What a day! After an enforced delay from January due to Covid, we held our first Festival of Inclusive Boccia on Saturday 9th April. We had over 50 participants making up 14 teams of 3-5 players at the Cambridge University Sports Centre, and it was wonderful to see so many people having fun and playing boccia, regardless of experience (many were playing for the very first time) or ability.
The January date was to coincide with CADMuS (The Cambridge Adult Disability Multi Sport Club) 7th year anniversary, having had its first ever session on 24th January 2015. They had celebrated their 5th Anniversary in 2020 with their first ever fixture against another sports club – hosting Peterborough Boccia Club on that day. Peterborough Boccia Club returned with three teams for this event – Matt Taylor and his teams helped to encouraged, teach, and engage with the wide range of participants to ensure they all had FUN playing Boccia. Indeed, their experience shone through, with two of their teams competing in a thrilling cup final, where the purple team won a tight contest 6-3.
The key was, and is, inclusion. Our mission is to embed inclusive sport, bringing all to play together, regardless of age, gender, faith, sexual orientation or ability, in the community. Watching groups of people with a range of abilities playing a non-mainstream sport showcased this mission in action. We had wheelchair users, people with learning disabilities, Down’s syndrome, prosthetics users, and older and younger non-disabled players. They all left with smiles on their faces, and we hope they left with the bug for Boccia!
Such was the fun – after all Power2Inspire’s No.1 Rule is “To have FUN!” – we have already committed to host the festival again in 2023: Watch this space for the date!
Finally, we wish to extend a huge thank you to all the participants and volunteers who made the whole thing possible.
If you’re now inspired for Inclusive Sport then do join us at our next big event:
No event found!
With special thanks to Paul Sanwell at OP Photographic for his incredible photography on the day. All photos used with permission
