Largs played host to the National Boccia Training Camp, which was held earlier this month (13th to 15th February) at sportscotland National Sports Training Centre Inverclyde.
Attending the camp were seven national players plus one development player from Scotland, as well as five players and a couple coaches from Disability Sport Norther Ireland (DSNI).
The camp kicked off on the Friday with a ‘connections and culture’ workshop. This allowed for the new squad members to hear from the more experienced players about the impact and involvement of being in the squad, followed by the opportunity to discuss player’s aspirations.
This was followed by a two-hour long skills session with DSNI.
The Saturday was a jampacked day of training from 9am to 6pm, divided into a morning and afternoon session. Players were separated into small groups of mixed classifications and squads. This allowed players to learn from each other, share insights and tips and gain an understanding of the different skills required per player.
Each group also had access to a selection of coaches from both Scottish Disability Sport (SDS) and DSNI.
Scottish squad member, Fiona Muirhead, commented on the day saying: “Having coaches and athletes from Northern Ireland has provided a good opportunity to play against new players, particularly those we don’t play often, it was also good to engage with new coaches and different coaching styles. It just gives us a bit more variety and an opportunity to push ourselves more.”
After the intense day of training on Saturday, the evening’s entertainment involved a quiz and music bingo – it was quite the social affair!
Sunday provided players with the opportunity to put their learning from Saturday to the test, with games played from 9am to 12noon in proper matchday format.
SDS’ Boccia Development Officer, Jonathan Kennedy, regarded the camp a big success. He said, “It was fantastic to have a joint camp with players and coaches from DSNI.
“I feel the camp is invaluable to everyone who attended as everyone can share their knowledge and experience and as a result support player and coach development.
“This joint camp, which has been done for a few years now, allowed for close partnership working between both SDS and DSNI. The set up supports players across the national squad pathway through to those on the world class programme and I believe it is a unique set up that we have with both countries playing a part in shaping the camp.”
He continued to say: “It was also great to see young up and coming development players attending with their coaches to work with the other coaches and players both in gaining information but sharing their knowledge and experience. ”
Fiona added to this, saying: “The Scottish Camp always has such a lovely atmosphere. It was really exciting to see the new faces, particularly the new female faces joining the group.”
Reflecting on the weekend, Scottish and Boccia UK Performance coach, Claire Morrison, said: “It is always great to get our Scottish Squad players together for an intensive couple of days training and matchplay.
“Having the opportunity to work alongside our friends from Northern Ireland also brings a different dimension and variety to our work. It is a really important way to start the season both technically and from a connectivity perspective.
“There is a great mix of experience and youth in the group of players and I love to see how they work together and support each other to learn and have fun in this environment.”
If you would like to find out more about boccia and how you can get involved as a player, official, volunteer, coach, education practitioner, please get in contact with SDS’ boccia development manager at: jonathan.kennedy@sottishdisabilitysport.co.uk or call: 0131 317 1130
To find out how you can get involved in disability sport throughout your area as a participant, coach, official or volunteer, contact your Regional Development Manager.
To keep up to date with all things disability sport across Scotland, follow Scottish Disability Sport on Facebook, Instagram and LinkedIn.
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