Students Join Together for First-Ever Unified Bocce Team

The process of kickstarting the school’s unified bocce team was long and unsuccessful for the past eight years. It wasn’t until this year, however, when Athletic Director Ms. Grubb was finally able to get things running smoothly. The bocce team coach, gym teacher Mr. Lang, expresses great enthusiasm for their first season and aims to set up a foundation for the following years to come as well as promote inclusion. 

According to Lang, “Grubb started advertising for it in early October, so it took about two months to get general interest, and we had a meeting once we had some names. As of right now, we have seven definite students on the team, and we are hoping to grow that to about 12 to 20 students.”

On Dec. 12, 2019, Lang held the unified bocce team’s first practice during lunch. They have a total of two practices a week and six games throughout the next two months. Since this is a true varsity sport, there will be playoff games that take place during February after the scheduled matches. Despite being a little nervous to join and play, ISP senior Justin Fisher is happy and excited to learn about this new sport and commit to an activity. 

Although having no prior experience, Global senior Alaina Shields was willing to contribute to the team after being asked to join by gym teacher Ms. Wohnhas. 

“I know some people from other schools who have lost their unified sport because they didn’t get enough support from the school. This is the first year where we have had enough support, so I think it’s awesome that the students are encouraged to play,” said Shields.

The number one rule that must be followed during a game is that fifty percent of the team, at all times, must have accommodations. During a given match, four people play, which means that two out of these four players must have accommodations. There are a total of three matches in one game, and each match begins with a player throwing or rolling the small, yellow mark ball (the Pallino) onto the court. Then the two teams alternate throwing larger balls, trying to get as close as they can to the Pallino. Depending on how many balls you have closer than the other team’s, you score points, and whichever team gets to 20 points first wins that match. The winner of the game, which typically lasts for about 45 minutes to an hour, is the team that wins two out of three matches. 

Unified bocce is a sport that acknowledges students with intellectual disabilities and encourages them to step outside of their comfort zone. By participating during practices and games, students with and without accommodations can empower one another, discover new skills, and develop better communication.