Cotswold Crusaders Boccia Club treasurer Anna Eaton has spoken on how Boccia is growing and the importance of the sport in her life.
Boccia is a precision ball sport that is related to bowls and petanque, with the name Boccia deriving from the Latin word for boss (bottia). The sport is contested at local, national and international level, with it’s simple format being one of the causes for its growing popularity.
“It’s a target sport where one team will throw the jack, and then you will have a red and a blue team who will try and propel their balls as close to the jack as possible.
“It’s a very inclusive disability sport; players with some of the most severe impairments are still able to play, as if you’re not able to throw the ball, we have ramps you can roll it down, or you can even kick the ball.”
The sport is typically played in a Badminton-sized court, with the Crusaders Boccia Club typically training at the indoor courts at Leisure at Cheltenham.
It can be played from any level from fun up to the Paralympics, with it being first introduced to the games in 1984 as well as being the only sport played in the Paralympics that doesn’t have an Olympic counterpart.
“Almost anyone is able to play and get their head around the rules, it’s really quite simple to understand it after a couple of weeks of practice.
“There are two types of competition that we enter in the club, with the first being the team competition. This is done regionally where we play several matches in the South West League, which includes teams travelling up from Devon to play us.
“Then there will be a national final where each regional winners will face off. It is a competition but it’s fun and not too scary.
“We also enter individual competitions which are for more competitive players who are classified according to their level of impairment.”
Eaton spoke about how the inclusiveness of boccia helped her son, who is a wheelchair user, feel included in a sport.
“It was Archie’s first experience of properly getting coached, and he was hooked from the start and ever since then he’s progressed through the sport to even now helping out with the coaching team.”
Boccia is one of the fastest growing Paralympic sports in the world and is now practiced in over 50 countries.
“It gets you hooked; the competitive element takes over and seeps into you. You’re always ending up wanting to do better than the person sat next to you, or your performance in the previous week.”
