Boccia Athletes To Compete In Americas Cup
WindReach Bermuda has announced that four of its Adaptive Sports participants will be travelling to Kansas on August 1, 2013, to represent Bermuda in the Americas Cup Boccia Tournament. The tournament will take place from August 4 to August 8.
The Bermuda team will compete against elite athletes from South, Central and North America and the competition is expected to be fierce. Bermuda will be represented by Yushae Simmons, Steve Wilson, Jamal Bean and Jaime Brangman. The Americas Cup is the first of several Paralympic Qualifying Events in the lead up to the Paralympics in Rio in 2016 which the athletes are hoping to qualify for.
Four competitors at the Defi Sportif tournament held in Montreal in April 2013
WindReach’s Adaptive Sports Coordinator, Troy Farnsworth, stated, “This will be our athletes’ biggest tournament of their lives. They have previously competed internationally but the fact this tournament is a Paralympic Qualifying Event makes it that more important.
“Although our team is very inexperienced compared to many other countries competing at this tournament we have a huge amount of talent and will only continue to improve as we gain more experience. Our athletes have been training hard on a daily basis and are really looking forward to the challenge. They will also gain a world ranking by competing in this event which is very exciting and this will really put Bermuda on the world map of boccia.”
Boccia is a precision ball sport competed by athletes who have a physical disability and are in a wheelchair. Competitors are commonly people with conditions such as Muscular Dystrophy, Spinal Cord Injury and Cerebral Palsy. Like most Paralympic sports, players are classified so they compete against people with similar disabilities. The aim of the game is to propel your colored balls as close to the white [jack] ball as possible. It requires tremendous skill, concentration and strategy.
The Bermuda Team will travel on US Airways and will depart Bermuda on August 1st at 3pm and return on August 10 at 2.50pm.
The Bermuda Boccia Team would like to extend a huge thank you to the following organisations who have generously sponsored the team: The Argus Group, Bacardi, Butterfield and Vallis, The Bank of Bermuda Foundation, BGA, Belco and the Operations Department of Bank of Butterfield.
For more information on the Americas Cup visit their website.
