Lake Macquarie primary school student Sienna Green was thrilled to find a sport where she got to make friends, and most importantly, win.
"I like getting to play with my teammates and getting to play with people that have similar disabilities to you," Sienna said.
The Arcadia Vale Public School student was part of a team of five from the year 5 and 6 support class to win the NSW Department of Education boccia championships on Tuesday July 28.
Boccia is a precision ball sport, originally designed for athletes with severe physical disabilities in the 1984 Paralympics.
It has elements of bocce, bowls and petanque, with the goal of getting the ball closer to the jack than the opposition.
Sienna said that to win the game, a team needed to try to throw their coloured ball closer to the jack, a white ball, and the team with the most points after four rounds wins.
The NSW competition caters to students with additional needs and disabilities.
More than 380 schools went for the state championship titles in this year's competition.
The Arcadia Vale team also included Dylan Small, Elijah Beguin, Zaideyn Verwey and James Sault.
Sienna said it was fun to play a competitive sport with her friends.
"I feel relieved and happy and grateful to celebrate it," she said.
The team was happy to celebrate with a soft-serve after their win.
"The ice cream was really good," Dylan said.
The year 6 student had played boccia for three years and had also started to play the game outside of school.
Elijah said the win made him feel "amazing" and he also liked that he got to meet other people at the state competition.
Zaideyn said learning the game during the year was a lot of fun.
Their coach, support class teacher Shanay Williams said boccia catered for all abilities and opened up the door for students with disabilities to shine.
"Words cannot explain how proud I am of each of the players," she said.
"They have worked so hard and they deserve everything that is happening now."
She started teaching the sport at the school in 2024 after taking on the support class.
"I actually didn't know what boccia was, and I had to learn very quickly but I fell in love with it almost straight away," she said.
The public school championships are in their 13th year and are one of the largest inclusive sporting events in the state.
Arcadia Vale principal Daniel Morgan said he was "beyond proud" of the students.
He said for the past 10 weeks, the team had worked hard on honing their boccia skills.
"The whole school has rallied behind them, yesterday they were walking around like they were superheroes," he said.
With a win under their belt, the Arcadia Vale team was not planning on stopping any time soon, with Ms Williams hoping to keep the sport going at the school in the future.
