“That's what I love. People don't see people's differences they just go with it, and that's what's so nice. “

Access Sport’s Changing Places Bristol work focuses on creating new inclusive community sport opportunities for local disabled and disadvantaged young people.

We have supported GEM Boccia since the club first launched. This fully inclusive club runs regular Boccia sessions for disabled people in Bristol. Georgina's impact on the local community over the years has been outstanding.

This amazing work was recognised in 2019 when Georgina received our Volunteer of the Year award. Georgina also received the BBC Sports Personality of the Year Unsung Hero for the West in the same year!

In the article below, Georgina explores her journey in Boccia and how Access Sport has supported her in creating an inclusive club that has a transformational impact on its participants.

Article by Georgina from GEM Boccia

The whole reason I started boccia was because of my disability, which means I’m a full-time wheelchair user and require 24-hour care. I qualified as a primary school teacher but unfortunately, I had to give it all up because the pain I experienced became more of an issue. I'm not someone that can sit around and do nothing. When I went to the pain management clinics they suggested trying to do things that kept me moving as much as possible. That's when I discovered boccia, which is a sport that I could do in my wheelchair. There’s no other sport you can do from your own wheelchair, even wheelchair football, you've got to be able to get into a special wheelchair.

When I started seven years ago I was able to throw the ball, but because of my disability getting worse, I moved to being a BC3 athlete that uses a ramp. It's a completely different sport when you use a ramp. I only started using a ramp almost three years ago, so when I won my first gold medal in Northern Ireland in March 2024, representing England, it was completely unexpected. I’m now an elite Boccia player; I think everyone's really proud of how quickly I've progressed and in August 2024 I officially made it into the England squad!

At Henbury Boccia Club I met my coach, who I still have now. She was so young when she volunteered at Henbury she'd have been about 19. She ran the club through Access Sport and was the one that got me really into Boccia and encouraged me. I think it was around Easter of 2017 I started playing boccia at Henbury, and then in September of that year, I started my own club called GEM Boccia. I created the club because the nearest one to me at the time was thirty minutes away. So, to travel there for half an hour, play for an hour and travel back half an hour. It wasn't worth it on a Friday night.

When I first started my club, Access Sport funded everything, we wouldn't have been able to start without that and from the get-go, I was inundated. There was obviously a demand for it in this South Gloucestershire area, as it has quite a big disabled community. Members often say, there’s nothing for people to do, especially those with learning disabilities. We found that a lot of our members either go to school or day centres. So, we thought after school was the perfect time to run the club. They like coming and meeting their friends and we have a little break in the middle where they all socialise for 15 minutes.

We now have 16 people that come every week and they're of different ages and abilities. The youngest is about 14, and the oldest in their 50s. Most of them have learning disabilities, but we do have some with physical disabilities. We've got three teams from my club that compete in the league. One of my teams, which I captain, finished fourth in the Super League, which is the top eight teams in the whole country. That feeling you get when you're competing, you don't see any differences in anybody. You're just playing the sport. That's what ignited it for me. I love the whole camaraderie; you go to competitions and you all support each other.

We have a lot of people that have been coming to my club since the start of 2017 and to me, that just proves how much they love it. Sometimes members will come for a bit, and then they won't if they've got different things on, whatever suits them. I also don't discriminate. I let non-disabled people play. If someone wants to bring a family member or a peer, then you know they can join in as well.

My dad helps me at the club. We split the hall into two halves, one half is the social side, which my Dad runs, and I lead the serious side. So, to play on my side you have got to be really focused, whereas the other members just want to come for a bit of laugh. I've currently got a 14-year-old helping me referee, who is my coach's sister. I really struggle to get volunteers, especially a person who I know could run that club independently if me and my dad couldn't attend. I'd be completely stuck if I didn't have my dad helping, which is what really concerns me. My members would be devastated if we had to cancel sessions or we could no longer operate. I feel like I couldn’t give it up because my members would be lost without the club. Other clubs have committees, but my dad’s the treasurer and I'm everything else. I'm in my element while I'm coaching, my members make me laugh and it's just the most rewarding thing to do. It is physically hard for me as it’s tiring, but that keeps me going.