Posted Wednesday 21 October 2015
​The Sport and Active Lifestyles team have secured funding from Sportivate to run boccia sessions in partnership with Bedelsford School, the local school for children with disabilities near the Penrhyn Road and Knights Park campuses.
Boccia is a target ball sport from the same family as petanque and bowls. It is a Paralympic sport for athletes with disabilities that have a major impact on motor skills and can be played from sitting so an accessible sport for wheelchair users.
The funding will allow us to set up a boccia coaching course at Bedelsford School, to train up to 20 students. We hope that some of the University's 1,829 students with disabilities take part in this coaching opportunity, and any remaining places will be offered to the disability team at RBK, who have already expressed an interest in our project.
Once our students are fully trained, boccia sessions will run weekly at the school for the pupils. We plan to continue the training programme for our students through the University VIPS (Volunteers Inspiring People via Sport) programme, and therefor continue to bring the sessions to the school pupils.
Kingston University alumni and former Bedelsford pupil, Jayson Shetty (BSc Science Studies, 2007, pictured top with friend,Charlotte Horobin), has played a major part in this project. Not only has he helped us forge a strong relationship with the school through his position as a governor there, but he will also benefit from the funding as he is going to take part in the coaching training.
As part of this project we have also been in contact with local successful boccia team, The Bees. The Bees are more than happy to offer a very exciting opportunity to any talented players coming to our recreational sessions that wish to take the sport further.
30 August 2024