On Sunday 28th and Monday 29th of July, the GB National Boccia Finals took place at the Robin Park Arena, Wigan. The GB National Finals is the final competitive tournament of the season, taking place immediately after the Cheshire International Boccia Competition.

After finishing 4th at the Boccia National Finals, which took place in Sheffield, Alex was invited to attend this competition. Aside from being a member of PACE Boccia, Alex is also one of our PACE bloggers, he has attended the National Young Coaches Academy with Boccia England, been involved in the Paralympic Flame Relay and has also appeared on the BBC 6 o’clock news, promoting disability sport.

This is the first time any PACE Boccia athlete has qualified for the GB National Boccia Finals, the competition included athletes that qualified from the English, Scottish and Welsh Boccia National Finals. Looking around at the athletes, it quickly became apparent that most people there had represented their country at international level. There were even GB Paralympic Medalists, David Smith, Dan Bentley and Nigel Murray competing at the tournament.

Alex arrived in a cheerful yet slightly nervous mood, which was dealt with in his own unique way, by smiling, laughing and making other people laugh with him.

The first game was against Andrew Morgan, who Alex knew well from previous encounters with him at the National Finals. Alex played fantastically well to win the first two ends, going into the third with a 3-0 advantage. However, Andrew demonstrated why he is an England international, shifting the momentum to make a fantastic comeback in the final two ends to clinch the game 6-3. Despite being disappointed by the result, Alex did well to quickly move on from the game and focus on his next match.

The second match was against Chris Jacquin, a Scottish Boccia International. Alex had picked himself up from his first loss and had responded well to feedback from his last game. He composed himself well before each shot, maintaining his concentration throughout the four ends. He played some accurate boccia, utilising his box and showed good tactical awareness to throw his Jack long.  As a result, Alex won three out of the four ends, winning the game 5-2. A great performance and result against an international athlete.

Alex’s final game against Caroline Robinson. Alex has played Caroline in the past at the National Finals and although she is in the England Squad, Alex was relaxed and not intimidated by his opponent, who beat him 8-3 the last time they played. Again, Alex focused on playing defensive and strategic boccia, to try and force the risks and get the upper hand on Caroline. He has certainly come a long way since that game and although he unfortunately lost 5-1, there were massive improvements in his performance and he really has developed a lot as a boccia athlete.

When asked about the competition, Alex said…

“It was a wonderful experience and I’ve learnt so much from playing against all these International Boccia athletes. I always strive to improve every year and I think I’ve done that this year. The feedback I got from Sunil and the opponents all said I’ve improved massively, that is the thing I am most proud about from the weekend.”

Overall, winning one out of three games at the GB National Finals is a fantastic achievement for a PACE Boccia athlete. Especially considering that all the athletes Alex came up against were involved in their home country’s international set up. This is the highest level a PACE Boccia athlete has ever reached and Alex, his parents, head coach Sunil and everybody at PACE are delighted and very proud of him.

WELL DONE ALEX!!