BOCCE BALL

Tonight I played bocce ball on an actual court. I have always played it as "extreme" bocce ball, without any (or at least limited or fluid) boundaries. My wife took the child and I to Les Gove Park in Auburn so that the child could play in the water park and that she and I could play bocce ball. It is a lot different playing on a packed oyster shell court with actual sides and back. I played horribly. My wife was easily the victor because I could not get any kind of rhythm down and we were also being pestered by two local children. And, I simply could not roll the ball light enough or slow enough. The compacted shell really moved the ball along. And, with the additional rules of (1) the pallino having to be initially thrown beyond midcourt and (2) stopping at least twelve inches from a side, as well as (3) a ball being dead if it contacts the back wall unless it contacts another ball, I was doomed from the beginning. The ninety foot long court did not seem as long as it initially did once the balls started rolling. I will definitely have to make some return visits!