Boccia......Boccia?

Most of the medical team

Dave Richer

I finally made it to the boccia venue to see some of our Canadians competing. Now I don’t want to start a debate of “sport” versus “activity”. This often comes up after a few drinks in different sports bar when people debate the definition of “What is a sport?” This frequently comes up with boccia. A frequent past time historically associated with Italian and French countryside games played with heavy balls: “la Petanque”. Here it is a competition whose participants are classified depending on their disability involving medical conditions including various types of muscular dystrophies and cerebral palsies.

It is based on the same principal. One of the players throws the white ball on the filed of play. Then both throw their respective balls to be as close as possible to the white ball and scores are calculated similar to curling where the balls closer to the target get points. Balls are composed various densities of sand filled leather balls. They have 6 each.

Dave knows he has won. He simply tossed each ball away
(he's has the red ones). Noticed the line of the opponent's

Now this seems simple. What is impressive is watching them in action. They can’t get help. I saw a match between Dave Richer and a Brazilian who I nicknamed “the Professor”. He was an individual with cerebral palsy. His left hand was contractured in a fist so he handles all the balls with his right. He mobilized with a motorized chair. He appeared so analytical with his observation of the field of play before lining up and throwing his next shot. He was a thin lad with small glasses which gave him the look at the scientist hence my nickname. Both the Professor and Dave, whose condition displays varying severity of athetoic movements (commonly seen and often associated with cerebral palsy), were impressive at their control. It is impossible to convey the precision these guys had to throw those balls. At one point the professor threw his six balls in a perfect protection line in front of the target, these could have been lined up with a ruler! Dave won and cheered loudly as he made a wicked shot displacing the opponents scoring balls and putting his in play. Most Canadians would be impressed at the similar shots seen in curling matches where the impossible shot is played and the rock scores.

We can debate “sport vs activity” for a long time but at these Parapan American Games seeing individuals with these medical conditions compete and express such skill is a wonder to watch…..especially when the Canadians win !!!

Congratulations after the win

Maude using everything she can for a reach

Katie Harnock

The women played Argentina yesterday and displayed true Canadian spirit. Heavily favored, the Canadians didn’t pound them and run up the score. They tried different plays, shot with their left hand, put a lot of classification players on the court and allowed the Argentinian players to get a good game out of it instead of being embarrassed. They all loved it and even the Argentinian coach thanked our coaching staff for this great opportunity. Classifications are what dictates who is on the court. Depending on the level of disability, a player is given a number ranging from 1 to 4.5. A person with a high lumbar spinal cord injury leaving them without trunk or abdominal muscle control for posture, strength and chair control would be a 1.0. Someone who has severe leg length discrepancy or severe arthritis of the knees who regularly ambulates without a wheelchair would be a 4.5. Then everything in between. On the court, the total score of all players cannot be greater than 14. The coach has to assume his changes and his players keeping that in mind. That is why one would want a “high score on the court” but we were playing maybe a 6 or 7 yesterday so it allowed a better game against that weaker team and allowed some of our players to have roles that were not their common one.

Cindy frequently gets the ball up the court

Made it to the table tennis venue and caught Masoud Mojtahed’s match which he won in 3 straight games. Born in Iran, he was afflicted with polio at a young age. He is now a software architect and trains 7 days a week. 

Masoud in winning form

Tomorrow, there's a gold medal at play for table tennis.