Even though I grew up in Jersey, the land of Italian immigrants, I never knew what bocce was until the DC Bocce League came into my life.I soon found that with a tall boy of Bud Ice and some after-work angst, I could find a way to chuck a few colored balls into the air so that they perfectly hit a bump in the grass and completely fly in the opposite direction of the pallina. And still have fun.
At the pre-season happy hour, some nice bocce-ers let me ask them about their first time witnessing this magnificent sport.
Here are there stories, both grand and barely remembered.
When did you first see bocce?
Barry Smith: France. There was a very small Roman coliseum [and behind it] there were these old men playing bocce. Then I met John Groth (black shirt) and realized it was a phenomenon.
Alysha: My parents used to play and we would all play at BBQs when I was about 10.
Chris Donatelli: Acapulco, Mexico. It was about 1980 and I was staying in John Wayne's house and my parents took me to the house of a famous Italian sculptor and there was a bocce court built into the side of a mountain.
Courtney: I don't know if I ever saw it outside of a movie. I can't remember what movie, all I can remember are plaid pants.
Rachel Preston (black shirt): I first saw bocce at an elementary school at 6th and G, NE. My roommate at the time, Richie DiFranco (former Commish) grew up playing
bocce at home in Cleveland, and we would play in the spring and summer when not throwing wicked keggas.
I have a dim recollection of playing as a young child at my grandparents house with a plastic back-yard set, but it's a vague memory. Ultimately learning bocce with Richie lead to the league and to going to Cleveland to see a big time bocce tournament at the Wicliffe I & A Club.
What is your earliest bocce memory?
