Meray Diner

     Scott McCowan is studying Psychology and Sport Studies in Stirling University, currently on a year out to train for the Paralympics 2012 in London. Scott, 20 years old,waiting to be qualified for the GB team. Here is his route to achievement from his own words;

I started to play boccia in 2006 in the Ayrshire Special Games through the local school. The Scotland’s current head coach Claire Morrison said she spotted me while I was playing and thought I would be a good player in boccia. However, I haven’t started to play properly till I found out that I could compete in the BC3 category where assistive ramps are allowed.

The first tournament I joined was in Championships in 2007 in Easterhouse, Glasgow and I finished 3^rd in junior tournament. In 2008, I finished Scottish Championship in the 3^rd place in senior category.

Becoming a national team player…

 In the same year, I also joined an international tournament in Canada with the other British players having chance to play with the top nations in the world. This tournament was the key element getting me in the GB team.

After that, I played in the Scottish Open in Easterhouse which is the first tournament I won. By 2009, I got the ‘Scottish Champion’ title and got selected into GB (Great Britain) team for Europe tournament in March. My father is my rump assistant and he couldn’t make it to  the tournament  however, with my mother’s help I still managed to get 1 of the 3 games I played. That was a good experience and I learnt a lot from it.

I joined the Tri-Nations Tournament in Barcelona which was my first international tournament in the GB team and I finished in the 17^th   place. By joining the GB team, I got access to physiotherapy, psychology and social science support services. I was also given specialised ramp so these are helping me to improve my performance in boccia.

In 2010 I was chosen for World Championship in Lisbon as a captain of the GB team. We lost all the games in the group. In singles, I had the former number one player and number four in the world in my group and they were really challenging and difficult to play. In the end I was 34^th;

“Ultimately, it was disappointing but I have realised that I can play against world level players.”

In March of 2011, we have joined the Riverland Cup in Holland we finished in the 6^th place in pairs. In 2011 May, after the Riverland tournament I took some psychological support and went to Barcelona for a friendly tournament with the other 3 three national players which for the World Cup. In the summer, we played in Cheshire in pairs with the national players and I won the game with my pair against world number 9 pair to play in the final of the tournament. Then, we beat Portugal, the second best team in the world and Belgium who are the silver medal winner team so we won the tournament.

“That was a major turning point  for me in boccia because Great Britain’s BC3 team was not considered that successful team at the time however, we changed the perception by winning this tournament”.

2011 is the best year I have had so far. I got really experienced by the World Cup in Belfast and we finished 2^nd in pairs in our group playing against Koreans. Koreans are really challenging to play with as they design and produce their own equipment and this makes their play perfect. So it was really good to play against them and learn from their experience. We went to the quarter final and finished at the 6^th place.

In the singles part of the tournament, I had a game against the world number 2 player, another game with a Korean substitute player so again, I had two difficult players. Hence, I finished 3^rd in the group which put me in the 29^th place in the world ranking.

Paralympics in London

 The first 24^th in the world ranking will be playing in Paralympics in 2012. Therefore, to qualify for London, I needed to get 5 more points in Norway. I played with a more challenging group in October. This group included a girl from Belgium world number 5 player and two more players from Sweden and Norway. Eventually, I beat the three players and I made it out of my group but losing against the former Paralympics Champion Johnny, who gave me lots of opportunities to win but I still lost 3-1 against him.

So I ended up in the 25^th place which is really close to qualify but doesn’t guarantee my place in London yet. Now, it is being evaluated whether I will go to London or not, all I can do at the moment is to train sixteen hours per week and wait for them to make a decision.

With the new ramps we have, we are more accurate and confident, so I think as the BC3 category, we have chance to win the golden medal in London.The coach is going to find it difficult to choose which 3 among 4 of us is going to play in London and it is our job to make it hard for her.

 Follow Scott on Twitter: @smccowan

Find more about boccia: www.gb-boccia.org