A group of our Special Olympics Suffolk badminton team recently met up with the Saxons Badminton squad, before a National badminton League fixture at the Ipswich Corn Exchange.
Our players got to meet Olympian and world ranked doubles player Sean Vendy, as they were presented with a signed Saxons shirt – we were then guests at the match against Manchester Badminton. Some of our athletes even got to have a hit on court with members of the Saxons squad – what an experience!
We are very grateful to Mike Tee, Anthony Clark and the Suffolk Saxons for their support for Special Olympics badminton in our county.
Special Olympics Suffolk are hosting an Active Easter Trail on Sunday March 29th around Christchurch Park, Ipswich as a social event that will also be part of their fundraising campaign towards athletes representing SO Suffolk in the National Summer Games taking place later in the year.
Participants are requested to arrive around 10.30am and the Mayor of Ipswich, Stefan Long will officially start the Trail at 11am. Trailblazers will be given a ‘passport’ which has a map of the park, a route to follow and some clues to answer along the way. There will be some sport related activities dotted along the route too. Volunteer marshals shall be posted along the route and will be cheering our participants on! Each participant will pay £5 to join the Trail and those that complete it will be given a small easter egg for taking part. It promises to be a lot of fun and the event will go ahead whatever the weather!
All are invited to join together in St Margaret’s Hall (just next to the Park) afterwards for lunch (£5 please prebook) or you are invited to bring a packed lunch (but no take-aways, please!).
We will then be joined by Gulsham Kayembe, the High Sheriff of Suffolk who will join us for tea and cake plus a raffle, our AGM and athlete presentations.
Its not too late to join us – contact Allison Boggis allisonboggis@hotmail.com to book in!
HUGE thanks to;
:)all volunteers for giving up their time to support this event
🙂 DSH Home Improvements, Jenny Leslie, Nadia and Omar Bacha and the Boggis family for donating the Easter Eggs
and
🙂 Goals, Katie’s Garden, the Rumble Family for the generous donation of raffle prizes
Who better to prepare and train SO Suffolk Boccia players to take part in the SOGB National Summer Games than Evie, a two-time Paralympian, previously competing for Team GB in Boccia in the Rio and Tokyo Paralympic Games?! She is an incredibly skilled Boccia player, a Patron of Special Olympics Suffolk and a previous member of the Active Suffolk Board.
Evie is no stranger to competing in high level events having played Boccia in Rio and Toyko before deciding to retire in 2022. On her sporting journey, she collected four golds, five silvers and three bronzes at World and European levels.
Evie explained that not many people have heard about Boccia. It is similar to the sport Bowls but played with softer balls.
The objective of the game is to get your ball closest to the jack (the white ball). Each person takes it in turns to throw a ball to either get close to the jack or knock their opponents ball away from it.
Players take it in turns to throw the jack first. Then the two regular balls are thrown, after this the opponent who is farthest away from the jack throws next. The team closest and the most balls surrounding the jack wins and the number of balls is added up to the score.
Athletes can throw using their arms legs and when needed an assisted ramp.
The sport is played completely mixed. And can be played in individuals, pairs or up to teams of three.
The individual competition consists of four ends and six balls per player per end, whilst paired competition is four ends and six balls per pair per end (three per player). Team competition is six ends, and six balls per team per end (two per player).
Evie will be getting the seven strong SO Suffolk Boccia squad in shape for the National Summer Games in Sutton Coldfield in August with the support of experienced coach Mike McCarthy.
Huge thanks to Evie and Mike and good luck to all at the NSG!
Special Olympics Suffolk 