Mark Twain students learn ancient game of bocce3

By John Hall

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Posted: Tuesday, October 7, 2003 12:43 PM CDT

Led by teacher Tom Owens, 28 students headed to the playing field at Mark Twain Elementary School. There, the 8th-grade students formed into groups of four, each containing two teams of two boys and two girls. Each group received five balls - two green, two red and a white one. The girls took one color, the boys the other. One person also took the white ball.

Starting on one side of the field between orange pylons that represented the sidelines of each group's "area," a member of each group tossed the white "pallino" - target ball - out onto the grass. Then, one at a time, the players rolled the colored "bocce" towards the pallino, trying to place their ball closer to the white target than those of the opposing team.

The kids were learning to play a modified version of a relatively free-form bocce game known as lawn bowling. Invented by Roman soldiers centuries ago - about 260 B.C. - bocce is one of about a dozen games Owens' students will learn this year.

"The kids really like it," Owens said. "After we got started, I had parents call, asking where they could get bocce sets."

"It's fun," said Marissa Boire. "It's better than running."

When she is not playing bocce, any sport is fine, Chelsea Flores said.

Currently, the students at Mark Twain are learning to play golf, with "Wiffle" golf balls, every other Thursday and bocce every other Friday.

"We do physical fitness stuff, too," Owens said, "but at the junior high level, you have to change activities often to keep their interest."

A P.E. teacher at Mark Twain for 16 years, Owens added golf three years ago. Over the summer, he attended a conference for physical education instructors. Always on the lookout for "lifelong" sports - activities his students can continue throughout their lives - he got the idea to introduce his students to bocce from that meeting.

"It's like a combination of bowling and horseshoes. It's fun. It's competitive. And, the girls can do it as well as the boys," he said.

Describing himself as "a gym teacher without a gym," Owens said his situation requires a lot of outdoor activities. In addition to golf and bocce, his students also will participate in track and field events, flag football, basketball, softball, volleyball and other sports during the year.

HOW TO PLAY

Bocce has two basic forms.

One is played on a hard-surface court with a backstop at each end.

The other, more common, form also is known as lawn bowling and is played in a relatively free-form manner on a grassy surface. Many variations of the basic forms exist.

For court-style play, courts must be constructed. Instructions can be found on the United States Bocce Federation Web site at www.bocce.com.

For lawn bowling, just about any large and reasonably level lawn area can be used.

Two sizes of balls are used to play bocce. The balls are usually made of a composite material, much like small bowling balls. The team balls, or bocces, are 4.5 inches in diameter. Each team has four boc-ces, one color for one team, another color for the other. The pallino, or target ball, is 1.75 inches in di-ameter and, often white, cream, or yellow, contrasts in color with the bocce balls.

Teams can consist of one to four players per team. When multiple team members are present, a playing rotation is maintained throughout the game.

The first player, chosen by coin toss or whatever, throws the pallino onto the playing area. That player also rolls the first bocce. The idea is to get as close to the pallino as possible. It doesn't matter if the pallino is hit, as long as it is not knocked out of the playing area. If that happens, the opposing team tosses it to restart the game.

A member of the other team then rolls one or more balls until they get one closer to the pallino. This is called getting "inside" the opponent's ball. Play then returns to the first team, who must get a ball inside. Team members continue rolling, in rotation, until a ball lands inside or all the team's balls are exhausted.

The opposing team rolls its remaining balls, trying to get inside any opposing balls for points.

After all the balls are thrown, the team whose ball is nearest the pallino receives one point for each ball that is inside any opponent's ball. Therefore, at least one point, and as many as four, may be awarded to a team in each frame.

For official play, one- and two-player teams play to 12 points, and four-player teams play to16 points. For casual play, teams often play to 21 and, optionally, a win-by-two-points rule can be used.

Sets of bocce balls can be obtained through Ebbetts Pass Sporting Goods in Arnold, and at Big 5 Sporting Goods locations in Sonora, Lodi, Stockton and Sacramento.

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