Call goes out for sponsors to get Daniel Wain on the road to paralympic success

Disabled Sports Achiever of the Year winner Daniel Wain and Joanna Rowsell MBE

Volunteers are needed to take part in a sponsored ‘bocciathon’. The event will help talented young local athlete Daniel Wain – and winner of this year’s Young Disabled Sports Achiever – to take up his place on the boccia England squad and attend training camps and competitions.

Daniel, 23, from Rochdale, is a powerchair user and has cerebral palsy affecting him physically down one side of his body. He has been playing boccia for around eight years, is captain of the local club Rochdale Boccias and trains daily. Earlier this year he was offered a place on the England Squad having come third in the 2014 Great Britain Boccia Championships.

Anyone can support the sponsored bocciathon which will take place at Kingsway Park Sports Centre, off Turf Hill Road, Rochdale, on a choice of two consecutive Saturdays – 29 November and 6 December – from 9am-5pm. A donation of £3 is required to take part and 30 minute or one hour playing slots will be allocated on one of the days. Daniel has to play 24 hours of Boccia in one week and volunteers are needed to play against him.

A paralympic sport since 1984 and played worldwide, boccia is a target game with similar characteristics to bowls. Designed specifically for athletes with a disability affecting locomotor function, it is played indoors and athletes throw, kick or use a ramp to propel a ball onto the court with the aim of getting closest to a ‘jack’ ball. It can be played in teams, in pairs, and individually.

Daniel’s journey to success started last December when he competed in the North West Regional Championships, organised by Boccia England. From there he qualified for the National Championships, the pinnacle of the England boccia competition season, where he took on top players from across the country to compete for the national title.

Link4Life Disability Sports Development Officer, Graeme Hill, who has played a leading role in developing the sport of boccia in the Rochdale borough, spoke about Daniel’s success: “Dan has got a great future ahead of him in the sport and it is really exciting to see him do so incredibly well and be able to fully enjoy all the experiences that participating in sport can bring. He has worked exceptionally hard to reach the standard necessary at this level of competition. Getting to these competitions and training events presents special challenges for Daniel and adds significantly to his costs both in transport and accommodation and a mobile hoist and a set of boccia balls alone costs around £1,000.”

Recently narrowly missing out on taking the honours at the Greater Manchester Sports Awards, Daniel is looking forward to planning his future in the boccia world. He said: “Being part of something like the GB Championships has really opened my eyes to the opportunities that are there for me. I intend to carry on with my training and hopefully work towards a place on the Great Britain boccia squad at the paralympics in Brazil in 2016.”

To register to take part contact Amy, Disability Activities Coordinator at Link4Life on 07580 758078 or Nes from Rochdale Boccias on 07917 518236. Donations can also be made online at www.GoFundMe.com/danielwain.