The Ball's in Their Court

The athletes competing at the National Boccia Championships at York High School last week were not your typical athletes – although, in very important ways, they were.

They strategized and plotted, studying the arrangement of rubber balls after they were rolled onto the court next to the target white ball. They had their own techniques for tossing or rolling, as well as for communicating with their teammates. And, if a play did not go their way, they often called time and asked for a measurement, or questioned the referee.

Most of the athletes competing at York High have cerebral palsy, but many have other neurological or movement challenges. To prove they are some of the best in the world, these boccia athletes were simply overcoming their limitations.

As Sheila Swann-Guerrero of Gateyway Special Recreation Association whispered during one match, “If you and I played them, they'd kick our butts.”

The World of Boccia

The York High event was a big one in the world of boccia. Some of the athletes were trying to qualify for upcoming international events, including the boccia world cup in Ireland next month and the 2012 Paralympics in London.

In boccia, athletes throw, kick or use an assistive device to propel balls as close as possible to a white target ball, called the jack. (If you think you know the sport as bocce, you do – boccia is a spelling variation). Athletes play as individuals or as part of a pair or team. Some athletes use ramps to move and guide the balls and some throw on their own.

Mary Beth Jones of BlazeSports America, the governing body for USA Boccia, explained that athletes who use a ramp also have help from an assistant, and this person has a very specific role. Assistants only do what the athlete tells them, and must always have their back to the court. In a way, they are just another piece of equipment.

Jones and her husband, Jeff, ran the tournament, doing everything from directing athletes to handing out sandwiches to spending a few minutes with newbie spectators. This orientation included guiding spectators to the gym where an Elmhurst athlete was about to play.

Favorite Son

Sam Williams and his partner, Austin Hanson of Topeka, Kan.,  played Thursday afternoon in a hushed and humid York High gym. Their assistants stood upright and with their backs to the court, awaiting instruction. Williams' assistant is his father, Jim, and his mother, Sammy, is along the sidelines, whispering commentary.

The hush is a sign of the importance of this tournament for Williams and Hanson and their team's alternate, Lee Lobmeyer. If Williams plays well, he can qualify for the 2012 Paralympics in London. According to Sammy Williams, boccia athletes qualify for the Paralympics based on scores for the three years leading up to 2012.

While he's been accumulating scores, Williams, a York alumus with cerebral palsy, also earned a master's degree in Public Health from the University of Illinois at Chicago.

Williams describes the sport is “a cross between chess and golf,” in terms of strategy and concentration. The spectators, including Elmhurst Mayor Pete DiCianni, peer closely at the court to watch Hanson's assistant put his ramp in place, adjust it and attach extenders to it based on Hanson's instructions, and then hold it as Hanson rolls the ball. When it stops, it's clear that Hanson is happy with his shot.

“Like any other sport, you've got to pay attention,” Sammy Williams said as the room breathes again.

Sheila Swann-Guerrero watches the pairs action for a few minutes, taking time to describe how carefully the ramps have to be constructed. She narrates a call from a player for a measurement of the opposing team's shot, and adds that athletes can also call for the ramps to be examined as well.

“This is extremely competitive,” she says.

Williams, Hanson and Lobmeyer went on to win the pairs competition with six perfect games, and Williams came home with a bronze medal an individual player.

Local Support

While BlazeSports is the governing body for the sport, tournaments like this also rely on local organizations to make the event happen. The Northeast DuPage, Fox Valley, West Suburban, and North Suburban special recreation associations, as well as Gateway and Ray Graham Association, provided all transportation for athletes and their support crews, as well as volunteers for the event.

Some of those volunteers were giving up hard-earned free time to be there. Swann-Guerrero, for example, is coaching the United Cerebral Palsy team. She's the Director of Recreation at Gateway Special Recreation Association, which works with Ray Graham Association to provide recreation to people with disabilities, but is here at York High on her own time.

For the sixth year, Jennifer Mugnaini from Ray Graham used her vacation to work the Boccia tournament.

“It's like a family reunion every year,” she said.

Visit BlazeSports for a full results report.