Herb Torrance was among the early pioneers who helped establish and promote boccia in British Columbia and across Canada.

He played a pivotal role in the golden era of the BC3 Pair of Alison Kabush, Monica Martino, and Paul Gauthier during the 1990s and early 2000s. This surge of performance out of BC culminated along with Herb‘s guidance as assistant Canadian coach at the 2000 Sydney Paralympic Games, where that BC3 Pair won bronze.

Transitioning from Canadian assistant coach to Head Coach in 2003, Herb led the team to success at the 2004 Paralympic Games, where Paul Gauthier won gold. He then coached BC4 players for several years and his skill was on display. Bold technical recommendations and Herb‘s relentless confidence propelled the BC4 Pair of Josh Vander Vies and Marco Dispaltro to bronze at the London 2012 Paralympics.

Outside of coaching Herb was dedicated to boccia as an experienced referee and longtime steward of the national rankings.

His leadership anchored innovations like mental training before it was widespread, disciplined tracking of shots to better understand tactics, and a powerful understanding of how to build a high-performance environment, moment to moment.