Promoting community and inclusion, the Unified Bocce team, aided by Special Olympics, plays bocce ball in the cafeteria on Tuesdays and Thursdays at 4 p.m. after school.
During the year, the high school partners with the Special Olympics to offer three different sports programs: Strength Conditioning in the fall, Unified Bocce in the winter and Track and Field in the spring.
“Bocce as a Special Olympics sport provides people with special needs the opportunity to have social contact, develop physically and to gain self-confidence,” according to the Special Olympics website.
During the winter months, the team, which consists of 20 students and four coaches, practices twice a week.
For Coach Leticia Clark, “The goal of Unified [Bocce] is inclusion.”
The sport encourages teamwork, school spirit and a sense of community.
Clark has been the head coach for eight years, since 2018.
“I started as an assistant coach, just helping out, and then just kept going with it,” Clark said.
According to Clark, she enjoys getting to know the kids and has a lot of fun coaching.
The kids enjoy being part of the team and gaining skills.
According to team member Charlie Pisoni, he values the “team communication.”
Among other things, junior Hunter Farrell said that team members learn that “patience is a huge thing.”
In Unified Bocce, players do not just learn how to function as a team.
They also learn other things.
For freshman Evan Rothholtz, he learned “how to roll a ball.”
According to Clark, Bocce can be taught to anyone who wishes to play.
“[Students] do not necessarily need to know how to play bocce; we will teach them the skills,” Clark said.
Right now, the team is working on what they would do if certain situations were to come up in a game. In other words, strategy.
“I learned how to keep my eye on the ball,” freshman Sage Praweckyj said.
According to Clark, the team is comprised of students in grades 9-12.
However, students who have already graduated have also returned for meets.
For members of the Unified Bocce team, the experience is not just about the sport; it is also about making connections.
“We make new friends each year when the new freshman class comes in,” Farrell said.
According to both Clark and Pisoni, the team bonds over the bus rides to away games. “People who wouldn’t normally be friends are friends in here,” Clark said.