derbyshire School Games
Boccia featured at Herts Youth Games
The Borough of Broxbourne were well represented and enjoyed success as young people ranging in age from under-nines to under-15s competed in 10 different indoor and outdoor sports at Wodson Park , Ware.Outdoors there was football, golf, hockey and netball while Boccia, table tennis, badminton, basketball, athletics and fencing took place in the sports hall.Broxbourne Council’s community development team organised and managed the Broxbourne team who had an extremely successful day with victories in the cricket, golf and netball and second places in the Boccia and hockey events.
via Broxbourne enjoy success at Herts Youth Games | HertfordshireMercury | Sport | Hoddesdon-Broxbourne.
Everything you want to know about 2013 Boccia Americas Cup
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Boccia starts of the future being sought at Norfolk School Games
Aiming to find the Paralympic stars of the future, the Playground to Podium programme at the Norfolk School Games targeted talented young athletes and offered pathways for future training.
Yesterday’s events saw youngsters tackle cricket, goal ball and boccia – learning new skills and competing to win.
Ellen Vanlint, sports development officer, said: “It’s been good for them to test their abilities against others, and see what opportunities there are with different clubs.
“We hope to continue to improve next year and develop into the partnership teams – where both disabled and mainstream athletes compete for their partnerships.”
via Playground to Podium at Norfolk School Games – News – Norwich Evening News.
Height no barrier in shooting for gold
BASKETBALLER Steve Devine has dealt with all manner of wisecracks and answered plenty of questions about whether he can dunk.
“I’ve heard it all before,” Devine says.
“They all say how do you slam dunk? How do you reach the ring? Isn’t it a tall man’s sport?
“I have to explain that there’s no slam dunking, we are just good shots, and our strength is the same as average height people.
“The court is the same size as normal basketball, the ring is the same size and height, and we seem to manage fine – a couple of us can even manage three-pointers.
“The only difference is we use a smaller ball.”
Devine, who stands a mere 137cm, will represent Australia in basketball at the World Dwarf Games in East Lansing, Michigan next month.
It will be his second Games, after Northern Ireland four years ago, but his first with boccia-playing partner Alyssa Biddle, 22, also in the national team.
The World Dwarf Games was first held in Chicago in 1993 but Australia did not send a team until 2009 because officials did not know it existed.
This year’s games will feature almost 400 athletes in sports such as basketball, table tennis, swimming, boccia, football and athletics.
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