By William Moncrieff, Communications Coordinator
Ling Mann has been involved in boccia for over fifteen years. One of her favorite elements of the sport is how social it can be and the way that the sport brings all of the boccia community together.
Ling has noticed the social side of the sport come to fruition in the past few years as the club she leads (Dumfries and Galloway boccia club) has grown. Ling explained this: “They are that keen to be together, whenever I put out information about a boccia competition, they respond and it is filled up within one or two hours. They all just love going away.”
“We are right down here at the bottom of Scotland and we travel all the way up to Aberdeen, Perth and Dundee.”
Along with training, playing and travelling, Ling and the rest of the club are finding new ways to socialise outside of the sport. “Next weekend we are all going ten pin bowling down in Carlisle. We have 54 athletes, parents and carers all going ten pin bowling together.”
“We just love the social side.”
The social boccia club is proving to also have an impact on the wider community. “It’s not just the athletes that love going out and showing off their sport, it’s the parents and carers as well. One of our athletes’ grandparents are making paddles and calipers for us.”
Ling first started coaching boccia after attending a Boccia Leaders Course, as she wanted to get the local disability group in Dumfries and Galloway involved in the sport.
Boccia is a very inclusive sport, “everyone can play it”, said Ling.
“I always encourage my parents, carers, whoever comes along to play alongside us, just so they know what it feels like.”
“I feel it’s very inclusive and everyone that I’ve taught, loves it.”
Ling is now a qualified referee in boccia and even this role proves to be very sociable, commenting: “The refereeing group have become a family as well.”
“When we meet up, it’s always about how good it is to see each other and that the ‘family’ is back together.”
She continued to say, “we are all going over to Ireland in March to referee. There is seven of us going over from Scotland.”
Outside of the social elements of the sport, Ling gets great pleasure from seeing participants develop. She said: “Winning medals is great but seeing them [players] achieve things is great.”
“It’s about seeing people come in to participate and knowing that it is fun for everyone.”
Although Ling is travelling over to Ireland this year, it is not the first time sport has provided her with opportunities to travel as part of a team. “I even got over to Abu Dhabi for the Special Olympics. that was for bocce, but I got there through boccia [as part of the support team]. I would not have got over there to represent Great Britain if it wasn’t for boccia.”
If you would like to attend Dumfries and Galloway Boccia club to gain all of the social benefits, contact Dianne Campbell (the Regional Development Manager for that area).
If you stay outside of Dumfries and Galloway, you can find out what boccia opportunities are available in your local area, by contacting your Regional Development Manager.
Make sure to stay up to date on all opportunities throughout Scotland, by following Scottish Disability Sport on Facebook, X and Instagram, as well as on the SDS website.
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