Wheelchairs

I compete in a sports-specific wheelchair, although some of the other boccia athletes just use their day chairs. My sports chair is a manual wheelchair and is nothing special.

It is a standard type of sports chair that gets me closer to the flow and allows me to bend forward easier. It gives me greater mobility than my day chair. I can’t compete in my day chair, but it is electric so it gets me around the venue pretty quickly.

Food

Each athlete will bring some little extras like sport drinks, nutritional bars, biscuits and Jaffa Cakes along with them. The added complication for me is that I have diabetes so I have to be careful with very sugary things while also remembering to bring my medication with me.

via Paralympics 2012: ParalympicGB boccia player Nigel Murray on his kit for the Games – Telegraph.

How you took up Boccia

I got introduced to Boccia when I was 6 but there was nowhere locally that I could play. At 13 I was re-introduced to Boccia at a Scottish Disability Sports Summer Camp, from there I got invited to attend a Scottish Squad training session.

What you enjoy about Boccia

I like the fact that from the outside the game looks simple, but when people try Boccia they realise that there’s a lot more to it than meets the eye. I’ve also met some really nice people through playing Boccia.

Proudest moment in Boccia

Being selected to join the London 2012 GB Boccia Squad.

Ambitions in Boccia

To win a Paralympic medal

Role models in Boccia

Nigel Murray

Currently doing outside Boccia

Studying Sound Production at Perth Collage UHI

Interests outside Boccia

Music, TV and PS3 (and I love a good curry!)

via BC2 Joshua Rowe.

SO successful they had to move from their Melbourne base to New Earswick Bowls Club, First York Boccia Club are hoping the Paralympics will shine a bright light on their tactical sport.

Boccia, pronounced botcha, is played by wheelchair athletes with cerebral palsy and other conditions.

It is likened to boules with the aim to throw, or drop, either red or blue balls as close as possible to the white jack.

Athletes can play individually, in pairs or in teams. Those with a high level of impairment can use a ramp and a guide, who must face away from the play.

First York Boccia Club hosts an invitational tournament each year with teams coming from Middlesbrough, Wakefield and Huddersfield. Having already gone through difficult times, with volunteers having to take charge of their own affairs from the council, it has continued to thrive.

And, with around 30 regular members, the club are always willing to take more, said chair Carol Walker.

“We would like to get more youngsters to come,” she said. “When we take the sport into primary schools, children absolutely love it. We hope the Paralympics will give people the insight into what the game is. We include everyone and we have lots of members with different abilities.”

To find out more, log on to http://www.firstyorkboccia.co.uk or email firstyorkboccia@hotmail.co.uk

via York’s Paralympic field of dreams (From York Press).

Today I got to see some sporting action at the Excel centre.

Excel is home to sitting-volley ball, Boccia and power lifting to name but a few. Union Jack in hand I was able to cheer home GB’s Boccia McGuire brothers in the semi-finals but unfortunately Brazil beat them and GB now faces Canada in the bronze medal match. However Brazil let themselves down in the sitting volley ball when Iraq stole victory.

I couldn’t enjoy the action for too long though as the Paralympic Post second edition deadline is looming and I’m spending the remainder of my day in the NASUWT offices typing up my articles and interviews – sparks flying off the keyboard so I don’t miss my deadline.

The venues are still packed even though most schools go back today which is great to see. I also saw a medal ceremony n powerlifting, unfortunately no medals for Team GB but it was still very moving to see athletes living out their dreams.

via Paralympic Post: Cheering on the Boccia McGuire brothers – Harrow Observer.

STIRLING student Scott McCowan is preparing to make his Paralympic debut at the weekend.

The 21-year-old boccia player, who studies sport and psychology locally, will compete in the BC3 Mixed Pairs and Mixed Individual events in his sport – similar to French boules.

Scott, who has Duchenne muscular dystrophy, took up boccia in 2007 and will make his Paralympic debut on Sunday. The London Paralympics get underway today (Wednesday).

Speaking after a weekend training camp in Bath, he said: “We’ve had a number of squad camps recently and it has been going very well, so now it’s more about keeping an eye in, but not tiring ourselves out.

“Watching the Olympics has got everyone pumped up, seeing Britain do so well was really inspiring and now we can’t wait to get going. We have been training in Bath regularly for the past two and a half years, so it’s a home from home.

via Scott McCowan on cusp of realising Paralympic dream – Stirling Observer.

DISABLED athlete Cecilia Turk was left disgusted at the lack of help given to her during a train journey.

Cecilia, 29, of Waterlooville, suffers from cerebral palsy and had tried out to be part of the boccia team at this year’s Paralympics Games, which are currently running.

And while thousands of people will be using trains to get to the Games, Cecila was left waiting on the platform.

She went to Andover from Havant train station using a South West Trains (SWT) service, along with a support worker and a friend.

But her return journey turned into a nightmare when calls to help her on the train were ignored

via Athlete stunned at lack of help to get on train by guard on board – Transport – Portsmouth News.

When Nigel “Gramps” Murray’s crafty backhand snuck between the red balls of the Portuguese, his boccia team-mate David Smith, the sport’s pin-up with a red mohican, had particular cause for celebration.

The roll that won the mixed British BC1-BC2 team a bronze medal also heralded wedding bells for Smith after his childhood sweetheart, Kathryn Watkins, told the 23-year-old that she would marry him only if he brought home a medal.

If that sounds like tough love, it is peculiarly appropriate to boccia, the easily-overlooked Paralympic sport that appears to be a genteel form of indoor bowls with its slow pace and hushed crowds watching red and blue balls thrown towards a white jack.

Appearances are deceptive because boccia, its name derived from the Latin word for boss, is quietly vicious. As silence falls before a crucial roll, sledging among competitors is routine. So is ball-dropping, arm-slapping, time-wasting and forbidden chats with the team assistant.

If anyone needed convincing of boccia’s brutality, proof was provided by the presence of It’s A Royal Knockout veteran Prince Edward in a partisan crowd full of football flags to cheer on the British team. Led by their bandana-wearing captain João Fernandes, Portugal took a 1-0 lead in the first “end” (each game consists of six ends), helped by a spot of traditional gamesmanship.

via Paralympics 2012: Winning roll secures boccia bronze and a wedding date | Sport | The Guardian.

Nigel Murray (Boccia) – Like Kenny, Murray also suffers from Cerebral Palsy, a common disability amongst Boccia players. Britain’s most successful Boccia player in Olympic History, having won Gold Medals at Beijing and Sydney Olympics for the BC1/BC2 Team category and the Individual BC2 category respectively, Murray heads into the Games with a weight of expectation on his shoulders but it won’t affect the experienced athlete. Nigel is currently ranked No. 1 in the world for the sport, having consistently performed at the top level, one win at the London 2012 Test event where Murray won the Individual BC2 helping cement his place at the top of the game. Murray has claimed it will be his final Olympics so the man nicknamed ‘Grandpa’ by competitors will hope to finish his Olympic career with success on home soil.

via 20 Team GB stars to watch at the Paralympics.

Boccia star Nigel Murray is convinced home support can lift him to a golden swansong at the Paralympic Games.

The 48-year-old plans to bow out of the sport after London following a glittering career which has seen him win two Paralympic golds, one silver and a host of World and European medals.

With Murray ranked first in the BC2 category for the individual competition and Britain seeded third for the team event, hopes are high of a double medal-winning haul.

However, Murray says nothing can be taken for granted, especially with Beijing team silver medallists Portugal in Great Britain’s opening group.

“There’s been really good interest in tickets for the boccia and I know a number of the days are already sold out,” said Murray, who in addition to friends and family will be cheered on by a number of fellow Brakes supporters at the ExCeL Arena.

“Hopefully the support can get behind us and give us that extra edge because there is nothing between the teams.

“Realistically, any one of the top eight can win a medal.”

via Murray targeting a golden send-off – Other Sport – Leamington Courier.