Page 20 - Italian-American Herald - June 2024

20 ITALIANAMERICANHERALD.COM | JUNE2024 LEISURE
ITALIAN-AMERICAN HERALD
Area social clubs and towns get on the ball as bocce surges in popularity
By Nancy Perone
Some of the earliest recorded games of bocce were played in 5200 B.C. in Egypt. While it is not being played in the 2024 Paris Olympics, the sport is seeing a resurgence in popularity.
Many municipalities in the Delaware Valley have formed leagues. West Chester Bocce Club in West Chester, Pa., began in 2014
on an old driving range and miniature golf course. Its current home is at VFW Post 106. Tom Moretti and Frank Dilullo established
the club with only four teams. The club now has 24 teams with a minimum of four players, but most teams have six or seven people. The summer season will start in mid-July. The club’s wish list includes putting a roof over the courts. Moretti describes an environment
of friendly competition, with participants in their 30s and older.
The bocce courts at Philadelphia’s
Bardascino Park trace back to the p ark’s
beginnings in 1978. The Friends of Bardascino Park started in the early 1990s as a fund- raising group. About 15 years ago, Chris Archer began the bocce league, which hosts
42 teams with names such as Deboccerie, Watchers of the Wall, and Boccelism. The season begins in March and April but ends in early September. The final tournament usually has 16 teams and is an all-day affair with food and refreshments. Friends of
Bardascino park welcomes donations to park, garden, and bocce league. The courts need new bocce sand and the wood beams are rotting. The court sustained significant flooding during last season's tournament.
Since 1906, Holy Saviour Club in Norristown, Pa., has been an Italian- American social club, hall rental facility, and a great place to play bocce. In 2009, Joe Mirabile went from board member to president of the club. Bocce is played there
six nights a week, with games sheltered from the rain. HSC is wheelchair accessible, has
a card room, two bars and a ballroom. A summertime fund-raiser called The Feast takes place this year from Aug. 9-11.
In 1935, Mark D’Angelo’s grandfather founded the St. Anthony’s Club in New Castle, Del. The club offers both indoor and outdoor bocce leagues. The outdoor courts are sheltered from the rain. The spring/
The bocce league at Bardascino Park in Philadelphia hosts 42 teams with teams s
Watchers on the Wall, and Boccelism. | PHOTO BY RALPH NARDELL uch as Deboccerie,
“ The Italian Legacy in Philadelphia is a great read for people of Italian ancestry
or people who just love Italians.”
—Edward G. Rendell, former Governor of Pennsylvania
summer league starts in May and ends in August. St. Anthony’s even offers a Thursday night indoor league in the winter. A High Stakes Tournament this Aug. 2-3 is expected to draw players from as far away as Texas. There is a $4,000 first prize and a $2,000
he was contacted by Broomall Rotary Club eight years ago to start a bocce league. Their bocce league starts in April with 28 teams, two 14-team divisions, and seven regular season matches played at Drexel Lodge Park, Newtown Square, Pa., and Veterans Park,
second prize. Tom Rash, committee treasurer,
Broomall, Pa. The Veterans Park courts offer says that St. Anthony’s Club previously has
coverage. There is a small fee to join.
raised $4,600 for the Special Olympics.
Hershey Mills i
s an active adult
Beyond Italian social clubs, individual municipalities and neighborhoods have joined the bocce craze. R
ich Enhow, Director of Recreation in Marple Newtown, Pa., says
community in West Chester that offers a bocce program, among other activities. There
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