A love of the game keeps young Alex competitive

The enjoyment Whangarei's Alex Dickson gets from playing boccia is written all over the 14-year-old's face.
"I love boccia, it's my favourite sport. I'm pretty competitive - I always want to win," he said, with a big grin.
The social aspect and the many friends Dickson met through boccia during his four years playing it competitively helped keep the teenager involved in the sport.
Recently selected in the New Zealand Boccia Development Squad, Dickson had an impressive national championships last weekend in Auckland, narrowly missing out on the BC2 quarter finals. "It was a very tough competition," he said.
The consistent performer was back in action at Saturday's Northland Boccia Championships held at Kensington Stadium, this time also lining up in the Open class as there was only one other player - Mark Neilson - in the BC2 class.
Although Dickson has not started training with the national development squad yet, he said he was looking forward to it and would be trying to reach the level required to make the Paralympics team. His BC2 grade, where players can throw the ball without the help of an assistant, is one of four boccia classes included in the Paralympics.
At the Northland Championships, Dickson continued to dominate his class in the region, winning gold in BC2 ahead of Neilsen. Dickson was fourth in the Open class, behind Wayne Burdett, Penny Burdett was second and the Neale Batchelor, third.
Auckland's Anthea Hurst took out the BC3 class ahead of Andrew Phillips and Annie Wihongi the respective silver and bronze medal winners.
Kiwi-class rivalry continued, with Michelle Batchelor taking top honours this time, ahead of Chris Keay and Scott Burdett.