The Beauty of Bocce

My first time playing Bocce Ball was with my friend and workmate, AJ.  Bored of office and coffee house meetings, we would hit up Portofino Bay...

... or at least as close as the two of use could get to the actual Italian village... the Portofino Bay Hotel in Orlando.

AJ has since moved to California, but Bocce remains.  Over the last few months, when the weather's nice, we've arranged picnics at Lake Eola, and my other friends Ian and Melissa Soto have brought their set to the park.

I finally broke down and bought my own set a few weeks ago.  Here are some pics from our last Bocce picnic in the park.

I'm sure true Italians would find our court-less games laughable, so I was inspired to find some examples of real technique.  First, I found this, which made me feel okay about our games in the park - except for the fact that Eleanor Foltz is apparently a Bocce stud!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LPUQUmV0ePE

Then I found this video of Josco Mardesic, a Croatian Bocce Champ in what is called the "Progressive Throw."

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y0HGEHXAkoo

I kind of want to see Eleanor try the Progressive Throw competition now.

Maybe we can convince Leo, the park manager at Lake Eola, to install some Bocce courts out at Lake Eola, but until then, we'll keep biking to our games in the grass.