Raf

This weekend, spent not playing but being a #bocciawatcher as 4 @stockportboccia.org.uk athletes - two aged just 11 and 12 - went to Boccia England Heathcoat Cup finals. Great work from all 4; the youngest each came home with gold 🥇 and are the youngest ever Heathcoat champions in their classes.

Raf, sitting in his powerchair, and David smile at the camera. They each have a shiny black winners’ trophy.

Terribly proud to win BC3 gold alongside the wonderful @dje-uk.bsky.social at the Boccia UK Challenger held in Antrim by Disability Sport Northern Ireland last weekend. Thank you DSNI for hosting a superb competition as always.

A sleepy week after one heck of a #boccia #BocciaEngland competition weekend. Another second place for @dje-uk.bsky.social and me, and a whole collection of amazing results for the 5 talented athletes I coach - two gold medals, a silver, and two lifetime best results. Immensely proud coach here!

She is playing still… you will be able to see her at the French national championships, then the European championships next year…

👋🏽 hi there! #boccia #bc3

Congratulations! She looks very happy with her achievement. It is so important to have an outlet to be competitive…

Lovely cosy training facility today (not a phrase I use often; draughty sports halls are the norm!) at Manchester University today, the Talented Athlete Scholarship Scheme delivery hub. #boccia

Swan Lake at the Lowry last night. Moving, witty, brilliantly executed. 🦢🫅🏼🏳️‍🌈🥰💔

(Not actually an @oulibrary.bsky.social *library* seminar - just module stuff - but there is a main university Bluesky account that I’ve found yet!)

Attending an Open University @oulibrary.bsky.social lunchtime seminar. On… food-borne pathogens. Lovely. Pass the gravy! 🦠🔬 #SK320 Human Health and infectious disease

I lost to the world #7 by only 5-2 (a really good close match typically sees opponents exchange 1 point per end, so you see a lot of 3-1 type results) - an outcome anybody but the best handful of players in the world would be proud of - and to my England colleague by just a single point. Tough gig!

I lost by a point instead. In either of the other two pools I’d have been competitive for first place - no guarantees but fair chance. But I wasn’t, so instead of a knockout match, I’m playing for 7th place tomorrow - my worst finish since my beginner days in 2017 and ‘18. Complicated feelings.

Tough day at the UK national boccia championships today. An exceptionally, unusually hard pool draw: the highest-ranked UK international player and the TWO highest ranked English (non-international) players all in one pool. To progress I’d have needed to win at least one match, even just by a point…

Yay! Welcome Cath! 🦆

@nedboulting.bsky.social aha, hello Ned!

Oh they’re GORGEOUS 😍🖤

Yes! It’s so nice isn’t it? I note you’ve not yet blessed Bluesky with the pup…

@dje-uk.bsky.social this might be a field you can contribute to

Daphne, a small tortoiseshell and white cat, is curled in a tight ball. Her paw is covering her eyes and nose.

Daphne is of course the Best Cat. She’s very nearly 18 and a half so she’s had a lot of practice at getting comfy.

That is one lovely, healthy-looking fox.

Strength and conditioning session today - funded and supported by TASS, the Talented Athlete Scholarship Scheme. S&C is very individual for boccia athletes, as we are often very physically different from each other. I alternate weeks working on neck strength and coordination, proprioception etc.

Welcome! It really is nice here.

(Mostly fruitless attempt at drowning out many many many nearby loud explosions.)

Ah yes.

Gloucester this weekend for the first England National Championships qualifier of the season. Bittersweet result; a silver medal is an excellent result but oh so narrowly losing the gold is never not going to be frustrating. @dje-uk.bsky.social was wonderful, as always. ❤️

Further thought - wintery constellations/aurora over snowy landscape kinda stuff is awesome if you can access a suitable photo to use on a card…

Winter nature stuff 👍🏼
Reindeer included tbh 👍🏼 Snowpersons 👍🏼

GNU Janey Godley. Mind how you go.

A wall plaque showing the history of Levenshulme South Station commemorating its opening, closing and then reopening as a community venue in 2022.

It is SO GOOD to see Station South - utterly lovely Levenshulme community venue which does truly excellent Sunday roasts - so full of happy people enjoying tasty food. Alas, we should have booked. Takeaway it is!

Actual lol. How very millennial of me.