The Boccia Super League Day 3 took place at the weekend in Nottingham at the David Ross Sports Centre. 

This was the last round of boccia matches to determine where the teams in the Boccia Super League would be seeded ahead of the knockout tournament due to take place at the end of July. 

PACE A, sitting comfortably in mid-table coming into the competition, were looking to finish strong, vying for one final push to the top of the table, building off on what had been a highly productive and positive campaign to date. 

PACE A’s first match was against SAS, the current Super League Champions and would have to be at their very best to have a chance to win. Unfortunately, Alex missed the start of the match due to being stuck behind a traffic accident for nearly two hours, meaning the team was down a player, thus losing two balls and a crucial box position in the process.  

Despite this major setback, Aiden (c) and Reshad both put in valiant performances, making their every shot count with well-considered, precise shots that certainly took SAS by surprise. Many times, throughout the match, it came down to their final ball to clinch points. In the 4th end, PACE A managed to win the end, with a fantastic lay-up play from Aiden – his balls in crucial areas in and around the Jack Ball. With his last ball, Reshad pulled off an incredible knockoff shot pushing both Aidens’ balls with his own to score 3 points. 

Although the match finished 11-3 to SAS, PACE A gave an exceptional performance given the circumstances. 

PACE A’s last match was against Boccia Sheffield – Paul’s Place Raiders. Their third opponent of the day forfeited their match due to a lack of players. 

PACE A were back to full strength, looking to finish strong cementing their position at the top of the league table by winning the first and third ends pretty comfortably amassing a 3-1 lead. But in the fourth end, too much power was put into the shot and PACE’s primary controlling ball was knocked away, which let Sheffield score 3 points, making the score 4-3.

 However, PACE A recovered well scoring two points in the 5th end. It was 5-4 to PACE A but nerves got the better of the team, with their levels dipping well below their standards at a crucial time, they failed to get close to the Jack. Sheffield Boccia seized the opportunity and scored the two points needed to win the match 6-5. 

A disappointing finish to the day but PACE still finished in third place, the highest placement in the Super League to date. A great achievement for the squad putting them in great stead for the end-of-season tournament to crown the Boccia Super League Champion 2023 in July. Can PACE A do it? Not long to find out.