A game that’s known for its popularity in Europe among older, retired men is making a play for recognition among Georgians.
“Bocce, also known as Italian lawn bowling, is one of the most widely played games in the world and is one of the oldest lawn or yard games,” according to the United States Bocce Federation. “Best known in Italy, where you may see a group of retired Sicilians gathered in a town square for a daily afternoon game, bocce has been gaining popularity with younger people as well as older people in the United States and other countries.”
Indeed, venues and leagues are popping up around Atlanta, and locals seem to love it for the social aspects and the chance to do something both low-impact and competitive.
‘It’s hard to be really bad’
Susan Grunwald is marketing director at Halcyon, the live/work/play community in Forsyth County. She was instrumental in bringing the game to the community’s green spaces not long ago, and she and her husband now participate weekly.
She recalled seeing lots of in-town bocce leagues, and wanting to make the experience available at Halcyon. After the league began there, the community’s marketing team put out a video to try to attract more players. The effort worked, Grunwald said, and registration doubled.
Grunwald, 58, said she’s usually tired when she gets in from her full-time job, so she doesn’t go out much on weeknights, but bocce is the exception.
“I love being in a league and being expected to be there at a certain time, and you can’t let your teammates down,” she told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. “It makes you committed. Our calendar is blocked out for that time, so I know I’m going to see my friends — at least some of them — every Thursday night.”
The level of difficulty isn’t intimidating, she said.
“For bocce, you literally are rolling a ball down the grass, so it’s hard to be really bad,” she said, laughing. “I can roll the ball and score some points for the team, and it’s exciting.”
Still, there’s opportunity for lots of strategy, she explained, so players can improve and play defensively.
Open rules for bocce on the USBF website state that teams toss a coin to determine which one will throw out the pallino or “target ball.” The site lists intricacies and details to the scoring system, but members of each team are essentially attempting to land balls closest to the pallino.
A social experience
Grunwald plays with ATLBocce, an organization that hosts leagues throughout the area. The Halcyon league, she said, has around 20 teams. Seasons are seven weeks and typically run fall through spring with playoffs capping off each one, she explained.
The game’s relatively slow pace means talking with other teams and seeing them week after week.
“It’s just really friendly,” Grunwald said.
John Emil D’Angelo, founder of the Italian Club of North Georgia, can attest to the game’s draw as a social experience. The group, which began fairly recently, primarily serves members living in Roswell, Alpharetta, Cumming and Dawsonville along the state Route 400 corridor, according to D’Angelo.
“Our Italian club was formed a little over a year ago, and bocce ball has been a hot topic of social entertainment coming in second to eating great Italian food,” he said.
Bocce has been a chance, he said, for participants from all generations to do something together.
“The great thing about bocce for our Italian Club is that all ages can play during our Italian family dinner,” he explained. “Our Italian family dinner is where our members cook an Italian tray, dessert or make a bottle of limoncello to share, and during the fall and spring months when the weather temperature is nice, we’ll go out and play a family game of bocce.”
The group is gearing up for the lawn game as outdoor temperatures are becoming more favorable.
“As the weather cools down in the fall, we’ll have our meet-ups at local parks, such as Piedmont Park, that have bocce ball courts set up,” D’Angelo said.
And Grunwald is looking forward to future seasons of bocce as the activity gains popularity at Halcyon. The easygoing nature of the game makes it sustainable, she contended.
“It is something you can easily play for a very long time,” she said.
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