The South Regional Boccia competitions, the Heathcoat Cup and the BE Cup, took place on 26th and 27th March respectively, at the K2 Sports Centre in Crawley. Four PACE athletes participated across both of them: Alex (BC1) and Aiden (BC4) in the BE Cup and Chirag (BC3) and Mayella (BC2) in the Heathcoat Cup. 

On Saturday, Chirag and Mayella competed in the Heathcoat Cup. Hot off the heels of winning his first Boccia medal, a Bronze, Chirag was keen to capitalize on the momentum and strive for another medal. Quietly confident about putting on a good performance, he was aware that it would be much tougher due to the calibre of the opponents. Despite his best efforts, Chirag won one game out of three. His next appearance will be with the PACE B Team playing in the National League. 

Mayella made her debut as a BC2 with the sole goal of gaining valuable experience in competitive match play. But bringing her fiery determination to win made Mayella a formidable opponent in practice. She exceeded expectations winning a Bronze medal and impressing everyone with her application and versatility in her play. 

Mayella  joins a small group of PACE athletes to medal at their first-ever competition – congratulations Mayella!

On Sunday Alex and Aiden contested for medals and precious qualification points for the Finals later in the year in the South BE Cup Regional in the BC1 and BC4 classifications respectively. 

The BC1 had a small round-robin consisting of 3 matches. Alex finished in third place, winning one of the 3 matches. It was tough going at times for Alex, but he powered through to clinch another medal to add to his collection. 

Aiden also played in three matches in the BC4 classification, with one of his adversaries being his brother, Mitchell. Unfortunately, both Aiden and Mitchell were delayed getting to the venue due to a big motorway accident – not an ideal way start to any competition. Luckily, Aiden’s matches were able to be rescheduled. 

The BC4 classification is widely regarded to be extremely competitive, with players being very closely matched. Matches very broadly reflect this sentiment, commonly only one or two points separating the winner and loser. 

Aiden, regrettably, did not land on the latter side of things, failing to pick up a victory, and heartbreakingly losing two matches by a single point.  

Congratulations to every athlete who gave it their best!