In March 2024, Age Positive and Active for All delivered a boccia session at St Budeaux Methodist Church in Plymouth for older adults with the aim to get more men over 55 interested in the sport.
This was following past taster sessions which had proven to be very popular, particularly amongst men in the community.
Claire, Active for All Project Coordinator at Improving Lives Plymouth, who arranged the session said:
“The first session was advertised to run for 2 hours. We weren’t sure if this was too long but arrived ready to go and hoped that at least one person would turn up with an interest to see what this was all about! As it turns out we had an attendance of 6 participants – 4 being male and none of whom had heard of boccia before let along played it. The 2-hours flew by and was a huge success with no-one wanting to stop play for a tea break as the scores were so close there had to be a winning team by the time we finished! All the participants said that they would be happy to attend again and would like it to become a weekly session.”
The session then became a weekly occurrence and continued to be very much enjoyed by those that attended.
The participants’ knowledge of boccia increased as well as their involvement in refereeing the games, which the gentlemen in particular have enjoyed learning how to do.
Throughout the 15-week programme, the number of regular participants increased to 8 individuals between the ages of 56-85, of which 5 were male and the majority being between the ages of 76 and 85 years old.
To support the project and ensure the sessions can continue, Boccia England provided Age Positive with a set of boccia balls, which is kept at the church ready for each session. Active for All also gave the group a score board as the games can become very competitive at times.
Reflecting on the success of the programme, Claire said:
“This group has been great fun to set up and seeing how the players have taken to a sport that was completely new to them and are now pretty much running it themselves has been a pleasure to witness.”