Special Olympics Suffolk delivery partner, ActivLives, recently held a Boccia Festival at Gainsborough Sports Centre in Ipswich. The event attracted 40 competitors from across Suffolk, competing for the medals in the team event. All of the players who took part, have an intellectual, physical and/or sensory disability, and most already play boccia with ActivLives, on a regular basis.

Boccia (pronounced ‘botcha’), is a target sport played with soft balls, propelled towards a jack. The game is played seated, and has been a Paralympic sport since 1984. It is also one of the many sports offered by Special Olympics groups and clubs, around the UK.  

Paralympian, Evie Edwards, a member of the GB Boccia team in Tokyo in 2021, who now coaches the sport, was one of the many brilliant volunteers who made this Suffolk event happen.

Mike McCarthy, ActivSport Development Officer at ActivLives, said “We are absolutely delighted by the number of players who have competed, and by the quality of boccia that was played across all of the groups. The buzz in the hall, throughout the day, has been brilliant”.

If you are interested in finding out more about boccia, or any of the other inclusive sports on offer with ActivLives, please call the office on 01473 345350, email mike@activlives.org.uk  or visit our website at www.activlives.org.uk