Q Your name?

A My name is David Smith.

Q And your sport?

A And my sport, Boccia.

Q How did you get into Boccia?

A It started about 6 years ago when I was at my school, secondary school, in a PE lesson because I was at a specialist school. They were doing Boccia and I just started playing and have been playing ever since really.

Q What do you enjoy most about it?

A I like the fact that not many people know about it and that its up and coming, and I can be part of something growing.

Q What does a typical day in your sport involve?

A A typical day, in competition, is when you get up, maybe go down, walk down to the venue, probably play your game, drink as much as possible, watch other players, possibly support your team mates and try and relax so far and enjoy the environment you are in.

Q How do you relax when you are not training or competing?

A I tend to listen to music, I also don’t mind playing on the old computer games now and again or watching TV.

via Interview with Boccia Athlete David Smith.

A team from Claygate’s centre for the community recently won the Mayor of Elmbridge’s annual boccia tournament, which took place at the Thames Ditton centre for the community in Mercer Close.

via Elmbridge Today – Claygate team wins annual boccia tournament.

Paralympian Jess Hunter from Great Britain  came into the Channel 4 News studio to give a boccia demonstration. Presenter Jon Snow and Sports Reporter Keme Znzerem also have a go!

via Boccia Australia.

THE woman behind the new parallel sports club in Wincanton hopes to use her experience as an inspiration for disabled youngsters.

Amy Coombes, 23, recently returned from the trip of a lifetime after being a technical adviser in Boccia at the Paralympic Games.

The selfless volunteer has now set her sights on making the parallel sports club, to be launched at Wincanton Sports Ground next month, a hub for future Paralympians.

Miss Coombes became interested in disabled sports while studying sports education and coaching at the University of Gloucestershire.

It was there that she was first introduced to Boccia and after undertaking regional and national referees courses in the sport, she started working with Boccia England.

Her enthusiasm led her to be eventually fast-tracked to be a technical adviser at the Paralympics.

She said: “The people I have met through Boccia are a great bunch of people and the athletes all work hard to achieve their greatest potential, many with very severe disabilities.

“The camaraderie is fantastic and I consider it a privilege to be able to work with these outstanding athletes.

“I feel very honoured and privileged to have been part of Boccia at the Paralympics. The athletes were exceptional and all worked so hard to achieve their best.

“It is wonderful to see the determination they have to overcome their disabilities and to achieve their best. I would not have missed it for the world.”

via Hoping to use Paralympic experience as an inspiration | This is Somerset.

His Sport: Boccia

Born: 24/10/82

Lives: Hamilton, Scotland

Peter got into Boccia through his younger brother Stephen, who is also part of the GB squad. The brothers play against each other in the individual competitions but team up for the pair events. At his first major international championships – the 2006 World Championships – he came 7th in the pairs and 9th in the individual competition.

via Interview with Boccia Athlete Peter McGuire.

AS I write this article, Great Britain has just won a bronze medal in the Boccia mixed team BC1-2 at the Paralympics in a nail biting match with Portugal.

It was a repeat of the final in Beijing: this time Britain had missed out on gold after losing to Thailand 18-1 in the semi-final. In the Independent on Sunday for September 2, Emily Dugan’s article on the sport was sub-titled ‘a cross between boules and snooker, Boccia isn’t for the faint-hearted’.

This is a game that can be played one against one, in pairs or in teams. Opponents or opposing sides have sets of six balls, either red or blue. A white ball (the Jack) is thrown or kicked into play. The aim is to get the coloured balls as near as possible to the Jack, hopefully dislodging your opponents’ balls in the process. Needless to say in a social setting this generates a lot of fun and there is the added advantage that activity can take place indoors or outdoors. In the Paralympics Boccia is played by people with disabilities that impair their motor skills such as cerebral palsy but it can be a great integrator of able-bodied and disabled people.

Back in January 1995 Boccia was officially launched in Banbury at the old Spiceball Park Sports Centre by Caroline Winn. She had been introduced to the sport by a Rotaract friend called Theo Theodoris, who had successfully developed Boccia in Buckinghamshire. Theo persuaded Caroline to attend the preliminary Boccia Teachers’ Award Course at Bletchley Leisure Centre in November 1994. This enabled her to teach the sport to people of all ability levels

via Paralympics brings back memories of Banbury’s official Boccia launch – Nostalgia – Banbury Guardian.

THE first outdoor boccia court in the county has been officially opened in Gamston.

Boccia, one of the sports that grabbed attention at the Paralympics, is a ball game similar to bowls or petanque for wheelchair users.

The £6,300 court in Ambleside is a multi-use games area and will be shared with football and basketball.

Paid for by Notts County Council’s Local Improvement Scheme, the application for the games area

via Notts’ first outdoor court gets the ball rolling for boccia fans | This is Nottingham.

Groups of its students attended the Paralympics every day throughout the Games and were inspired by the achievements of all the athletes.

Josh, 15, a member of the School Regional Boccia team after having watched Boccia at the Excel Centre, said: “Wow, that was brilliant. I want to be as good as them one day.”

And Tash, 16, thought Ellie Simmonds was “awesome”.

The school’s director of sport Jo Eames said: “Because we are a lead school in the Get Set Education Programme co-ordinated by LOCOG, the students had a keen interest in the Olympics and Paralympics – and to see the fantastic achievements made by our disabled athletes at the Olympic Park had a great and long lasting impact.

via Disabled pupils inspired by daily visits to watch events | This is Kent.

Britain’s David Smith was given a standing ovation at the boccia gold medal final on Saturday – and that was before the 23-year-old had even thrown a ball. A sell-out crowd screamed their appreciation for the competitors, some of the most severely disabled athletes competing at these Games, as a tense contest unfolded in a sport best compared to boules or petanque.

The final had been billed as a grudge match, a chance to make amends for the 18-1 battering Thailand had inflicted on defending champions Britain in the team BC1-2 semi-final. Both Smith and his opponent, Pattaya Tadtong, had played in that match, but the Briton was determined to put aside any sense of pressure from that defeat, “baggage” as he put it.

Smith had been tipped with a good chance to come away with the gold but in the event Tadtong, a 2004 bronze medallist, proved just too powerful for him, executing a comprehensive 7-0 defeat (2-0, 1-0, 3-0, 1-0) over four ends. Still the aerospace engineering student refused to be downbeat. “Hey, I got a silver medal and I played my best at a Paralympics for once,” he said referencing his 14th place finish in the individual competition in Beijing four years ago. “I’ve rectified a few things with this one … I’m chuffed to bits to be honest. I played a good match and I gave it my best shot I think, I executed really well so I’m happy with that. It’s easy to focus on the reward and not the performance.”

via Paralympics 2012: David Smith happy with silver on boccia’s big day | Sport | The Observer.

BEFORE London 2012 few people knew what boccia was and even fewer knew how to pronounce it, but despite twice agonisingly missing out on a medal on his Paralympic debut, Scot Stephen McGuire believes the future is bright for the sport in the UK.

Having finished fourth in the doubles competition alongside brother Peter, McGuire returned for another shot at a medal but ended up going down 5-3 to Brazil’s world No.1 Eliseu dos Santos, who produced a miraculous shot in the second end to assume an unassailable lead.

But while both the McGuires end their London 2012 campaigns empty-handed, they leave with a hatful of memories, having been roared on by a partisan home crowd at the ExCeL, which also witnessed David Smith seal silver yesterday to add to the team bronze he won with Nigel Murray, Dan Bentley and Zoe Robinson.

And as a result, McGuire was keen to focus on the positives.

“It’s all done now with two fourth positions but I’m proud of what I have done at my first Paralympics,” said the 28-year-old

via Paralympic Games: Boccia has arrived says McGuire – Sport – Scotsman.com.