My local neighborhood in the Silverton section of Toms River is always looking to update and upgrade our local beach club, to better the neighborhood in general, as well as offer more summer fun and entertainment to the local beach club members. Well recently someone had the idea for a previously unused area of the beach. We already have volleyball, horseshoes, and a children’s playground.
However, we don’t have the one thing bringing people of all ages together for, for generations Bocce! That’s until this weekend when a group of motivated locals got to work, creating not one but two amazing asphalt Bocce Ball Courts from scratch! In a weekend!
Now, I admit I didn’t know much about the game, but according to Wikipedia, Bocce, having been born from games played in the Roman Empire, developed into its present form in Italy, where it is called bocce, the plural of the Italian word boccia which means ‘bowl’. Bocce is traditionally played on natural soil and asphalt courts up to 90 feet in length and 8 to 13 feet wide. While the court walls are traditionally made of wood or stone, many social leagues and Special Olympics programs now use inflatable PVC courts due to their portability and ease of storage. Bocce balls can be made of wood, metal, baked clay, or various kinds of plastic.
A game can be conducted between two players, or two teams of two, three, or four. A match is started by a randomly chosen side being given the opportunity to throw a smaller ball, the jack from one end of the court into a zone 16 feet in length, ending 8 feet from the far end of the court. If the first team misses twice, the other team is awarded the opportunity to place the jack anywhere they choose within the zone. Play is common in reasonably flat areas of parks and yards lacking a Bocce court.
Suffice it to say just regular old sand was not going to make for a fun bocce experience at the local beach. So the group of neighbors both men and women, young and old got together and with a little expertise and masterful engineering help, they created kick-ass Bocce Ball Courts right on our little beach! I feel like having an espresso and some cannoli while throwing at the jack! Check out the photos of the bu
Well done gentlemen!
