Bocce Battle in Los Gatos, The Victory and on to the World Bocce Championship

Hello
Everyone,

First
I apologize for taking a little longer to write the final update for you all,
especially those who are anxious to hear how Team Palazzo Di Bocce did at the
nationals.  I am proud to announce that Team Palazzo Di Bocce has
succeeded again in the Nationals winning it for the second year in a
row!!!  By winning this years Nationals, we are qualified to represent USA
again next year at the World Bocce Championships which will be held in
California.  This should give us a better chance to placing well since we
are now familiar with the courts over there at Campo Di Bocce.  Within the
next year Palazzo Di Bocce will indeed get their name known throughout the
world as we will be competing in two world tournaments.  Palazzo Di Bocce
will be heading to Brazil this October, then back to California for the next
World Bocce Championship next year in May.  This should be a big major
mark on the calendar for Palazzo Di Bocce, and should be many more with future
events.  Team Palazzo Di Bocce would like to thank each and every one of
you for your support as we played our hearts out not only for ourselves, but as
representatives to one of the greatest bocce ball clubs in the country…no
scratch that, the WORLD!

Chuck

Images courtesy Erika Botto

Today
Palazzo di Bocce was able to win their last round robin match to earn
themselves the number one spot of their group for the playoffs.  It was
tonight that was the real test to determine if Team Palazzo di Bocce could make
it on to the next day.  We played around 6pm against one of the califonia
teams IAC Stockton.  We have played them last year in the playoffs and
this team was no push over.  We did struggle in our triples game and lost
12-6 with bad breaks, calls and missed shots.  While the first game was
lost, Jose Botto was able to keep us in the game winning 12-4 against
Alberico.  As some of you recall, Alberico nearly beat Jose last year, but
lost 12-11.  So he was definitely no push over, this left Jason and Jose
to finish up in the doubles giving us the match victory and to proceed into the
final four.

Tomorrow
morning at 8:30 PT/11:30 ET, I do believe that our game may be viewed online at
www.bocce1.com because we will be playing
on one of the courts where the cameras are set up.  Tomorrow’s game will
pretty much determined if we have great chances to defend our championship or
if we will be eliminated.  We face against Ben Nicosia’s team.  I
have personally watched a little bit of their games as they played against Club
Corvo (Lio Gionotti’s team), yes they were elmininated by Nicosia’s team.
Right now Ben’s team are the guys highly expected to try and pull off the win
for the entire tournament.  However, we have intentions to give them the
games of the century and go on ourselves.  It is ashame to see such a game
as ours coming up to only be a semi-final game, but that is the game and how
the tournament can be.  More info will be given as we progress on through
tomorrow, so the next email will state whether we are the defending champs or
not!

Chuck

Just
wanted to send an updated results for you all in Michigan.  Team Palazzo
was successful in winning Matches 3 & 4, making us 4-0 for match
wins/losses.  We played against Romano’s team first this morning and we
played very well in all three games.  We won our triples game 12-0, Brian
played the singles game and won 12-0 against Romano, while Jason and Jose
finished up the series winning 12-5.  This series was the best so far I
believe, everyone made their points and hits just like we needed to.

Our next match was against one of the local teams here in Los Gatos.  We had
our good moments and our bad moments during each of the games.  We won our
triples 12-1, I played in the singles and won 12-5, and again jason and
jose finished in the doubles winning 12-0.  Pointing tended to be a
little struggling because of the way the courts are outdoors.  We were
able to adjust pretty quickly and make the necessary hits to put the pressure
back to the opposing team.

We will be playing our last match of the round robin play friday morning as well
as compete in the raffa shooting contest.  Remember that the contest will
be aired live online at www.bocce1.com.
I will be starting off in the contest for Team Palazzo at 2:00 PT/5:00 ET for
those that would like to see how myself, Jason, Brian and Jose do in the
shootout.  I am unsure if the entire playoffs will be aired online as
well, but I know for sure that the championship game will be aired live
online.  More info will be provided tomorrow…

Chuck

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Bocce Teams 
Teams will be comprised of up to six players, with the option of all players at one end of the court or 1/2 the team stationed at each end of the court, throwing two bocces each. At the end of each frame, the game resumes at the opposite end of the court. Begin the match with the flip of a coin between the captains of each team. The winner of the coin flip may have the first toss of the pallino (small target ball), or choose the color of their bocces.
 
Tossing the Pallino 
The play of the pallino is legal if it passes the center line of the court, and does not pass the last/end line.  If a player fails to toss the pallino properly, the opposing team will toss the pallino and put it into play. If the opposing team fails to properly toss the pallino, the pallino reverts back to the original team. Any time a player is rolling, opposing players must remain outside the court.

Starting the Bocce Game 
The first bocce will be thrown by the team that originally tossed the pallino. If that bocce hits the back board, the bocce is removed from the court. The other team throws until it beats (not ties) the opposing bocce. This continues until both teams have used all their bocces. Whenever a team gets a bocce closer, it steps aside and lets the other team roll. The team that scored last throws the pallino to begin the next frame. Consecutive or alternating throws by teammates shall be at the option of the players. Players may use the side walls at any time. If a player rolls the wrong color bocce, simply replace it with the correct color when it comes to rest. If a player rolls out of turn or plays more than two bocces, the other team may leave all bocces as is or remove the illegal bocce from the play and return all bocces to their approximate position.
 
Foul Lines 
Players may step on but not over the foul line before releasing the pallino or their bocce.

Bocce Scoring
Only one team scores in a frame. One point is given
for each bocce that is closer to the pallino than the closest bocce of the opposing team. If at the end of
any frame the closest bocce of each team is an equal distance from the pallino, the bocce that was thrown first gets the point. Games are normally played to 12 or 15 points. The tournament host may change this number.
Bocces Hitting the Back Board 
A bocce hitting the back board without hitting any other bocce or pallino first is dead and must be removed from play. If it hits a bocce or pallino and then hits the back board, all bocces are valid. If a thrown bocce does not first touch another bocce and hits the back board and then strikes a stationary bocce, that stationary bocce shall be replaced to its approximate position. The thrown bocce is removed from play.
 
Pallino Hitting the Back Board 
Once the pallino is in play, it remains in play even if it hits the back board during the game. However, if the pallino is knocked out of the court, or is knocked in front of the centerline, the frame will end and play will resume from the opposite end of the court, with the same team tossing the pallino.
 
Late Arrivals and Substitutions 
A team not showing within ten minutes of the scheduled starting time, loses two points, and an additional two points for each five minute increment thereafter. A team not showing up within thirty minutes of the scheduled starting time forfeits the game. A team missing players at the start of the game may play, however, each player may only roll two bocces. (A player arriving late may enter a game, but only after the completion of the game.)  A team may make one substitution per frame. Substitutions may only be made between frames.

Remember, You Don’t Have to be Italian to Play Bocce

The Beginings of the Sport
Throwing an object toward a target is considered the oldest game known to mankind. Graphic representations of the sport, recorded as early as 5200 B.C., have been found in Egypt and the MiddleEast. While the game of Bocce today appears quite different from the ancient version, the consistently common objective of trying to come as close as possible to a fixed target remains intact. From this early objective, the basic rules of Bocce were born. The game made its way from Egypt to Greece around 800 B.C. The version of the game resembling what we know as Bocce today was refined by early Romans, who adopted the game from the Greeks and introduced it throughout their empire. Beginning with Emperor Augustus, Bocce became the sport of statesman and rulers. The Roman influence lives on today. The game’s name, Bocce, is a derivative of the Vulgate Latin bottia, which translates as “boss”.

European Growth
European history is filled with references to Bocce, both good and bad. The Greek physician Ipocrates and Italian Renaissance man Galileo both noted that the game’s athleticism and spirit of competition rejuvenated the body and the mind. Somewhere, the claim arose that playing Bocce had great therapeutic effect in curing rheumatism, and consequently the game enjoyed rapid growth throughout Europe as the sport of nobility and peasants alike. As Bocce’s popularity grew, it began to threaten and interfere with the security of states. Kings Carlos IV and V of Spain prohibited the playing of Bocce because it took too much time away from military exercises. The Republic of Venice publicly condemned the sport in 1576, and punished players with fines and imprisonment. Perhaps the gravest condemnation of Bocce came from the Catholic Church, which officially prohibited clergy and deterred the laity from playing the game by proclaiming Bocce a means of gambling. Contrary to the rest of Europe, British nobility such as Queen Elizabeth I and Sir Francis Drake were avid players. According to lore, Sir Frances Drake refused to set out to defend England against the Spanish Armada until he finished a game of Bocce. He proclaimed, “First we finish the game, then we’ll deal with the Armada!”

Bocce Comes to America
The sport first came to America with the English, with one early American playing field being Bowling Green at the southern tip of Manhattan. Though George Washington built a court and played regularly at Mount Vernon in the 1780s, the game did not flourish until turn of the century Italian immigrants brought their enthusiasm for the sport with them to America.
During its beginnings in the U.S. there were many versions of the game. In 1947, fifteen teams in and around the town of Rivoli (Torino) organized the first Bocce “club”, first Italian League, and the first of the yearly World Bocce Championships, bringing some order to the game. This idea of “order” soon spread to the new world, though the game is still played by several different sets of “regional rules” in the United States.