LAUNCH OF NEW SPORT UNIFIES STUDENTS
The Fox Chapel Area bocce team members celebrated a great play! ox Chapel Area FOX CHAPEL AREA SCHOOL NEWS
LAUNCH OF NEW SPORT UNIFIES STUDENTS
It’ s a sport in which mere inches can mean the difference in scoring a point or not, and at times, referees must carefully take a tape measure to make the determination. There is applause after each of the players rolls the ball, aiming to get close to the target called a pallino.“ It’ s going to be close,” the announcer says as an athlete rolls a ball through the playing court.
Well over 100 students, teachers, and parents of athletes attended the first-ever indoor bocce match played at Fox Chapel Area High School on January 25. The newest high school sport, indoor bocce, is unique because it is designed to include an equal number of students with disabilities alongside their peers who do not have disabilities. Part of the Unified Sports program offered in Allegheny
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County schools and sponsored by Special Olympics, the two teams of eight athletes on the Foxes bocce team hold regular practices and competitions – just like all of the high school interscholastic athletic teams.
Although students with disabilities are included on interscholastic sports teams, they sometimes cannot fully take part.“ This gives them the opportunity to participate in an entire sport, in every way with their peers,” said life skills teacher and one of the Foxes bocce coaches Anna Hopper.“ They want to do something in school like everyone else.”
According to senior Bailey Beal, who watched the Foxes bocce team compete from the stands,“ These kids are the best!” She was excited about the great turnout for the first competition.
A member of the Foxes bocce team launched his ball. It takes strategy to decide just how hard to roll the ball to maximize a shooter’ s advantage. Even if the ball is close to the target, the next opponent may strategically hit that ball away from the pallino.