Troy Farnsworth, one of the four King’s Birthday Honours recipients from Bermuda, has dedicated his award to all those who have assisted him in recent years.

Farnsworth, a former national boccia coach, was awarded the King’s Certificate & Badge of Honour for advancing community sport and para‑athlete development through Boccia Bermuda.

“I feel very honoured to receive the award,” Farnsworth told The Royal Gazette.

“It came as a surprise as I didn’t expect to get an award, but I’m grateful to receive it. There are so many people that have assisted me over the years to achieve whatever we achieved.

“I couldn’t have done it without many people’s assistance. From other coaches to people on the Boccia Bermuda board, parents, caregivers and corporate sponsors.

“While I feel very honoured, I’m grateful for many people over the years in different capacities that have helped our athletes put Bermuda on the world map.”

The 47-year-old wore different hats in boccia from 2012 until he stepped down last year to dedicate more time to his family. Farnsworth spent more than a decade coaching athletes such as Yushae DeSilva-Andrade and Omar Hayward.

Some of his biggest achievements include making DeSilva-Andrade become the first boccia player from Bermuda to compete at the Paralympic Games, when she qualified for Rio 2016.

She won a silver medal at the 2023 Parapan Am Games in Santiago, Chile, where she put on a great fight against Brazilian opponent, Andreza de Oliveira, who took the gold.

DeSilva-Andrade also reached the semi-finals at the Paris 2024 Games, where she came close to becoming Bermuda’s first Paralympics medal-winner.

“It’s been quite the journey looking back and obviously a lot of challenges,” he said.

“I guess to see the success of the athletes, our family members and everyone involved have put in over the years, it’s very satisfying to see the results.

“Initially, I started probably more coaching to begin with but then in 2014, Boccia Bermuda was formed.

“I was involved as a board member, I had a varied role from coaching to administration, pretty much all aspects. A lot of behind the scenes stuff, paperwork for competitions, fundraising and all that stuff.”

On whether the recognition might make him have a change of heart about his involvement in boccia, Farnsworth indicated that this will only happen if there was a change in his family circumstances.

“Probably not at this stage just because I have other priorities,” he added.

“I’ll always follow the sport and keep a close eye on what’s happening. I do miss the many aspects of being involved, the challenge of having our athletes move up the world rankings and the excitement of trying to qualify for big competitions like the Paralympics.

“Maybe one day when my children have moved out of home, I might have a bit more time on my hands to get back involved.

“I stepped away because I felt it was time for change. I’ve got a young family, two children that have a lot of activities, so I thought it was time to have a break, these things take up a lot of time.”