Among Paralympic sports, boccia is one of a kind.
Some have compared it to curling. Others have likened it to lawn bowling. But there is no true able-bodied equivalent to boccia, says two-time Canadian Paralympian Brock Richardson.
“Boccia really does stand on its own and you can compete against people that are like-minded to you and [have similar] ability as well,” Richardson said.
The 32-year-old hasn’t competed in the sport for about a decade, but he’ll still be watching closely as the Canadian national championships run Tuesday through Sunday in Richmond, B.C. Live coverage will be available on CBCSports.ca, the CBC Sports app and CBC Gem.
Richardson, who has cerebral palsy, came to boccia around 10 years old. While he saw peers competing in wheelchair basketball and Para ice hockey, his limitations meant that boccia was his best option.
A resident of Brampton, Ont., near Toronto, he and his sport assistant would travel 60 kilometres to Hamilton for weekly training sessions. Two years later, Richardson was competing in organized events — and losing badly.
“I remember the national team coach Mario Delisle came up to me at this point and he said, ‘You’re going to do well, you’re going to do big things in the sport.’ And I kind of thought ‘Yeah, OK, I just got beat 24-0. I don’t know about that,'” Richardson recalled.
“[But] I stuck with the program and I went to my first national championships in 2005 and ever since I just kind of loved the sport.”
WATCH | Canadian Paralympian Brock Richardson on the inclusivity of boccia:
Featured VideoThe Canadian Boccia Championships are October 24-29, 2023 and we spoke to boccia athlete Brock Richardson about what makes the sport so special.
‘Like the forgotten stepchild’
After his playing career ended, Richardson moved into a media role, hosting a Paralympic-focused podcast called “The Neutral Zone” and doing work with the Canadian company Accessible Media Inc. He said he chose that route to add an additional athlete voice to the media landscape, while also enlightening the public on boccia.
Nationals will serve as a key tuneup ahead of the Parapan Am Games, which begin Nov. 17 in Santiago, Chile. The winners of certain pairs and team categories there will automatically qualify for next summer’s Paris Paralympics.
Canada is sending a team of nine athletes to South America, including Paralympic medallist Marco Dispaltro and former world No. 1 Alison Levine, who said she’s eyeing a pair of podium appearances.
“I have yet to win an individual medal at a Parapan Am Games, so I’m looking forward to ticking that off my list. As for pairs, I have one silver and one bronze, so it’ll be cool to complete the collection,” Levine said.
A sport for everyone
Over the years, Richardson said he’s observed training ahead of major events turn toward more mental preparation as athletes hope to avoid injury.
“You recognize it doesn’t matter if you throw 100 more balls between now and the national championships. I have the skill and I have the understanding. Any training that I’m going to do in that regard is already done,” he said. “But it’s the mental preparation, it’s the diets, it’s the sleeping patterns and things like that.”
Perhaps due its simplicity, boccia lends itself to a wide range of participants.
“I would even go on a limb and say there’s almost no disability that boccia turns away because there’s a category for virtually everyone in every situation,” Richardson said.
In turn, that wide range of athletes become close-knit, bonded through shared travel experiences as competitors in a sport often lacking in publicity.
“Everybody wants to see you do well in your personal life, in your career and even now today people will ask me how is this going or that going,” Richardson said.
“I’m still connected to them and it’s wonderful, but it really becomes a lifelong sort of family, because you can spend many weeks, many months together.”