DISPALTRO Marco

Classification
BC4 (worldboccia.com, 02 Aug 2021)

Impairment Details
His impairment is the result of Becker muscular dystrophy, a disorder that involves progressive muscle weakness of the legs and pelvis. (Athlete, 15 Aug 2012)

General
IMPORTANCE OF SPORT
He says sport has had a transformative effect on his mental health and that he intends to continue playing boccia for the rest of his life. "I have already had suicidal thoughts and I was an introverted guy. In times of depression, you don't know what you're going to do with your life, your future, how it's going to be in 10 years, 20 years. But thanks to sport, I found unsuspected leadership qualities. In addition to finding myself sporting qualities, I found qualities inside me, and it gave me my mission. I want to live for the sport and spread the good news. Am I afraid of death? No. In my sport, we are all in the same boat and we find ourselves playing against people who will probably not be there the following year. Death is waiting for us. We know it will happen one day. I'm still a little lucky. The progression of my disease is slow. I want to play until I die. If it didn't have a dramatic effect on other young players, I'd even like to die on a boccia field, playing my last game." (ici.radio-canada.ca, 29 Oct 2018)

WHEELCHAIR RUGBY
He worked as the high performance coordinator/manager of the Canadian wheelchair rugby team from 2001 to 2008. During this period, the team won silver at the 2004 Paralympic Games in Athens and bronze at the 2008 Games in Beijing. Shortly after Beijing, he became coach of the Swedish national wheelchair rugby team. After the 2012 Games in London, he continued to offer rugby clinics around the world. This included travelling to Brazil, where he participated in recruiting players with the potential to play on the national team at the 2016 Paralympic Games in Rio de Janeiro. "When you're an athlete, you can sometimes question certain coaching decisions. By becoming a coach myself, I experienced the other side. I think that having been an athlete and a coach has helped me tremendously." (Twitter profile, 17 Aug 2015; Athlete, 15 Aug 2012; ccpsa.ca, 30 Jun 2011)

INTIMIDATION TECHNIQUES
Nicknamed 'The Intimidator', he uses various pre-game intimidation techniques to stare down his opponents. These have included throwing balls at his coach as hard as he can and rolling out in a high-end chair with spider web-themed wheels. "In the beginning, I thought [boccia] was a gentleman's sport but it's not a gentleman's sport. If anybody can get an advantage, they're going to get it. If somebody can intimidate another athlete, they will." (thestar.com, 28 Jul 2015; theglobeandmail.com, 06 Aug 2015)