Barry team take boccia league win (From Barry And District News)

Barry team take boccia league win

A TEAM from Barry's New Horizons Day Centre - The Botchers - has clinched this year's Vale Adult Boccia League title.

Organised by the Vale of Glamorgan Council's sports, arts and play development team, the league comprised of ten teams from New Horizons (formerly Hen Goleg), the Boccia Rollers Club and ValePlus and matches took place over a ten-week period at Barry Leisure Centre.

The culmination of the league was a presentation ceremony - ValePlus teams were unable to attend due to a prior engagement - where more than 30 players received medals and certificates of participation from Michelle Daltry, national manager for Disability Sport Wales.

Michelle acknowledged the excellent standard of play of all of the teams, highlighted by the fact that just a few points separated the top three.

The Botchers (Paul Weeks, Dilwyn Williams, Paul Gardener and Mark Alexander) received the trophy and individual trophies and certificates of merit.

A very close second and third were The Roller Dragons (Jonathan Wright, Brian O'Connor, Jordan Davies Smith and James Savory) and The Vikings (Richard Field, Heather Williams and Christopher Hartery) respectively.

Thanks were extended to all the volunteers and helpers, especially Linda Ruston and Faye (New Horizons), Sandra Hartery, Val Savory and Delphine Pedersen (Boccia Rollers) and Melanie Thomas (ValePlus).

Karen Davies, who manages the Vale's sports, arts and play Development Team, and who has been involved in the organisation of the league since its inception in 2003, expressed her pleasure at its rapid development.

She said: "Initially, there was a sporadic following but now, through a lot of hard work and dedication from both volunteers and participants, the sport is ever growing.

"Many players are achieving inspirational standards and have been selected to represent Wales at regional and national events."

Similar to boules, boccia was originally created for people with cerebral palsy but is now widely played by individuals of all abilities. The basic principle is to score more points than your opponent by positioning balls close to a target ball.

Boccia is played recreationally and competitively - up to Paralympic level - by both the disabled and able bodied.