Here's where to play bocce ball in Sonoma County
Peggy Fransen prepared to toss her bocce ball into a crowded field of red and green spheres, all huddled around a little white pallino.
She had a strategic conundrum. Should she try to knock out an opponent’s red ball or try to land her green one closest to the pallino, a small white ball? Or, take the safe route and throw it outside the scrum so as not to inadvertently bump a teammate’s ball and hurt their chances?
Gently but deliberately, Fransen rolled her ball into the fray, down the red dirt court at Juilliard Park, home to Santa Rosa’s city bocce league.
It made its way between two balls and almost miraculously curled around another, coming to rest closest to the pallino - the target.
Squeals of delight erupted from her Balls of Fire teammates, and congratulations came from her Rock N Rollers opponents.
“No skill involved,” Fransen declared. “It was luck! Just luck. I was thinking about just throwing it away.”
Bocce, an ancient game that is both simple and complex, has bloomed in popularity throughout Sonoma County in the past few years, and leagues are now offered nearly every day of the week.
Dozens of wineries, parks and even restaurants offer the casual game for customers to indulge in while they enjoy a little Wine Country lifestyle.
It’s one of the few sports you can compete in while holding your wine glass, and some players claim they actually play better after a tipple or two.
At Campo Fino restaurant in Healdsburg, the Thursday night bocce league can get pretty competitive. Owner Ari Rosen installed the courts a couple of years ago as an homage to the game he played with his grandfather during summers in upstate New York.
Several teams now compete in the league, which includes players of all ages and abilities. Gen Xers and millennials toss alongside baby boomers and octogenarians.
At Juilliard Park just a few years ago, the sport was offered only one night a week. Now, between six and eight teams compete every weeknight on the six city courts.
Mondays are fairly laid back as the friendly competition melds with a potluck of cheese, crackers, homemade brownies and garden bounty brought to share.
Bocce Amici team member Ginger Kelly of Santa Rosa said her team began as friends first, then bocce players.
“We got together because we were all amici - friends - to begin with and all Italian,” she said.
“We have a lot of fun. I’m not sure we play well, but we have fun.”
For many Italian Americans, bocce is a nostalgic reminder of the Old Country and a way to continue celebrating their heritage.
Bocce, pronounced boh-che or more casually bot-chi, can be traced to ancient Egypt and the Roman Empire. It is related to British bowls and French petanque.
The word “bocce” is the plural of the Italian word boccia, which means “bowl” in the sporting sense.
It is played throughout the world, particularly where Italian immigrants have moved. In South America, the sport is called bochas or bolas criollas.
Bocce migrated to the U.S. in the 19th century, and immigrants played the game in homemade courts or fields.
It has made a splash more recently as younger people have found the game at wineries throughout Sonoma County or at public places, such as a park along the Embarcadero in San Francisco. In 2010, private funds and donated union labor helped build those ferry bocce courts.
Janet Kirk explains the allure of bocce: “It’s a very simple game. It takes five minutes to learn, but a lifetime to perfect.”
How’s she doing with that?
“I’m working on it,” she said. “It’s totally engrossing to me. I just love it.”
Kirk, a retired teacher, also plays pickleball, used to play tennis and is learning golf. In fact, many of the same skills in golf are necessary in bocce. It also shares elements of shuffleboard and croquet.
The game requires good judgment of distance, an eye to spot contours and rough spots on the court’s surface, the ability to make a quick strategic choice and the proper psychological frame of mind.
That last part runs the gamut in bocce leagues, players say.
There are players with an adult beverage in hand, others with a steely eye bent on knocking an opponent’s ball out of the way.
Some get a little raucous and do some mild trash-talking. But most, it seems, simply enjoy the camaraderie and good-natured battles to see which team can score 12 points first.
And while some old-time Italians may have some serious spinning abilities that boggle a rookie’s mind, players say no one can claim they’ve truly mastered the game.
“It’s a game that goes back to ancient Egypt, yet still, to this day, we are still figuring out ways to work it,” said Al Ferrando of Petaluma.
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