Cerebral Palsy Society of New Zealand

Society’s Tournament gathers momentum

Great to see so many new faces at the 5th annual Cerebral Palsy Society’s Boccia Holiday Tournament held over Auckland’s Anniversary weekend.

Over Saturday and Sunday (morning) fifty players occupied the courts at Manukau’s Allen Brewster Centre to participate in the singles handicapped event. During Sunday afternoon the pair’s event kicked into gear with forty-seven entrants. There was so many players eager to enter this event that more than a few of the twenty pairs registered, had a substitute to help them on their winning ways.

The basic principle of both events was to have a lot of fun but there was a cutting edge to the whole tournament as there were great prizes to be won, sponsored by the Society.

More often than not this tournament uncovers a new talent and this year’s new “Kid on the block” is Danny Chamberlain, who quickly tore up the novice tag and blasted through the field to become the singles champion.
“The weekend was great,” enthused Danny. “I will be back next year to defend my title. I really enjoyed the comradeship off the court as well.”

To see photos of the Tournament

Results sheet

Another person to sample Boccia for the first time was Craig Grey who took part in both the singles and pairs events. He reckoned the tournament was “The Best” and really enjoyed the atmosphere.
It was great to see Redmond Nicholson on the scene again playing excellent boccia for such a long layoff. NZ representative player Paul Munckhof was in sublime form which augers well for the upcoming Paralympics in Beijing. Paul helped skipper his team to victory in the pair’s competition.

Referee Carol Armstrong is another person who is Beijing bound and she was rapt in how the whole weekend panned out.

“It’s nice to see some bright new faces mixing together with the familiar faces,” said Carol. “The new people will help the sport prosper.”

(By the way congratulations Carol on your selection to officiate at the Beijing games.)Special mention must go to the out-of- towners who made it to this tournament. These were Northlanders Neale and Michelle Batchelor, who came second in the pair’s tournament, BOP’s Coralie and Cindy Eichler who came forth and Cantabrian Michael Yeatman. At the prize giving Cerebral Palsy General Manager Harvey Brunt gave credit to Michael for this tournament’s survival. In its first year the tournament was struggling to attract players and was on the verge of being called off. Thanks to Michael’s encouragement the initial tournament did go ahead and is now in a very healthy state.

Ross Flood
55 Hillside Road
Papatoetoe
Auckland
Phone/Fax (including answer phone) (09) 278-7106
Email Ross Flood