Scottish Disability Sport held the first ever Scottish International Boccia Open at Inverclyde in Largs, where the competition took place from 13-15 October 2017.
This was a really exciting opportunity for Scottish Disability Sport and Scottish Boccia as teams from Boccia UK, England, Northern Ireland, Ireland, independent athletes, Denmark and of course Scotland all took part in Largs.
The format of the event was one that you would expect to see at a major international competition which is shown below:
Friday 13 October – team/pairs competition
Saturday 14 October – individuals pool matches
Sunday 15 October – individuals knockout and medal matches
My role during the competition was to coach the Scottish BC3 players both in the individual competition and in the team/pairs competition. Coaching in the BC3 pairs was a new experience for me and I learned a lot, for example how to coach on court during the one minute between ends. This is time given to players to prepare themselves for the start of the next end and during the team/pairs competition the coach is allowed to come onto court and coach within this time period.
I had the pleasure of coaching Hannah Craig and Sean McCann who are fairly new to BC3 international competition and their ramp assistants, Carole Craig and Paul McCann. They showed great fight and determination against some top players. Even though there were no medals this time the players and assistants should gain a lot of confidence from the competition and look to build on this for the future.
The whole event was a great success and we would like to thank everyone involved in the event for showcasing top boccia in Scotland.
Scottish medal winners
- BC1/2 Team Bronze – Scotland/N.Ireland (Reegan Stevenson, Callum Glasgow)
- BC3 Pairs Silver – Boccia UK, Scottish representatives (Patrick Wilson, William Wilson, Jamie McCowan, Linda McCowan Scott McCowan, Gary McCowan)
- BC4 Pairs Gold – Scotland (Peter McGuire, Ross Munro)
- BC1 Individual Bronze – Reegan Stevenson
- BC3 Individual Bronze – Jamie McCowan, Linda McCowan (ramp assistant)
If you would like to look at the results in full of the competition please visit https://www.scottishdisabilitysport.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/10/2017-Boccia-International-Open-Results.pdf
BOCCIA BONANZA
Following on from the Scottish International Open, Scottish Disability Sport held a Boccia Bonanza day at Easterhouse Sports Centre on 26 November.
The day was aimed at new players wanting to come and try boccia, and players who have just started playing at regional level.
On the day all players got to showcase and develop their skills while being coached by top regional and national coaches. The morning session was all about getting the players to take part in fun boccia activities and games followed by an afternoon session of training skills, drills and match play. The Boccia Bonanza was a great day and the future of Scottish Boccia is looking exciting.
If you would like more information on either of these events please email me at: Lewis.McConnell@scottishdisabilitysport.com
apprentice boccia coach 