Progress and Perform is one of our five strategic priorities within Scottish Disability Sport as outlined in our Strategic Plan 2017-21. sportscotland invests in Scottish Disability Sport’s vision for boccia which is “Scots achieving on the world stage.”
The mission which underpins this vision is to “develop and support players to achieve their potential and make the transition to Boccia UK World Class Programmes.”
Scottish Boccia has a rich history of producing high performance players and this was demonstrated at the 2016 Rio Paralympic Games, where 60% of the ParalympicsGB Boccia team were Scottish. During this quadrennial cycle Scotland produced a World and European Champion.
Scottish Disability Sport strive to deliver ambitious performance targets of continually producing players who can perform with distinction on the international, European and World Stage.
Scottish Boccia Performance Structure
The mission of Scottish Boccia is to “develop and support players to achieve their potential, whilst ensuring payers regularly make the transition to UK Boccia world class programmes”.
As the Governing Body for Scottish Boccia, Scottish Disability Sport (SDS) works closely with Boccia UK to support the long-term development of identified athletes over several years ensuring that they have access to high quality coaching and training environments to better prepare them to compete on the world stage. In addition, we work together to focus on talent identification, player profiling and classification.
The Scottish Squad is the top tier of the pyramid in Scotland and consists of players that are on the Boccia UK world class programme, as well as national level players striving to make that transition. The squad train within a semi-centralised programme, including specific training and camp based sessions delivered annually. All players train in their local performance environment and are supported by their designated Scottish Boccia or Boccia UK coach.
Support available to athletes includes:
- Guidance and support from the Scottish Boccia performance team.
- High performance expertise through the sportscotland Institute of Sport (where eligible).
- “Team Scotland” support at international competitions.
- “Team Scotland” support at Boccia UK Championships.
- Provision of a Scottish Disability Sport athlete expenses to support attendance at competition (players on a UK Sport APA are not eligible).
- Nomination for SportsAid Scotland funding (where eligible).
- Scottish Boccia National Kit and access to equipment.
Transition
Whilst delivering a coherent high performance programme, Scottish Disability Sport puts athlete welfare at the heart of our ethos. We strive to put the player at the centre of everything we do. SDS work hard to develop athletes to reach their high performance potential but, importantly, we ensure that players transitioning off the Boccia UK World Class programme are fully supported to further their career in sport. We recognise the value of former high performance players and what they can bring back into the sporting system within Scotland. We do this by offering a variety of opportunities, including:
- Coaching qualifications and opportunities to coach locally and nationally;
- Officiating;
- Mentoring;
- Talent transfer;
- Governance roles.
*not an exhaustive list.
For more information on performance boccia in Scotland, contact SDS Performance Manager, Jennifer Barsby, on jennifer.barsby@scottishdisabilitysport.com or 07745 539 037.