2008 Boccia National Championships.[ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] From July 9-12, more than 60 of the nation's top athletes and coaches converged on Warm Springs, Georgia Warm Springs is a city in Meriwether County, Georgia, United States. The population was 485 at the 2000 census. History Warm Springs first came to prominence in the 19th century as a spa town, due to its mineral springs which flow constantly at nearly 90° Fahrenheit. to compete in the 2008 Boccia National Championships, hosted by BlazeSports America. In boccia, a cousin of lawn bowling, athletes throw or roll balls across a gymnasium floor in order to get them as close as possible to a target ball, called the "jack." After all balls have been thrown, the team with the closest ball is awarded a number of points equal to the number of their balls that are closer to the jack than their opponent's closest ball. Teams at Warms Spring competed in pairs, teams, and individual competitions and were divided into divisions (BC1, BC2, BC3) based on disability. Living Color dominated the BC3 Pairs Competition by beating the second place competitor's, New York's UCP (Universal Communication Platform AG, Lugano, Switzerland) A software company that specialized in mobile phone services, founded in 1999 by Christian Lutz and Marwan Saba. Its offerings included SMS voting and mobile marketing tools, photo messaging platforms and custom applications for Thunderbolts, by 40 points. In contrast, the BC2 and BC3 Team Competition was close until the very end, with Kansas' KCPS KCPS Kilocycles Per Second (heat) KCPS Kansas City Public Service (railroad) Co edging out Chicago's Windy City Warriors by a mere 2 points. The last day of the Championships was reserved for the individual competition. The BC1 title went to Jennifer Jay who managed to hold off second place TJ Hawker and third place Greg Lallky. The BC2 Individual Competition kept spectators on the edge of their seats as Chris Ludwig beat out Lizzie Flora-Swick by only 2 points. Matt Hiltner took third. And in BC3, Austin Hanson came out on top of a dynamic field that included second place finisher Sam Williams and third place Mark Paramadani. BlazeSports America advances the lives of youth and adults with physical disability through sport and healthy lifestyles. BlazeSports provides sports training, competitions, summer camps, leadership training, and recreational opportunities for youth and adults with spinal cord injury Spinal Cord Injury Definition Spinal cord injury is damage to the spinal cord that causes loss of sensation and motor control. Description Approximately 10,000 new spinal cord injuries (SCIs) occur each year in the United States. , spina bifida, cerebral palsy cerebral palsy (sərē`brəl pôl`zē), disability caused by brain damage before or during birth or in the first years, resulting in a loss of voluntary muscular control and coordination. , traumatic brain injury Traumatic brain injury (TBI), traumatic injuries to the brain, also called intracranial injury, or simply head injury, occurs when a sudden trauma causes brain damage. TBI can result from a closed head injury or a penetrating head injury and is one of two subsets of acquired brain , muscular dystrophy, amputation amputation (ăm'pyətā`shən), removal of all or part of a limb or other body part. Although amputation has been practiced for centuries, the development of sophisticated techniques for treatment and prevention of infection has greatly , visual impairment or blindness as well as other physical disabilities. For more information, visit www.blazesports.org. |
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