Boccia players flying the flag

Bermuda is chasing a gold rush in one of the fastest growing sports in the world.

Five members of the  Windreach Adaptive Sports Programme flew to Montreal, Canada yesterday to represent the country in the Paralympic sport of boccia.

Jaime Brangman, Steve Wilson, Jamal Bean, Livingston Tuzo and Yushae Simmons will proudly represent the island at the Defi Sportif competition, which attracts approximately 4,000 para athletes from around the world to compete in 13 different sports. 

Boccia has similarities to lawn bowls and is a precision ball sport played by people with disability, who require a wheelchair. 

It was one of the sports that featured in last year’s London Paralympics and the Bermudians heading to Montreal for the second year running all harbour dreams of playing on the biggest stage of all when the Greatest Show on Earth heads to Rio in 2016.

Wilson will play doubles with Bean in Canada in the BC4 category — there are different categories for various levels of disability — and they will likely come up against the Brazilian gold medallists from London 2012. Wilson said: “I will try to do my best. These big countries go to tournaments and they play all year round. We just play among ourselves and do a lot of training.”

Wilson said, though, he was confident of taking on the world No 1s as he and the group look to continue their development.

He added: “We’re trying to qualify for the Paralympics — it would be a great experience.”

Wilson, who has muscular dystrophy, has spent the past 17 years in a wheelchair and says boccia has reinvigorated his competitive spirit.

“I used to play soccer and cricket, now I have a chance to do something else in another sport.”

While Wilson is a “senior”, 19-year-old Brangman, who has cerebral palsy, proves the sport is for all ages.

His mum Sue said Jaime’s game had come on leaps and bounds.

She said: “He’s done extremely well in just a year — he’s made a lot of progress. It’s become very important to him, it’s all he wants to do.”

Team-mate Bean says the group has learned a lot from the last time they competed at the tournament and head across the water this time with better tactical knowledge.

He said: “We did pretty good last time, although the balls we had didn’t quite stand up to what they had.

“We’ve got more experience this time and better balls and we’re looking to do much better.”

Troy Farnsworth, adaptive sports coordinator at WindReach Bermuda, said:  “This group are very dedicated and passionate about the sport and they returned from last year’s event with renewed enthusiasm.” 

He added: “When I arrived they were grumbling they didn’t get to compete so I found this competition.” n