Introduction:

The Boccia Young Officials Award has been created in partnership with CP Sport, English Federation of Disability Sport and Youth Sport Trust, matched funded by V and United Utilities.

How to use this website:

These pages have been put together to give you more information about the Boccia Young Officials Award, whether you're a teacher, parent, young person or existing young official!!

What is the Boccia Young Officials Award?
Why is the award needed?
How is the course organised? And who is it for?
What has been the impact of the award so far?
How do we get involved?
Things to think about

What is the Boccia Young Officials Award?

The aim of the award is to enable young people to develop the necessary skills and knowledge required to be an effective boccia official. The course has been designed to cover the important elements of refereeing a game of boccia within the community and up to regional level competitions.

Why is the award needed?

It has been highlighted by the National Governing Bodies of sport (NGBs) and the Youth Sport Trust that there is a need to recruit and train more young people into the roles of technical sports officials to ensure there are sufficient numbers of officials to support sport in the future. The Young Officials project was put into action in 2007 to develop a pathway and culture of young people officiating in sport.

Since 2007, the Youth Sport Trust have developed twelve new Young Officials Awards, one of which is the Boccia Young Officials Award, through full-time volunteers aged 20-25 working within nine NGBs.

It is anticipated that these Young Officials Awards will provide young people with an opportunity to access the officiating pathway and make a step change in the age demographic of officials providing a new bank of volunteers to support both the competitive and development elements of sport.

How is the course organised? And who is it for?

Course structure:
Part 1: Attend Boccia Young Official's training course (approximately 4hours).

Part 2: Complete a minimum of 2 hours of volunteering in an officiating capacity (to be completed within 6 months of the training day). This could be anything from officiating within a PE lesson or supporting a local club.

Course Content:
About officiating - Introduction to being an official, looking at what being an official means and how to be effective in carrying out the associated roles and responsibilities.

About the game - Background to Boccia, including information on court dimensions and player formats and positioning.

Refereeing Boccia - Basic elements required to referee a Boccia game.

Getting involved in officiating - Information and guidance on how and where to use the skills developed throughout the course.

Delegates:
Aged 14 + (no other prerequisites).

Further Information about organising a Boccia Young Officials Award

What has been the impact of the course so far?

To date over 200 young people have completed the Boccia Young Officials Award. The award has not only provided an opportunity for young people to develop their leadership and communication skills, it has provided a unique opportunity to promote boccia and supply a bank of new enthused officials to help support events and the continual development of the sport.

Please see the case study section to see what some of the young officials have been up to!

Below are some comments about the award from our lead tutor and some of the participants:

Anne Cradock (Boccia Young Officials Course Tutor) April 2008
'The game of Boccia in both School and Community settings will benefit from the enthusiasm and knowledge which these Young Officials will bring to the game. I hope we will also see some progressing to become Referees at Regional, National and even International events in future.'

Step into Sport conference, 2008
'I enjoyed the course and learned how to play a new sport. I now hope to go back into college and introduce Boccia.'

Wilson Stuart School and Sports College, 2008
'It was a one off experience that was thoroughly enjoyable.'

Step into Sport conference, 2008
'Was brilliant, really want to take it further and officiate at a higher level.'

How do we get involved?

To book a course or to find out more about the award please contact CP Sport;
Tel: 0115 967 8455
Email: boccia@cpsport.org

Things to think about:

If you intend to run a course, here are a few things that you may like to think about:

• Could this award be run across your partnership, to strengthen or build new relationships?
• Which of your agendas can the Boccia Young Officials Award help you to achieve?
• Can you access any funding to support the running of the course?
• Where would the young people be able to use their skills after attending the course? i.e. School club, Boccia festival, Youth Games etc.
• If Boccia clubs and competitions aren't up and running in your area, could this award help you to provide a structure to support their development?