Bocce on a roll
The game has been around since ancient Egypt. It recently has seen a resurgence.
By PETER BOTHUM
Reprinted with permission of the York Daily Record
Sean Orndorf positions himself in the center of the lane, feet parallel, eyes fixed on a target, then steps forward with one leg and rolls a ball with the slightest amount of backspin.
But Sean Orndorf isn't bowling.
Minutes later, Erma Burg sees no clear shot with all the balls blocking the way, so she bounces her ball off the border of the playing area to get to her desired target.
But Erma Burg isn't playing pool.
Actually, Orndorf, Burg and others in a league that gathers at Victor's Italian Restaurant in York are playing bocce, a game so ancient that no one really knows where or how it got started.
Now wait a second here. Before images of 60-year-old Italian men smoking cigars and drinking fine red wine pop into your head, consider this: The game of bocce became massively popular in early Rome but goes back further to ancient Egypt, as early as 5200 B.C. Maybe bocce has lasted so long because it is so simple to learn and play.
Teams of two or four people line up at both ends of the bocce court, which officially should be about 88 feet in length. It all starts when one player rolls the pallino, which is a smaller ball, down the court (at Victor's, the players call the small ball the "jackball" or the "jack" for short). Then the players try to roll the larger balls as close to the pallino as possible. Points are awarded for balls placed close to the pallino.
It's a pretty simple game. And yet any game that goes back that far and is still being played today has got to be a pretty good time. And those who participate in the bocce league at Victor's court are indeed having a good time. Heck, even the spectators are having a blast. Victor's owner Harold Fitzkee built the bocce court 19 years ago. A league formed shortly after that, and it has become a summertime blast for anyone who signs up. There are three leagues of 10 teams and 60 people. The league runs from Memorial Day to Labor Day, when Victor's hosts a huge party to celebrate the finals.
The Red Rose in Hellam has had a bocce court for the last nine years, though mostly just friends of owner Frank Spagnolo and his family play. It just seems as if bocce is now sprouting up everywhere. You can buy a swank bocce set, made by Eddie Bauer, at Target in Springettsbury Township for $89.99. Stores like Kmart and Wal-Mart also sell bocce sets in the $50 to $90 range.
Wayne Burg, Erma's husband and one of the veteran players at Victor's, said he's noticed bocce gaining popularity in the last five years or so.
"It's getting to be bigger and bigger all the time," said Burg, 66, of Springettsbury Township. "You don't have to be a great athlete. You don't have to be in great shape. You can learn the rules in a couple of minutes. And it's great for socializing."
Burg said it's a matter of people watching other people playing and then wanting to try it.
"You hear of people who are putting courts in at their home," he said. One of those folks who took the bocce leap is Scott Pittman of York Township, who built his court a few years ago after stumbling on the league at Victor's.
Now, Pittman's court is not official length; it's 60 feet long and 12 feet wide. But then again, there is some discrepancy as to the official dimensions of a bocce court -- it can be 76-by-10, or 88-by-15. Victor's court is 88 feet long.
"Ninety feet long would be silly for a back yard," Pittman said. "It's a lot to take care of, and it just seems silly to go far."
Still, Pittman went above and beyond to build his court into the ground, bringing in a backhoe to take soil away. The court has been great for happy hour get-togethers and a recent class reunion for Scott's wife.
"They just loved it," he said. They love it at Victor's, too. On a recent Thursday night at the restaurant, Jim O'Mara teamed up with his wife, Pat, to battle the Anderson brothers, Dan and Ken. The two teams played a marathon match clocking in at one-and-a-half hours, with the O'Maras emerging the victors.
"We need to work on our stamina," Dan Anderson said after the match. "We couldn't hang for an hour and a half." The match took so long, O'Mara said, because each team kept placing the bocce balls close to the pallino.
"Should I say it's because we were all so good?" said O'Mara, who lives in Springettsbury Township and has been playing bocce for four years. They were all good, and their strong play was a tough act for the next combatants -- Orndorf and his wife, Liz, versus Erma Burg and Karla Kay -- to follow.
Burg sat on a nearby bench and watched, studying the players. Burg and his wife were the first husband and wife championship bocce team two years ago in the league at Victor's.
Burg said there are two types of bocce players: those who bowl the ball down the bocce court and the players who stand still while throwing the ball. Because one style involved a bowling motion, good bowlers are often good bocce players.
"I'm a bowler myself," Burg said. "My wife stands still, but does well with that style."
Good pool players also often fare well in bocce, Burg said, because the rails along the sides of the court come into play. Players can use the rails to get around balls blocking their path, as Erma Burg did against the Orndorfs.
"They see the angles," Burg said. "Certainly, that's an additional offensive weapon."
Even though bocce is a game that anyone can play, it's not a game that everyone can play exceptionally well.
"It looks like an easy game," Orndorf said. "Until you play it."
BOCCE FACTS
What it is
A game similar to bowling and pool where two teams of two or four people try to roll larger balls close to a smaller ball, known as a pallino. Points are awarded to the team that gets the balls closest to the pallino. No one is really sure when and where bocce was invented, but it has been traced back to ancient Egypt, in about 5200 B.C. The game also became very popular in early Rome.
How it is played
Rules vary, but most people play by the following rules: Once a team has been selected to go first, a player from that team begins by tossing the pallino anywhere the player wants toward the end of the court over the opposite foul line. Then the player rolls or tosses one of the larger balls as close to the pallino as possible. The starting team does not bowl again until the opposing team has one of their large balls closer to the pallino. The teams continue this way, with individual players alternating, until one side has used up all its balls, whereupon the other side is entitled to bowl its remaining balls. This ends a frame. Players switch sides with each frame. One point is awarded to a given team for every ball that is closer to the pallino than the closest ball of the opposing team. The team that wins a frame on points starts play in the next frame. A game is 12 points. (Source: www.sites2c.com/bocce).
Court size
Dimensions can be as small as 60-by-10 feet, or as large as 95-by-15 feet.
Where to find it
Bocce sets can be found a Dick's Sporting Goods, Kmart, Wal-Mart and Target. Victor's Italian Restaurant, 554 S. Ogontz St., York, holds a bocce league every year from Memorial Day to Labor Day.
On the Web
www.bocce.org, www.sites2c.com/bocce
Reach Peter Bothum at 771-2030 or pbothum@ydr.com.
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Copyright York Daily Record 2002 - This article may not be printed or published without permission
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