Boccia

Boccia is a ball sport played by disabled people including people with cerebral palsy, muscular dystrophy or spinal cord injury. Players use leather or soft plastic covered balls. It was first played at the Paralympic Games in 1984. The sport is for both men and women, who play against each other in competition. It was originally developed to be a sport that could be played by wheelchair users with severe cerebral palsy, was then extended to include other players with severe impairment affecting their movement, and later to the wider community including people with learning disability, milder movement disabilities, or visual impairment.
In the Paralympics there are four categories of players based on their level of disability: BC1, BC2, BC3 and BC4. Players take part in competition one at a time, in twos or in teams of three.
The organisation which controls international boccia is called BISFed - the Boccia International Sports Federation. BISFed write the rules of the international game, control the selection of players for the Paralympic Games, and run competitions for boccia players. The biggest competition is the world championships. The world championships happen every 4 years, two years before and after the Paralympic Games.