Business Improvement District launches Bocce Ball in Buckley Park
Free, community matches to be played Wednesdays, June 8 through Aug. 24
With an eye for giving folks another reason to come to Downtown Durango and stay awhile, the Durango Business Improvement District (BID) is launching, with the support of the City of Durango, free community bocce ball matches in Buckley Park, Wednesdays, June 8 through Aug. 24, 5:30-7 p.m.
Community members of all ages are invited to participate as teams or just drop in individually for a friendly pick-up match. Up to seven regulation bocce courts (76 ft. long and 10 ft. wide) will be set up in the park, and, after playing, participants are encouraged to gather in the courtyard of Guido’s Favorite Foods to taste Italian wines in the true spirit of bocce ball.
Developed in its present form in Italy, bocce ball is revered internationally as a precision and highly competitive sport that requires use of both physical and cerebral skills. The object is for individual or team players to roll large balls (bocces) as close as possible to a smaller target ball (pallino). The player/team with its bocces closest to the pallino scores.
“Rolling balls toward a target is the oldest game known to mankind,” said Bob Kunkel, BID executive director noting that graphic representations of figures tossing a ball or polished stone have been recorded as early as 5200 B.C. “Next to soccer and golf, bocce is the world’s most played sport. Bocce is a game that has withstood the test of time because it offers everything you need: fun mixed with competition, a gentle learning curve and a flexible pace that allows for networking and socializing, something Durangoans are very skilled at.”
Guido’s and Bank of Colorado have stepped up to underwrite the staff time and labor costs of Durango Parks & Recreation for the weekly event, and BID has purchased the equipment, which includes regulation balls, court markings and scoring materials.
“Who knows, we may become part of the United States Bocce Federation and get on the national circuit,” said Kunkel, adding that, according to some reports, there are 25 million enthusiasts in the United States alone. “Bocce ball players are just as passionate about their sport as, for example, mountain bikers. It could be an entirely new opportunity for Durango and we hope folks will come out and give it a try.”
To learn more about bocce ball, view a “How to Play” video on YouTube at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2hhN6S-1urM&NR=1&feature=fvwp <http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2hhN6S-1urM&NR=1&feature=fvwp> .
