My cousin Leslie Martin sadly passed away on the 18th of November after the sheffield wednesday match at hillsborough. Hillsborough stadium was place he loved to be watching the owls and will be dearly missed by everyone. Leslie was also a very good and keen boccia player a sport for the disabilities and leslie won double gold in the special olympics a few months ago. Big things was ahead for the big man in boccia and i am sure he will throwing a few boccia balls about up there. Leslie,s brother kyle also plays boccia and loves it and will carry on competing and i hope our kyle will be succesful and we give him and all his team mates the help they need and deserve. I am sure leslie will be watching Kyle and the team and will never be far away. I want us all to raise as much as we can for sheffield boccia club so they can continue to get equipment, player fees, travel to tournaments etc. Sheffield boccia club is run as a voluntary charity and deserves what we can do for them. The players of different disabilities love the sport love thier freinds and are doing something they love and makes them happy.

Boccia is a tactical indoor ball game, which became a Paralympic sport in 1984. Originally intended for people with severe cerebral palsy, it is now played in over 50 countries. The game consists of four ends in individual and pairs matches and six ends in team matches. Players aim to propel their side’s six balls closer to the target ball than those of their opponent(s). Some players, who don’t have the strength to throw their balls, use a ramp to roll them onto court. In this highly competitive game, players frequently knock each other’s balls out of the way and even off the court. Boccia Sheffield, formed by local teacher Mark Dolan at the beginning of 2014, develops athletes with disabilities who want to play boccia in a competitive environment. The club, which was awarded Boccia England’s Club of the Year in 2015, provides free qualified coaching for two hours each week at Talbot Specialist School in Sheffield. There are twelve regular athletes, aged from 10 to 42, with a roughly equal split of men and women.

The majority have some form of Cerebral Palsy and most use wheelchairs. Mark continues to chair the club. He is supported by half a dozen coaches and officials, all of whom give their time voluntarily to the club. Boccia is an empowering sport. Some of our athletes feel that Boccia is the only thing at which they can excel. Boccia gives them an opportunity to prove themselves and so we coach them to enter local, regional and national competitions. We are delighted that they have collected numerous awards, including gold medals at the Special Olympics.

Playing boccia makes a real difference to our athletes. Boccia Sheffield has a great family atmosphere and our players genuinely care for one another. Strong friendships have been made, particularly by those players who have had difficulty making friends outside their immediate families. Our players are a genuine inspiration.