Smile Boccia Open welcomed hundreds of people to Newcastle
The biggest Boccia Open across the UK ever was held in Newcastle on Sunday 12th November 2023. Smile Through Sport hosted their 10th Boccia Open, where over 120 disabled individuals and 50 volunteers participated in Boccia. Players travelled from all over the UK to compete, from the North East, Yorkshire, Liverpool, Scotland and even as far away as Surrey. The Smile Boccia Open 2023 consisted of 14 separate competitions which included players with both physical and learning disabilities. The competitors ranged from top level England players through to absolute beginners who were taking part in their first ever boccia competition.
Boccia is a disability sport that tests precision and accuracy. At a Paralympic level the sport is designed for athletes with severe physical disabilities. However, boccia is played and enjoyed by people of all abilities.
Smile founder and Paralympian, Stephen Miller MBE is extremely proud to be able to bring this event to the North East again. Stephen said ‘We are extremely grateful that we have been able to deliver this event again. To see so many people involved in Boccia is incredible and to see it in the North East is even better. Disabled people often have very limited opportunity to take part in sport and the success of our open just goes to show the demand out there. This is our 10th open and each one just gets better and better. The event makes me really proud of all the work we do at Smile.’
Tony Slater and Thomas Jackson, who has Cerebral Palsy, have participated in every one of the 10 Smile Boccia Opens and said “The Smile Open is a local, inclusive event that is always ran superbly, and its great people get the chance to mingle, and do the sport they love, while having fun too”. Tony and Thomas represented Boccia Durham a local boccia club who are currently shortlisted for club of the year in the Boccia England awards.
A big thank you to this year’s Boccia Open sponsors, Northumbria University, KJB Flooring and Nissan. The event was made possible by our sponsors and we are grateful for the continuous support we receive each year. This is the third year the event has been hosted at Sport Central, which has enable the Smile Open to grow to include more players. Smile Through Sport has really strong links with the university, with Stephen and Rachel both studying here in the past. Managing Director of Smile, Rachel Miller says “I loved my time at Northumbria University studying Sport Management. Being able to bring our flagship event back here is truly humbling. It shows how far our charity has come over the last 10 years and it is amazing to have the support of the university.”
The Smile Boccia Open would not be possible without our Smile Volunteers, or the yellow army as they like to know themselves as! A massive thank you to each and everyone who volunteered to make this year’s Smile Boccia Open another great success. Nissan provided staff to volunteer at the event, great thanks to those who attended, and we look forward to having those individuals back with us next year!
