Bocce

Bocce is a lifetime sport played by adult Special Olympics athletes and some school-based teams. Requiring concentration, finesse, and a good eye, the sport is played on a 12’ wide by 60’ long court. Two teams of four members attempt to roll their set of four bocce balls as close as possible to a small target ball called a pallina in order to score points. Adults play every Tuesday evening in the fall on Unified Bocce teams composed of a proportional number of players with and without intellectual disabilities. In the spring, Special Olympics school bocce teams and adult bocce teams practice in preparation for their competition at the Summer Games.

Sport Season

Fall for Unified Bocce; Spring for traditional Special Olympics bocce

Training Sites

Fall: Turkey Thicket Recreation Center, 1100 Michigan Ave., NE,
Washington, D.C. 20017

Spring: School sites and agency sites

Practice Dates

Fall: Every Tuesday evening from September 13 to October 25 from 6:45 pm – 9:00 pm.

Spring: Early March through May 20

Competition Events Offered

• Unified Bocce League

  Adults 18 years and older with and without intellectual disabilities train and compete together on the same bocce teams in a league play format. 15 Unified Bocce teams play two games each week under the lights at Turkey Thicket Recreation Center. A culminating championship event featuring five competition divisions of similarly-matched teams is held in late October.

• Unified Bocce Festival

  Since 2006, American University and Alpha Epsilon Pi Fraternity and Phi Sigma Sigma Sorority have hosted a spring Unified Bocce Festival on the campus quadrangle. Adult Special Olympics athletes are partnered with American University students on Unified Bocce teams that play against each other.

• Traditional Special Olympics Bocce

  School-based teams are composed exclusively of Special Olympics athletes who are of the same age. There are also adult Special Olympics teams who train and compete together.

Championship Competition

• Unified Bocce Championships

  2011 Fall Sports Classic at Turkey Thicket Recreation Center, October 25

• Unified Bocce Festival

  Mid-April at American University

• Traditional Bocce Championships

  Summer Games, May 22-24 at Cardinal Football Stadium, Catholic University, Washington, D.C.

Resources

• Special Olympics Bocce Coaching Guide
• Special Olympics Bocce Official Rules

Contacts

Rodney Williams, Assistant Sports Director at rwilliams@specialolympicsdc.org