It’s Boccia, Not Bocce: Jamieson Leeson’s Path to Precision

If there’s one thing you take away from NSWIS Paralympian Jamieson Leeson, it’s this: she plays boccia – not bocce.

“Inclusive, competitive, strategic” is how she sums up the sport, which sounds simple – tossing a small white ball, then getting your coloured ones as close as possible – but from calibrating ball speeds to instructing her ramp assistant, Leeson plays a game that is anything but basic.

“When you say, ‘Oh, I play boccia,’ they go, ‘Oh yeah, I’ve heard of bocce’, and very much associate it with that sport,” said the 22-year-old.

“It does have some similarities, but it’s completely different.”

She’s right. Played indoors with soft leather balls, boccia is a tactical sport requiring precision, coordination, and patience. For BC3 athletes – who use ramps to release the ball, an assistive device and person – gameplay is mathematically and scientifically choreographed.

“There’s a lot of work that goes into making sure the balls are of high quality, because they roll along the ground a lot more than if they’re thrown in the air,” she explained. “So, there’s a lot of hours that go into making sure that our balls are rolling straight, and we understand what they do.”

“With using ramps, we have to calibrate the balls every day. [For example,] if it goes from [position] 12 on the ramp and [the ball travels] five meters, then we write that number down, so we know [what number to use]. It’s not always accurate, so there’s a lot of numbers in terms of that aspect of the sport.”

There’s also the physical side: “There’s also a lot of conditioning involved, particularly for the other classifications who throw the ball. And athletes with cerebral palsy need to make sure they’ve got their throwing arms going well and they’ve got their throwing actions down pat.”

Despite the hours spent perfecting the angles of the balls and ramp positioning, boccia is precisely imprecise – and that’s part of the appeal.

“I’ve never ever seen a perfect game played, even at the Paralympic level,” Leeson said.

Her path to the sport all started in the country town of 1000 – Dunedoo, New South Wales.

Growing up in the regional village meant that access to sport was very limited, especially for athletes with a disability.

“I knew about the sport from a young age but there were no real clubs or anything where I grew up,” Leeson said.

“When I was 15, I went to the public schools boccia competition which was in Orange [2.5 hours away from Dunedoo], so I went to that, learned a bit more about the sport, but here still wasn’t any boccia available in the country [until] I came to Sydney.”

Her family committed to the travel, with Leeson heading to Sydney to train every second week – even while juggling her final years of high school.

“It was challenging at times,” she admitted. “But thankfully I had a dedicated mum who was willing to drive me to Sydney to learn and train.”

And while the long-distance relationship Leeson had with the sport wasn’t ideal, it didn’t stop her to reach heights to pursue it seriously, and she is grateful for the support she received in getting to where she is now.

“When I’d go back home, I’d still be training in my school hall. My coach Ken [Halliday, National Boccia Head Coach] was always supportive, and we stayed in touch online.”

Now based in Sydney, she trains weekly with her team. “It makes me grateful. But it was a fun experience, that’s for sure.”

But Leeson doesn’t compete alone. Like all BC3 athletes, she has a ramp operator, Jasmine Haydon – a non-speaking, non-seeing teammate who can only act based on her instructions.

“It is purely instructional,” she explained. “One of the rules is that my ramp operator cannot speak during the game and cannot look at the court – she can only do what I tell her to do.”

“But it’s not an easy job at all. She trains as much as I do every day, and she’s had to learn just as much – if not more. She spends a lot of hours learning different aspects of the game.”

In boccia, that kind of invisible partnership is essential. And it’s rewarded too – ramp operators receive medals when athletes make the podium.

Leeson also trains closely and competes in the pair events with fellow NSWIS Paralympian and roommate Dan Michel.

“I’m lucky that I train and live in Sydney with Dan so we’re able to train a lot together and get a lot of match play in,” she said.

“We have a bit of a weird relationship because when we compete in Australia, we compete against each other, but then when we compete overseas, [we play in separate divisions – and] together in the pairs.”

“We always have a bit of rivalry at training, wanting to beat each other, but we work really great as a team, we’re able to give each other feedback and support each other. It’s flip of a switch, but fun.”

So, what made Leeson stick with it? Why commit to such a niche, resource-heavy sport?

“Number one – I really enjoyed playing,” Leeson said. “It was the first sport I’d been able to play competitively. As a kid I did sports for fun, but boccia was the first sport that [gave me a real pathway] to go the Paralympics.”

That possibility meant everything. She pushed herself to see how far she could go, and she’s gone far. Since winning gold in her very first pairs competition in 2019, Leeson has collected multiple world titles, including a gold and silver at the 2022 World Championships.

At the 2024 Paris Paralympic Games, she achieved her goal of becoming the first Australian woman to medal in boccia, winning silver in singles.

However, Leeson isn’t just focused on winning – she’s passionate about growing accessibility into the sport.

A supporter of Boccia NSW, which is largely volunteer run, she helps get more athletes involved and speaks passionately about growing the sport nationally.

“I think the biggest goal for the future of Australian boccia, and for me, is just getting the sport accessible to everyone and having clubs in every area of Australia that you can think of,” she said.

“That’s the biggest barrier to access – literally the location. There are not many clubs around, and it’s hard for people with disabilities to travel.”

With the recent launch of the NSWIS Para Unit, Leeson hopes more athletes can be found and supported from an earlier stage.

“There was nothing like the Para unit available when I first started. It’s going to help boccia in New South Wales get as many developing athletes involved and identify athletes as well, which is really important.”

Leeson is currently preparing for the NSW State Titles in May in which she sees as a warm-up for the World Boccia Asia & Oceania Regional Championships in Pattaya City, Thailand. The overseas event will serve as a qualifier for the 2026 world championships in pairs.

“It will be a really good event to get some good practice in,” she said. “We haven’t been overseas since Paris, so it’ll be really good to get back into the rhythm of things.”

And while she’s already reached the Paralympic podium, her mindset hasn’t shifted.

“You can strive for perfection, but you can never quite reach it,” she said. “But getting those one percenters and being the best you can be – that room for constant improvement always drives me.”

Story: Rachel Tingey, NSWIS

Photos: Rachel Tingey & Getty