Amazing festival of Inclusive Boccia with P2I ambassador Archie Eaton
After last year’s successful Festival, we ran our second Festival of Inclusive Boccia on April 15th 2023 – an event we hope will be an annual one from now on! We had over 50 participants making up 12 teams of 4-5 players at the brilliant Cambridge University Sports Centre – the teams ranging from expert all the way through to beginner.
Once again, it was wonderful to see so many people having fun and playing Boccia, regardless of experience or ability.
Peterborough Boccia Club returned with six teams for this event, up from three last year, whilst CADMUS entered three teams. The Cambridge Tennis Club (who will help us run the Festival of Inclusive Tennis on 15th July 2023) entered a side, our amazing Ambassador Archie Eaton – no. 2 in the country in his category – came with an impressive team, and our fantastic Trustee Gemma Thake combined with a number of individual sign ups to make a ‘super team’.
The more experienced teams and players helped to encouraged and teach the wider range of participants to ensure they all had fun whilst playing – the group games eventually leading to a seeded knockout where the games became more competitive! Peterborough’s experience shone through, with two of their teams competing in a thrilling cup final, where a tight contest was won in an extra ‘end’ after tying initially.
As always, the key was inclusion and fun – and making sure no one was left on the bench. Our mission is to embed inclusive sport, bringing all to play together, regardless of age, gender, faith, sexual orientation or ability, in the community. The Festival of Inclusive Boccia brings many of those people to play a non-mainstream sport, showcasing our mission in action. Everyone left with smiles on their faces, and we hope they left with the bug for Boccia!
As always we wish to extend a huge thank you to all the participants and volunteers who made the whole thing possible, and to Cambridge University Sports Centre for hosting us again.
If you are inspired for inclusive sport then do join us at one of our other upcoming Festivals of Inclusive Sport:
No event found!
