David Smith

Sport: Boccia
Born: 02/03/89
Lives: Southampton

David has been competing in boccia for 11 years after taking it up at his school. His major achievements include a team bronze at the 2006 Boccia World Championships and team silver at the 2005 Boccia European Championships. He is currently studying for his A-levels.

Interview Transcript

Q Your name?
A My name is David Smith.

Q And your sport?
A And my sport, Boccia.

Q How did you get into Boccia?
A It started about 6 years ago when I was at my school, secondary school, in a PE lesson because I was at a specialist school. They were doing Boccia and I just started playing and have been playing ever since really.

Q What do you enjoy most about it?
A I like the fact that not many people know about it and that its up and coming, and I can be part of something growing.

Q What does a typical day in your sport involve?
A A typical day, in competition, is when you get up, maybe go down, walk down to the venue, probably play your game, drink as much as possible, watch other players, possibly support your team mates and try and relax so far and enjoy the environment you are in.

Q How do you relax when you are not training or competing?
A I tend to listen to music, I also don't mind playing on the old computer games now and again or watching TV.

Q What do you hope to achieve in your sport in the future?
A I want to win a medal in the next major competition and hopefully when I go to qualify for the paralympics hopefully a medal again would be very nice.

Q What advice would you give someone wanting to take up Boccia?
A Obviously get the right information and make sure you know exactly what you need to do. I know quite a few people have been dropped because they've been to able, and stuff like that, so make sure you're the right classification; Boccia is so up-and-coming that it is not too hard to be an immediate success. You can quite easily be shot up through the ranks so go for it!

Q What have you got out of this trip to Hong Kong?
A Its been excellent, in the fact that we have had a lot more detailed support which is much more specific to Boccia. In other camps maybe it is maybe been a little bit vague but in this one in particular it has been fantastic. In particular the sports psychology, I found that really, really good and I am looking forward to more.