It’s 5 months into 2024, and I realised I hadn’t updated my blog – not a good start! I’ve been to lots of places, and doing lots of different things, so here’s an update!
January 2024
This year started with recording a podcast with the fantastic Sue Antiss. Sue put a call out on LinkedIn last year for guests, and I nominated myself (very unlike me I know!). We had a great chat, all about boccia, being a woman and my experiences of developing a disability in my late teens. You can listen to the episode here:
I then had a training camp in Loughborough with the Boccia UK World Class Programme before a big trip halfway across the world, to South Korea! We have always wanted to do international training camps, but had never got round to it / scheduling. We spent 12 days in Icheon at the National Paralympic Training Centre, and what a set up they have. From golf simulators, to dentists and wheelchair services on site, all aspects of disability and accessibility have been catered for here. It truly was one of the best experiences I’ve had in boccia, seeing how another nation run their WCP and how their athletes train. We also had a day in Seoul, and another day out at a local shop / supermarket. Another highlight of the trip for me was the Korean stationery shops! I was absolutely in my element.
Here’s a video I made about our trip: https://www.facebook.com/reel/812253267610583
February 2024
We got home from Korea on the 5th February, after an epic 15 hour flight back to London. That’s definitely the longest flight I’ve done, and not one I want to repeat in a hurry!
In this month I did some filming for a BBC project called SuperMovers. It’s great that boccia is getting coverage and media attention in the run up to the Paralympics.
Here’s a link to my episode of SuperMovers: https://www.bbc.co.uk/teach/supermovers/articles/ztx63qt
I had 2 international trips in February, with just my dad and coach Glynn. We first went to Espinho, Portugal to train with Ana Correia and the week after we went to Amsterdam to train with Chantal Van Engelen. These trips were supported by Boccia UK, and it was a great opportunity to learn more about my opponents, on and off the field of play.
March 2024
March was a quieter month in terms of travel, but plenty of training and meetings. We had a WCP camp in Largs, Scotland for a week where the Slovakian team came over to train / compete with us. We wished them well for the upcoming Paralympic Qualifier later that month, and they qualified! Our Boccia UK BC3 pair also qualified for the Paralympics.
For the first time ever, Boccia UK held a stand at Naidex, the UK’s biggest disability exhibition in Birmingham. Dad and I travelled over for the day, to help spread the word about boccia, and do some athlete recruitment. It was a great day, although exhausting – I’ve never spoken to so many people in one day! Hopefully we have found some athlete’s of the future, and we look to go back to Naidex for years to come.
April 2024
April saw the start of the competition season, with my first event of the year in Zagreb, Croatia. We have been to Zagreb for several years now, and there is something comforting about going to places we have been before, as we don’t have to worry about inaccessibility challenges as we have encountered them in years previous, and can adapt to manage them. In the individual competition, I came 2nd, losing to Chantal in the Final. It was great to see my teammate Kayleigh win her first International Individual medal with Bronze. After the game I was selected for anti-doping where I spent 5 hours!
With the team, we won bronze after losing to Portugal in our semi final, but then coming back to beat the Czech Republic 15-0, a good recovery after losing the semi final.
I had some time at home in Northern Ireland after Zagreb, and was able to do some volunteering and boccia demonstrations. I was invited to Horatio’s Garden, at The Musgrave Spinal Unit, where they have installed their first ever boccia court in a garden. Typical NI weather meant we had to do the demonstration inside, but afterwards we had a tour of the garden. It’s a real lifeline to have access to an accessible garden when you have had a life changing spinal cord injury and I was delighted that they chose to install a boccia court. Hopefully in the summer I’ll be able to go back and play boccia outside with the patients.
For more information about Horatio’s Garden: https://www.horatiosgarden.org.uk/
My second boccia demonstration in April was at the Headway Larne Support group. Headway is a UK charity that supports people affected by brain injury. The group have recently started playing boccia, and wanted some help / advice about the rules and tactics. It was great to spend a morning talking about boccia and giving some hints and tips.
For more information about Headway: Headway – the brain injury association | Headway
If you have a group, charity or business who would be interested in learning more about boccia click this link: Contact – Claire Taggart (clairetaggartboccia.com)
April finished with a team mini camp in Loughborough. We have a lot of events this year, and have ambitious goals, so we’re spending more time together training.
I also collected my new wheelchair after the training camp, direct from Sunrise Medical in Birmingham. You can read more about it in my blog:
May 2024
May started with my second competition of the year – Lahti, Finland. Myself and David travelled out later than the rest of the Boccia UK Transition / WCP squad, as we were competing only in the BC1/2 Team event. World Boccia (International Boccia Federation) has a specific ruling about athletes in the top 10 in the world, whereby they can only compete in 1 Challenger event per year. As David and I competed in Zagreb, we were therefore unable to compete in Finland. Nonetheless, it was a great venue and always exciting to travel to a new country. David and I arrived in time for the semi’s and finals, and were able to support the Transition / WCP squad in their medal matches.
The team competition was also exciting, as we played 4 nations we have never played before (Mongolia / Saudi Arabia / Kazakhstan / Belgium) which can sometimes present a challenge as you don’t know what to expect. But we focused on ourselves, and followed our processes, with the end result of us winning the tournament. We had some fun along the way, including a pairs mini golf tournament and David trying cold water dipping!
Monday 20th April was a day I’ll never forget, 100 days to go until the start of the Paralympics in Paris. Not only is this a milestone, but myself and 17 other athletes were featured on Piccadilly Circus in London, as well as on Sky News, BBC, Channel 4 News and ITV.
If you’ve got this far, (you deserve a medal!) and you’re still reading this, currently I’m on a plane on the way to Sao Paulo, Brazil! Let me know in the comments what you think of this blog, and I’ll read them when I land.