ON Monday 14th January Passmores Academy took part in the County Secondary Boccia Competition at Basildon Sporting Village. Boccia is a precision ball sport, similar to bocce, and related to bowls and pétanque.

The name “boccia” is derived from the Latin word for “boss” – bottia. The sport is contested at local, national and international levels but as yet is not known by a lot of people. In 1984 it became a Paralympic sport and in 2008 it was being practised in over fifty countries worldwide, so it’s popularity is slowly increasing.

Passmores students Liam, Jacob, Lois, Sophie, Jordan and Daisy represented Passmores Academy at this prestigious event. The team were fantastic and ended up finishing in 1st place out of 20 schools, a wonderful achievement for the amazingly talented team. Daisy, one of the team, stated “It was a lot of fun. We had to throw the ball and try and get it as close to the white ball as possible.

“We nearly didn’t win because the other team was very good. I was really happy to be chosen to be part of the team and even happier that we came first and I was given a medal.”