Treloar’s student selected for 2024 Paralympic Games

Sally, a student at Treloar College has been selected to represent Paralympics GB as part of the boccia squad in the Paris 2024 Paralympic Games.

Making her debut for Paralympics GB, she’ll be playing alongside former Treloar’s students Will Arnott and Treloar’s patron David Smith OBE. Sally said:

"I am absolutely over the moon to be able to represent Boccia UK and the Paralympics GB team at the Paris 2024 Games. Competing in the Paralympic Games is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity and I am grateful beyond words to have been selected to be a part of such an amazing group of people. I am really excited to continue to build the momentum we have begun this year within the BC3 Pair and am looking forward to continuing to develop within the individual competition amongst a field of fierce competitors. It’s been a crazy journey so far, filled with challenges, triumphs, and many, many hours of hard work, but I can’t wait to see what lies ahead and continue the journey at my first Paralympic games."

Boccia is a paralympic sport where athletes throw, kick or use a ramp to propel a ball onto a court with the aim to get as close as possible to a white ball called the Jack.

When Sally joined Treloar School in September 2016, she had played a little boccia at her primary school but only at a very basic level. Sally says her school improvised with a “piece of plumbing and some balls from a shop.”

It soon became apparent that Sally had a natural talent for the game and through Treloar’s she was able to compete at the Heathcoat Cup and later at the BE Cup, competitions organised by the National Governing Body for Boccia in England.

At the age of 17, Sally made her GB debut at the World Boccia Poznan Challenger in August 2022.

In the Paralympic Games qualifying event in Portugal, Sally together with Will Arnott overcame two defeats in the BC3 Pair pool matches before going on to win gold, securing Great Britain a spot for the BC3s in Paris.

Sally follows in the footsteps of former Treloar’s student and patron, David Smith OBE, Britain’s most decorated boccia player, who will be playing in his fifth Paralympic Games in Paris.