Students from across the Bega Valley and Eurobodalla lined up for the regional finals of boccia last week.
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With 470 schools entering 511 teams across the state and an estimated 3400 competitors, the Department of Education's School Sport Unit's boccia tournament was thought to be the biggest of its type anywhere in the world.
Now in its 11th year, after starting as a humble competition for 40 NSW public schools, boccia is the sport of choice for participants with a range of physical disabilities.
It has elements of bocce, bowls and pétanque with the goal of getting the balls closer to the jack than the opposition.
Involved in the regional finals were primary students from Bega Valley Public School, Quaama, Wolumla, and Batemans Bay, and secondary students form Narooma and Braidwood.
School Sport Unit disability inclusion officer Peter Cardy said the competition had grown over the years and now catered for students with physical, hearing, vision, intellectual impairments and transplant recipients.
"Schools really value the opportunity for their students with disability to get involved and some have made six-hour roundtrips to the competition to make it happen," he said.
"The School Sport Unit has provided schools with specialised boccia equipment to help facilitate their involvement, ensuring all students can have access to this wonderful sport."
Assistant principal inclusion at Batemans Bay Primary Bec Howard said the inclusive tournament was "an amazing opportunity".
"We don't get many opportunities like this where our special needs students can come and meet other students and we all get to know each other," she said.
"To play with like-minded people is amazing."
Quaama Public School student learning support officer Kylie Cole said the initiative was "fantastic".
"Last year Erin's team made it to third in the state at a tournament in Homebush," she said.
"All their hard work paid off."
Quaama will again move on to the state finals following their efforts at the Narooma Sport and Leisure Centre.
Originally designed for athletes with severe physical disability, boccia's peak competition is the Paralympics where it has been a Games sport since 1984.
The NSW public schools' competition has been a springboard for students to move into the international boccia scene, with Paralympians Dan Michel, Jamieson Leeson and Spencer Cotie all beginning their boccia careers in the School Sport Unit event.
Dan and Jamieson went on to win gold in three World Cup Pairs Championships and bronze at the 2021 Tokyo Paralympic Games.
The winner of each of the 25 regional tournaments qualifies for a place at the NSW state finals in Sydney in August.