BOCCIA – One of the oldest sports in the world, with roots found as early as 5200 BC in Egypt.
Boccia is a sport that is similar to bocce, played with a ball. It was initially designed for people with ‘celebral palsy’1 , because this disorder affects body movement and muscle coordination. Nowadays, the boccia is played by athletes with a number of disabilities.
source-Paralympics Beijing 2008 Wikipedia Commons
Boccia and Goalball2 are the two sports, for which no equivalent exists in the Olympic Games. Both the games are represented in the Paralympic Games.
Apart from the Paralympic Games, boccia is also played for entertaining purposes in either schools or elderly people’s homes.
History of the Game Bocce-Boccia
As peracademia.edu Boccia first is mentioned in Egypt around 5000 BC and it came to Greece approximately 800 BC. The Romans then have learned the Game from Greeks and apparently the name Bocce comes from the Latin bottia which means boss.
Bocce is considered to be the oldest game in history.
One of the most famous games of boccia was played by Sir Francis Drake and Lord Howard in Plymouth, England, in 1588. They played whilst waiting for the arrival of the Spanish Armada and Sir Francis Drake insisted on finishing the game before sailing out to defeat the enemy.
1984 was the first year that boccia was introduced at the Paralympic Games of New York.
The Official Federation for Boccia is the BisFed – Boccia International Sports Federation3
How is Boccia played?
It requires precision but also strategy to play this game.
Boccia is practiced on a flat surface, and the players’ goal is to throw coloured balls to their ‘target white ball’ (named Jack).
Winner is the player (pair or team) who manages to throw (or roll) most balls near “Jack”
Team matches have 6 rounds, while individual (or pair) matches have four rounds.
6 balls are thrown per athlete or team during every round.
The points are distributed to the team or athlete with the balls closer to the Jack.
After each end, the athlete, pair or team with the ball closest to the jack receive one point, and an additional point for every ball that is closer to the jack than the opponent’s.
After the end of every round, the team (or individual) with
How many categories are there?
The athletes are classified into 4 different classifications, according to their disability. This is performed for competition purposes, as the teams or athletes competing need to be able to perform the same actions.
BC1 – CATEGORY
Players in this class throw the ball with the hand or foot. They may compete with an assistant who stays outside of the competitor’s playing box, to stabilize or adjust their playing chair and give the ball to the player when requested.
BC2– CATEGORY
Players in this class throw the ball with the hand. They are not eligible for assistance.
BC3– CATEGORY
Players in this class have very severe locomotor dysfunction in all four extremities. Players in this class have no sustained grasp or release action and although they may have arm movement, they have insufficient range of movement to propel a Boccia ball onto the court. They may use an assistive device such as a ramp to deliver the ball. They may compete with an assistant; assistants must keep their back to the court and their eyes averted from play
BC4– CATEGORY
Players in this class have severe locomotor dysfunction of all four extremities as well as poor trunk control. They can demonstrate sufficient dexterity to throw the ball onto the court. Players are not eligible for assistance.
You can watch this video by the Paralympic Games for more history, rules and equipment.
source: bisfed.com Boccia
source: paralympic.org – Boccia
source : academia.edu
source- Paralympics.org - history of Boccia
DISCLAIMER:
This post is to support my fellow steemian Anna, whom I admire for her courage and devotion to what she loves. I believe that he deserves the world and I wish her all the best.
All the SBDs coming from this post will be transferred to Anna after this posts payout.
You can see more about this initiative here
[quoting Anna]
My name is Αννα Ντέντα (Anna Deda) and I'm an athlete of the Greek national Boccia Paralympic team.
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On July 26, the Boccia Open World Championship will be held in Portugal. Participating in this championship is very important because it gives me the opportunity to secure some of the qualification points I need for the Tokyo 2020 Paralympic Games.
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Until recently I believed that my participation in this important championship is unfortunately not possible and the reason is that the responsible state organization informed us that it no longer has the money for the participation of the National Paralympic Team in this championship, in other words the lack of money. They also told us that whoever wishes to take part in this Championship, they can do so at their own expenses.
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