At the end of 2013 I met Paralympic Boccia champion, Dan Bentley, at the Chelmsford Discovery Festival. I asked if he could recommend some exercises that would be helpful for those who attend a weekly Multiple Sclerosis exercise class and couldn't believe my luck when Dan offered to come along. That was the start of our journey.

In February 2014, Dan came to our club to give us a boccia demonstration. Boccia is very similar to boules or petanque, a game played widely in France and other European countries, and no matter what our members’ physical limitations, they all found that they were able to take part. Everyone was so enthused by the game that Dan helped us to get hold of our very own second hand boccia balls. A few weeks later he showed us a range of games that we could play as individuals or as a team, and we began to play regularly.

Boccia was such a successful part of the MS class that it spread to a neighboring class in Brentwood. I dropped into the Brentwood class to see how they were getting on, and it was there that the idea of a boccia match between the two classes was born. The event was scheduled to take place on 15 December 2014 – some serious practice and competitive spirit followed at the next class!

Chelmsford’s Discovery Festival was held in early December 2014 and Dan Bentley was there again promoting boccia. I thanked him for introducing our class to the game and told him about our upcoming match and he asked if he could come along - I couldn't say no to a Paralympic champion! Match day arrived and Dan was there to volunteer as umpire.

It was a great event, everyone that played was fully involved and thoroughly enjoyed it (the next match is already in the calendar!). After the match, a wheelchair user made a comment that got me thinking: “Can we set up a league? This is something I can do. I can play just like anyone else” she said.

My next challenge is to set up a boccia league, and I can’t thank Dan Bentley enough. He introduced us to this game and subsequently inspired a group of people to become involved in grassroots sport. Our group may not become elite sports men and women, but they are now regular participants in a great game.

Want to get involved? Visit www.joininuk.org.