Students come together for indoor bocce
JEFFERSON TWP — It was a thrilling come-from-behind victory for the Knoch Unified Indoor Bocce team Thursday afternoon, rallying from a 4-0 deficit to capture the game 10-7 over Butler and taking the match 3-2. The team remains undefeated in its inaugural season.
But even if the team had lost, the fact it took the court still would have counted as a victory for the message of inclusion that is behind the team's formation.
The team is made up of four students with disabilities and three general education students.
The team was sponsored by the Special Olympics and practices twice a week after school. Members have three matches in their first season, including victories Jan. 21 over Hickory High and Thursday over Butler. Knoch will meet a unified bocce team at Seneca Valley High School on Feb. 13 before a bocce tournament Feb. 27 at Slippery Rock ends the team's season.
“We went to the Special Olympics the first year we wanted to start,” said Kurt Reiser, Knoch High School athletic director .
“We're excited to have it. It gives an opportunity to kids who might not get as much recognition as other students. We are looking forward to today (Thursday's match against Butler). We are trying to make it as big an event as we can.”
That the team's only home match is on the week Knoch is celebrating Inclusion Week is no coincidence, according to Marisa Leech, the Knoch High School life skills teacher and Best Buddies club adviser.
Inclusion Week has activities designed to show students' appreciation and inclusion of all fellow students.
The Best Buddies club at Knoch pairs students together and is designed to integrate those with intellectual and developmental disabilities with general education students.
Leech said Best Buddies builds one-on-one friendships between people with and without intellectual and developmental disabilities, which will increase inclusion, and build meaningful connections with peers.
There are 10 pairings said Mike Hajek, director of special services for the South Butler County School District, with 30 students in the club altogether.“It helps with communication and socialization skills,” Hajek said. “It's a more natural connection in a friendly manner.”He hopes students discover they are more alike than different.“We focus on better understanding, really look at people in a different perspective,” Hajek said.The club will continue throughout the school year and feature fundraising and service projects. Members also intend to take part in the Feb. 28 Polar Plunge in Pittsburgh.“And sometimes its just playing cards,” Leech said. “It's as simple as that.”And sometimes it's as fielding an indoor bocce team made up of four students with intellectual or developmental disabilities and three students without.They've been coached to an undefeated season so far by their aptly named coach, Amy Bocci, Knoch Middle School's gifted coordinator and English teacher.“I inquired about the position,” Bocci said. “I grew up playing bocce. It's not just Italian but it's got a Slovenian/Croatian background too. I'd visit my grandparents and play at the Slovenian campground ... near New Castle. And of course, I married a Bocci.”Bocci said Knoch's unified bocce team is just that — a high school team.“It's comparable to the WPIAL. They had to pass physicals; they had packets to do,” she said. And the team practices twice a week after school from 2:45 to 4 p.m.Bocce, said Bocci, is a game where each player rolls a ball trying to get closest to a yellow ball called a pallina to score points.
Each match consists of three games. Each game is won by the team that scores 16 points first or is ahead when each game's 30-minute time limit expires.Knoch won its first match by taking its first two games 12-1 and 14-1. Bocci was told that indoor bocce normally isn't a high scoring affair.“That usually doesn't happen they say. So that was exciting,” the rookie coach said.Indoor bocce is played on a gymnasium floor on a court outlined in PVC pipe. Knoch's team either practices in the high school gym or in a high school cafeteria.“I tried out because I like to roll the ball and get it close to the pallina and cheer for my friends Mel and Becka,” said Julie Kubit, a junior from Cabot. “And I've made new friends.”Natalie Gall, a senior, is on the team as is her sister, Emily.“It's super fun,” Natalie said.
Becky Hortert, a senior, said, “I thought it would be a really fun sport. I knew it would really be fun to hang out with Julie.”Melanie Jialanella, a senior, said she joined the bocce team “because I like to cheer for my friends and meeting my new friends.”Sam Thinnes, a senior from Saxonburg, is considered the team's “blaster,” someone who uses his ball to knock the opponent's ball away from the pallina.“I blasted a bocce ball with my own to get the point. It kind of happened on its own. I wasn't aiming for it,” he said.Thinnes' blasting skills were called on several times Thursday as Knoch's bocce players won the first game of the match, 6 to 4, dropped the second game, 2 to 6, and were down 0 to 4 in the rubber game before rallying to come back to win 10 to 7.The bocce team remained undefeated and exited the gym to cheers from the crowd.
<br />
