Bocce – Montgomery County

Season: April/May/June

Overview: Bocce is an Italian game also known as Italian Lawn Bowling. The basic principle of the sport is to roll a bocce ball closest to the target ball, which is called a Palina. Bocce as a Special Olympics sport provides people with special needs the opportunity to have social contact, develop physically and to gain self-confidence. Next to soccer and golf, bocce is the third most participated sport in the world.

Coaches	Jeff Connolly – Head Coach Tina Connolly – Team Manager John Bogasky – Asst Coach Chuck Hellmuth – Asst Coach Mike Maryn – Asst Coach Scott Thigpen – Assistant Coach
Season Dates & Times	Practices: Saturdays, 9:00am – 12:15 Practice will be in 2 groups; 9:00 to 10:30 and 10:45 to 12:15. The Coach will assign athletes to a practice session. NEW DATE April 13, 2024, thru June 15, 2024, except Easter weekend Athletes must attend at least 9 practices and 2 qualifiers to be eligible for State Games. Qualifiers: Mandatory SOMO Spring Games – Sunday, May 19, 2024 at Landon School Naval Academy – April 28, 2024 Howard County – TBD Charles County – May 4, 2024, Lackey High School, Indian Head, MD State Games: June 21 – 23, 2024 at Towson University
Medical & Volunteer Expiration Date	Sport’s State Games competition date: June 23, 2024 The expiration date on an athlete’s Medical form, or a Volunteer’s certification, must be after the above date to participate in the upcoming season. Check athlete status here. Check volunteer status here.

Special Olympics Resources for Bocce

Equipment: SOMO will provide athletes with bocce balls.

Uniform Requirements: SOMO will provide new athletes with a SOMO Polo Shirt and a SOMO baseball cap for use at Bocce Qualifiers and State Games. Returning Athletes are expected to use the Polo Shirts and Caps that they received last year. Athletes must also wear khaki shorts, skirts or pants at Bocce competitions, as well as closed-toe shoes (e.g., sneakers) that will not damage the turf. Athletes can keep their SOMO baseball cap after the season. Athletes should return their SOMO Polo shirt at the end of the season. If the shirt is lost or damaged the athlete will need to reimburse SOMO for the cost of the shirt which is $25.00.

Practice Overview:

Location: Margaret Schweinhaut Senior Center (1000 Forest Glen Road, Silver Spring, MD 20901). We practice outside, to the left of the Center’s entrance, either on the covered Bocce courts or the nearby grass field. Bathrooms are available in the Senior Center.

Timing: Practice occurs every Saturday morning (9:45AM to 11:30AM), rain or shine, from the season start until the Saturday a week before Summer Games. There is no practice on Easter/Passover weekend. There may be practice on Memorial Day weekend. The Head Coach will announce plans for Memorial Day weekend during the season. Bocce Qualifiers may replace practice on some weekends.

Athletes should arrive promptly and ready to train. Coaches plan athlete pairings to maximize training benefits, usually pairing athletes with their expected Doubles partner for competition. Late arrivals disrupt those plans and reduce training for both athletes. Late arriving athletes will also miss some practice as they typically need to wait for a practice break before they are inserted in the rotations.

Activities: Practice begins with a team meeting and attendance check. Coaches then pair athletes into teams for bocce play with coach support. During some practices, selected athletes will work with coaches to measure their skills for divisioning purposes. We practice rain or shine. During rain, we practice in the two covered Bocce courts at the Senior Center.

Qualifiers: The SOMO Bocce Team participates in the following Bocce Qualifiers:

SOMO Spring Games at the Landon School (Mandatory)
Anne Arundel County Spring Games at the Naval Academy

Two other possibilities if coaching support is available:

Charles County Spring Games at Lackey High School (3000 Chicamuxen Road, Indian Head, MD 20640)
Howard County – TBD

State Competition: The State Competition for Bocce is held at Special Olympics Maryland’s Summer Games at Towson University near Baltimore in mid-June.

Eligibility for State Competition: Bocce athletes must attend at least 80% of the offered practices and participate in 2 Qualifiers to be eligible to participate in the State’s Summer Games. One of the Qualifiers must be the SOMO Spring Games. On an exception basis, the Head Coach may excuse a SOMO Spring Games absence if the athlete attends both other Qualifiers.

Athletes should strive to attend all practices. All athletes owe it to their doubles partner to practice together as much as possible before Summer Games. In addition, Bocce is a growing sport in Maryland and the Bocce venue at Summer Games is nearing capacity. SOMD may need to impose an attendance cap on our Bocce team. If a cap is imposed, athletes who attend all practices will have a preference when Coaches select athletes to attend Summer Games.

Participation in Other SOMO Sports: Athletes participating in Bocce may also participate in the Friday Evening Conditioning program, but not in other Spring sports. The Head Coach may make limited exceptions, but any athlete participating in other Spring sports other than Friday Evening Conditioning may not be eligible for Bocce competition at Summer Games.

Athlete Participation Contract: SOMO asks Bocce athletes to read and sign an Athlete Participation Contract that outlines their commitment to the sport. Please find it HERE and bring a signed copy to the first practice.

Housing Requirements for State Competition (Summer Games): Our Summer Games Bocce delegation will be a mix of housed athletes and “day-of” athletes. Housed athletes stay with coaches and chaperones in a Towson University dorm. “Day-of” athletes travel to Towson with their chaperone for each day of competition.

Some “day-of” athletes only participate in 1 day of competition. If you are a “day-of”athlete, please tell the Head Coach if you wish to only participate in 1 day of competition.

There is not enough dorm capacity to house all athletes who wish to stay in the dorms. First, athletes must have a level of independence consistent with dorm requirements to be considered for housing. In addition, a strong record of attending practice, and arriving on-time, improves an athlete’s chance of being selected for housing.

Volunteer Roles: We use many volunteers in our Bocce program and are always looking for more.

Officiate Practice Games: Bocce requires a volunteer on every court to officiate and score games, at least one volunteer for every 4 athletes. Bocce officiating and scoring is easy to learn and coaches are always happy to train new volunteers. Most coaches began their involvement with Bocce by officiating practice games.
Chaperone at Summer Games: While our coaches are the primary chaperones at Summer Games, we may have needs for additional chaperones, especially female chaperones. Being a chaperone can be a rewarding experience. If you are interested, use the Bocce email address at the top of this page to contact our Team Manager and Head Coach.