Boccia champ ready to defend on home floor

By Sean Rooney on May 23, 2018.

Throwing some weighted bean bag-like balls around on a gym floor looks easy enough at first.

Try talking to Aiden White about competitive boccia for five minutes, however, and it’s easy to see how much more there is to it.

“It’s more just planning your shots around, if you want to block somebody or get closer,” said the 17-year-old during a practice session with the Medicine Hat Adaptive Sport and Recreation crew Tuesday at Herald School. “I’ve usually got better in a mentality sense of more thinking about how I’m going to play rather than actually playing the game.”

White, the defending Alberta champion, will put his title on the line this weekend when Medicine Hat hosts provincials at the Medicine Hat Curling Club. Saturday will be the bulk of the competition, running most of the morning and afternoon.

While boccia is a lot like curling, minus the ice and allowing one side to throw out the white jack ball as a target, its inclusion in the Paralympics makes it an important sport for adaptive athletes. White, 17 years old, probably didn’t think he had a chance to do much in the way of sports growing up due to his cerebral palsy. But he’s proven to be extremely good at boccia from his wheelchair.

“You can get on the radar, this is your first step to play at national, then international tournaments,” said local adaptive sport organizer and coach Tara Chisholm. “He’s definitely been asked to come to some of the national events.”

A winner when Medicine Hat hosted the province two years ago and again at the first official provincial finals last year in Calgary, White is a bit of a star locally. But he’s not the only one. Mackenzie Kehler, 20, might have much shorter arms due to genetics but was first in a team event in Calgary last year.

“I started in 2015 or 2016,” said Kehler. “I like to do it for fun, it’s a good recreational activity as well. It’s a good experience.”

Chisholm says Medicine Hat’s 10 or 11 competitors are the largest group of organized boccia players in the province. Edmonton and Calgary will send three each to the provincial event, most of them in the ramp-assisted divisions. White and Kehler play without a ramp because they’ve got enough motor control with their arms.

There’s even an open event this weekend for those who wouldn’t otherwise be categorized into a disability that could get them to the Paralympics.

Boccia was the first sport Chisholm began the local organization with four years ago, and it’s still going strong.

“It’s mostly the same people (week after week) but I think it’s getting more competitive because as we go through, everyone’s getting better and the games are getting closer,” said White. “There’s not a lot of pressure, I’m mostly doing this to have fun. If I have a title of the champ, it’s pretty cool.”

“Just the experience, the overall community of people, the friendships (have meant a lot),” added Kehler.