By DAVE KEMPTON, Special to The News-Press
FORT MYERS — Guy Pagano missed in the first attempt to add another sport to the list of Olympic competitions, but his determination to make a little-known game called bocce — a form of lawn bowling — more mainstream remains strong.
| ON A ROLL: Lexington Bocce Club players Marty Benjamin and Janet Serpe try for points during the first of three playoff games Monday morning, while Marge Gibbs, left, watches. |
Pagano, a Fort Myers Beach seasonal resident, is trying to make sure that every area club is aware of bocce and the competitive and social value of the simple game laced with fitness but easily understood by all ages.
“I will never stop promoting the game. It’s very popular with people who have played for a long time and, regardless of age, once you’re involved you see the fun of bocce,” Pagano said.
Teams from Lexington Country Club, Seven Lakes, Indian Creek, Thunderbird, Siesta Bay and Jamaica Bay have formed a bocce league. They have interclub matches and mini-tournaments.
“Both Indian Creek and Thunderbird have 100 or more players,” said Pagano.
Bocce is a game played with eight balls and a target ball. The object of the game is to roll a ball as close as possible to the target ball to collect points.
The game is not expensive and it adds to the amenities of any club or community, Pagano said.
Pagano and other enthusiasts presented preliminary plans before the 1996 Olympic Games to include bocce as a demonstration sport.
“Heavy pressure from other sports and organizations, such as sport dancing, won out because they were better-prepared,” said Pagano. “Bocce has no strong central organization to lead the effort.”
Bocce, which is played with balls consisting of high composites or stainless steel, could be the world’s oldest sport — dating back to the Egyptians in 5200 B.C.
The more-modern game is traced to the Italians, who used well-formed stones to play the game.
The first and only bocce Olympics was held in 1896 in Athens, Greece.
The game reached the United States in the 1960s. In 1992, the U.S. Department of Commerce noted that two million bocce sets had been sold.
Secondary schools are now adding bocce for youngsters who lack the athletic or physical requirements of contact sports.
“Seniors make up a significant segment of the total bocce participation. Many of them never had the opportunity to enjoy competitive sports earlier once they finished school,” said Pagano. “And it’s a sport that can be enjoyed equally by men or women. In fact, down here, a lot of the women are the better players.”
Pagano, a New Jersey native who is a retired computer executive, and a certified bocce consultant, organized 35 communities in Ocean County, N.J., into a league that now includes 114 teams. Pagano is attempting to accomplish the same participation level in Lee County.
“Bocce is a hobby for me. I want to promote the advancement of the sport while maintaining the integrity and heritage of an ancient tradition,’’ said Pagano.
Lexington Country Club teammates Bill McKnight and Alex Zacour are hooked.
Barbara LaFata, 62, a Long Island, N.Y., native who also lives at Lexington, likes the idea that women can compete with men on an even basis.
“The men have no advantage. It’s all about strategy,” said LaFata, who plays twice a week on the Lexington courts.
“The game actually calls for a higher degree of fitness and the conditions can change from day to day,” said Pagano. “Not all the bocce courts are level and you must read the court and adjust your shots.”
