Disability Sport Wales
Chwaraeon Anabledd Cymru

STRONG REPRESENTATION AT GB BOCCIA CHAMPIONSHIPS

Nottingham’s Wildcats Arena will be hosting the best British Boccia players over the weekend of October 24th & 25th. Amidst them will be the young stars from the Disability Sport Wales Academy programme, who’s rise to fame has not gone un-noticed.

A team of 9 Welsh players will be making the trek up to Robin Hood territory to make their mark on the GB scene. Amongst those entered will be GB Fast-Track programme players Gareth Stafford (Wrexham) Jacob Thomas (Pembroke) Karl Parrish (Chepstow) Tomas Martin (Cardiff) and Thomas Ciaburro (Bridgend). These are the players identified by GB Boccia as having the potential to progress through the ranks to the elite squad, and ultimately have the opportunity to represent Britain at the London 2012 Paralympic Games.

Also competing will be James Bailey (Cardiff) Ashley Le Cras (Caernarfon) Andrew Williams (Mold) Steve Evans (Crumlin)

Academy Manager, Gerwyn Owen said: ‘We at Disability Sport Wales have invested in these players over the last 18 months or so, providing a strong training and competition programme, led by our Head Coach, ex-paralympian Peter Pearse (from London). It is testament to the players themselves in fully committing to the programme that has seen the rise in their successes. Only recently they won Silver at an International event, narrowly missing out to Great Britain – teams from Belgium, Portugal, Czech Republic as well as the Home Countries and GB took part.

Owen went on to say: ‘It will be an interesting GB Nationals, as the other home countries are very much aware of the talent we have in Wales, and will be looking over their shoulders. My main aim is to take a couple of medals at the Nationals which will impress the GB Selectors enough to warrant a place on their Elite or Development programme.

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For further information on Boccia, the National Championships or the Academy in general contact Gerwyn Owen, Academy Manager on 07918716344 or email gerwyn.owen@fdsw.org.uk

Boccia is a traditional recreational sport for athletes who require a wheelchair because of physical disability. Also known as bocce, it’s name is derived from the latin word for ball – bottia. It was originally designed to be played by people with cerebral palsy but now includes athletes with other severe disabilities affecting motor skills. In 1984 it became a Paralympic sport, and in 2008 was being practiced in over fifty countries worldwide.[1] Boccia is governed by the Cerebral Palsy International Sports and Recreation Association(CPISRA) and is one of three Paralympic sports that have no counterpart in the Olympic program.

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