Sally's story

Ahead of the B:Active Parasport takeover week in March 2025, we caught up with Sally Kidson, a first year Music student and Paralympian with ParalympicsGB. Sally competed in the Paris 2024 Paralympic Games in Boccia, a precision ball sport which tests both muscle control and accuracy.

Hear about how Sally became involved in Boccia, how she manages to balance studying full-time for her degree and being a professional athlete, and her advice on anybody worried about getting started in sport and physical activity.

When did you first hear about Boccia as a sport?

I first heard about Boccia when I was in primary school, so many, many years ago. We would play the game using a plastic ramp and really hard balls. It wasn’t proper Boccia, but we were playing for the principle, as you do in primary school.

I then went to secondary school, where the entirety of the school had a physical disability of some sort. I had access to physical therapy, occupational therapy, all the stuff that you need as a disabled person. And, because of the demographic there, they had a lot more sport pitched at people with physical disabilities, such as Boccia. The school also had a lot of historical success there, including Britain's most successful player, David Smith.

Boccia was part of the school curriculum, so they had all of the proper equipment; leather balls that you could actually aim and control the pace. So I did it.

Was it at school when you realised that you were really into the sport?

No, no. I was terrible at it, like, genuinely.

I properly started when I was in secondary school, but started competing in 2019; I was invited to attend a competition called the Heathcoat Cup through my school. If you medal at one of the qualification events, you subsequently go to the Heathcoat Cup Finals, and then if you medal at that, you get promoted to the Boccia England Cup. I went to this event, and won my first ever competition. Nobody was more surprised than me; I didn’t think I was very good! I came third in the Finals and then got well-beaten in the Boccia England Cup!

When I was 14, I went to the Boccia England Cup Finals and got obliterated. Handling the experience at that age was tough, but it was one of those things. In hindsight, I’m glad. It's good to slow things down a bit sometimes. 

The hardest part after that, was the pandemic. I had this drive to progress and not let that defeat happen again, but I lost a lot of that motivation. I watched the Tokyo 2020 Paralympic games online, which did help. Even though it was weird time, the Paralympics had great coverage and I would sit and watch livestreams to understand the game better.

How have you found the balance between studying and training at university?

It’s been hard, for sure. If you communicate and manage your time effectively, you’re able to find a solution. I’m quite a rarity in that I’m still doing a full-time degree.

Keeping on top of things is the main thing. Keeping that communication up with the academic side, but also the sporting side, and saying "look, you want me to go to all these training camps, but I really can’t. But I can double down as soon as I’ve graduated".

Sometimes, you need to say "I have an essay due and a competition. I am going to need to just bring everything I’ve got and prepare as best I can".

What’s your advice for a student who might want to get involved in physical activity, and feels apprehensive about first going, or who feels that physical activity and sport isn’t a space for them?

If somebody is apprehensive about getting into the world of sport because of physical ability, then take me as an example; I literally can’t lift my arms. I am in the category of one of the most disabled people that is able to go and complete at the Paralympic Games. I have one of the most severe disabilities at the Paralympics, but I’m still able to partake in a sport that I enjoy. If you’re apprehensive for that reason, just find something you like; it doesn’t even have to be a sport. The Paralympic Inspiration programme lets you try anything and everything! See if you’re classifiable, and - even if you’re not - if you enjoy something, just go for it.

If you’re apprehensive for other reasons, sport is whatever you want it to be; it doesn’t have to be elite level. What your body does is completely within your control. If you want to be a rower, but you’re not strong enough… go and get stronger. It might take time, and it might take commitment, but I think there’s no reason not to get involved with something that you might enjoy.

Sport is whatever you make it. 

When did you realise that you really had a talent for Boccia, and wanted to take it further and compete professionally?

It kind of wasn’t until it was thrown in my face! I’m one of those people that enjoys being good at things. I got asked to go to a competition and thought "well, I mustn’t be bad at this!". Then I won medals and I’m very happy about that… in fact, that’s still the only individual gold medal I’ve ever won.

It wasn’t until I got asked to go to events by Team GB when I thought "oh, hang on a second" and they were mentioning the opportunity to do things at this higher level. There was a point where I really enjoyed playing the game and seeing people like myself, and having these conversations and meeting people. It was great opportunity. But in honesty, I can’t quite put my finger on when I thought "oh yes, this is 100% for me!".

Can you tell us a bit about your experience of qualifying for the Paris 2024 Paralympics and what it was like competing on that stage?

It was terrifying!

I was in a position where it was my last chance to qualify for the Paris Paralympic Games, because I simply wasn’t going to qualify if I didn’t do well at this event. We almost didn’t qualify, but we qualified as a pair, as the second-lowest ranked side.

We weren’t 100% sure we were going to get to the qualification event. We were able to go, and as one of the bottom-ranked sides, there was no pressure on us. We thought "We’re not expected to do the job and these top sides think they have one foot in the door, so let’s rattle their cages!". Basically, we felt like we had nothing to lose.

The structure was two pools of five, and the top two advance to the semi-finals. If you medal, you go to the Games. It was one of the most brutal experiences of my life - even the actual Paris Paralympic Games had nothing on that. There were no ranking points either, it was literally you go and medal, or you leave with absolutely nothing. 

We lost our first two games and it was devastating. But, in a pool of five, anything can happen! We were looking at the current situation and thought, "actually, this could work, if everything goes our way. So let’s win the two matches tomorrow, close our eyes and hope". And, so, we did.

We beat Portugal in their own back garden the next morning. That was a good game and everything went our way at that point. That evening, we competed against Singapore and won that too!

Portugal were then playing against Peru, and whoever won that game needed to subsequently lose a game the next day. Portugal were playing Greece, who are very good. Peru were playing Singapore, that game could go either way. Portugal won against Peru and then Greece beat Portugal, making us through to the semi-finals against Poland. We won that game in an absolutely mental finish.

I don’t usually cry on court, but I burst into tears. We’d qualified for the Games! We then won against Japan the next day, but we already knew we were going to the Games, so that was just the icing on the cake. We qualified top!

You previously said how you look at losing as an opportunity to progress forward. Was that a similar experience – going through hardship, and winning?

Yes, I think that idea of ‘there is nothing to lose’ helps. If results hadn’t gone our way in other courts, we wouldn’t have gone through. Sport is a big thing. It’s great, but it is just a game.

I think it is a resounding thing in sport, where if you win, you can get complacent. Overcoming adversity is a big part of sport and that’s before we even look at the off-court stuff. I’m not speaking as a winner, I’m speaking as somebody trusting the process.

Someone in our programme, Steph, had just won gold at the Games. He’s competed in every final there is, and has come fourth at the Paralympics three or four times. He came fourth that many times, and when I spoke to him, he said all of those fourth places make this feel so much better. If you strike gold first time, you might not know how lucky you’ve got it.