A Los Gatos bocce player enjoys a casual game at Campo di Bocce, located at 565 University Ave. in Los Gatos.
The Los Gatos Bocce Club will take on sworn rivals, the Scotts Valley Bocce Club, in a bocce beat down next Saturday afternoon.
The annual Over the Hill tournament, which will take place on May 16 at Scotts Valley’s Skypark at 1pm, started three years ago as a friendly rivalry between the well-established Los Gatos team and the newbie Scott’s Valley players.
Los Gatos has creamed Scotts Valley in bocce play every year since the tournament was founded in 2007. The Scotts Valley contingency has since grown in size, strength and support, and is betting that 2009 will be their year.
“We call the tournament the Over the Hill because some of the bocce players are well-aged,” says Los Gatos bocce player Bob Rauh. “Scotts Valley’s line up is getting better and better and they’re just chomping at the bit to beat us. I keep kidding them, like, ‘Oh, if we throw in our B team, not our A team, then they might have a chance to beat us.?
Steve Horlock, founder and team captain of the Scotts Valley Bocce Club, says that his 70-plus players want to dethrone Los Gatos this year.
“We’re getting stronger every year, and we’re not going to be intimidated this year,” he says. “We’re going to come out with our best game. We hope to mow them down,” says Horlock.
“They were shaking in their boots the first year. But, we really didn’t know anything, and they were champions. Last year, we came and played in their courts, and they creamed us. They slit our throats so to speak. It was the best of five games, and they won three games in a row,” he says.
Horlock and the Scotts Valley team will have their work cut out for them since Bocce is a big deal in Los Gatos.
Campo di Bocce, located at 565 University Ave. in Los Gatos, is one of the most popular bocce facilities in Northern California. Over 100 bocce players gather there on weeknights to play in competitive evening leagues. Monday’s are for new players and Tuesday’s are for intermediates. The big guns, the 30-some members of the Los Gatos Bocce Club, tend to come out on Wednesday’s to play professional level bocce.
They also get together to socialize and practice bocce at Oak Meadow Park in Los Gatos every Saturday morning.
“Los Gatos has pretty much become a hub of activity for bocce on the west coast,” says Roah. “The Los Gatos Bocce Club has a long tradition, and we are very much in favor of promoting the game as much as we can throughout the U.S.”
Active for almost three decades, the Los Gatos Bocce Club is one of the most honored and recognized bocce clubs in Northern California.
“They win all the time, they are the Harlem Globetrotters of bocce ball,” says Scotts Valley’s Horlock.
Affiliated with the United States Bocce Federation, the Los Gatos Bocce Club brags a line up of national and international champions, including current United States Bocce Federation President John C. Ross.
One of the Los Gatos star bocce players is national bocce champion Michael Nicosia. Now in his 80s, Nicosia can still blow the bocce newbies out of the water with his masterful throws and ability to dislodge his opponent’s best-placed ball.
“He’s probably the granddaddy of bocce as far as our Wednesday night people—Michael Nicosia,” says Bill Schlaefer, a Los Gatos Bocce Club player.
“He’s been my mentor for years,” says Roah. “Michael’s is in his 80s, and still plays phenomenally well.”
“I teach them a lot over there,” says Nicosia with a thick Italian accent. “It was when I was a kid in my hometown of Sicily, Italy, we started fooling around with the bocce. I’m 56 years from my country now, and I’ve become champion in the United States.”
“When they opened it [Campo di Bocce] up in Los Gatos, I become an honorary member of the Los Gatos Bocce Club. I play the game, I love it. It’s for everybody, woman, kids, old, any age. It’s a very good sport, and I’ve met a lot of friends,” he says.
Even Horlock of Scotts Valley is in awe of Nicosia’s skills.
“He’s amazing,” says Horlock, who occasionally practices with the Los Gatos team. “He’s the seven-time national champion. I’ve been playing with those guys at that court, and they’ve been teaching me a lot. He’s taught me a lot, and he’s just pronominal.”
Though the occasional monetary wager is a big motivation for playing bocce, the comradely and tight-knit community generated by the game is the real pay out. Still, bragging rights aren’t bad either.
“The social aspect is wonderful,” says Roah. “This is one game that everybody can play, from young children, all the way to the very, very senior ages. It’s always been around good food and comradely.”
“It’s competitive and very social at the same time. It’s a good combination,” says Schlaefer. “After a while you get to know all the players. They’re friendly matches, but they are played to win, of course.”
With the Over the Hill tournament coming up next weekend, the competition is getting fierce. A wager of six bottles of premium local wine and a 4-foot bocce trophy are on the line.
“We support the Scotts Valley club because they are young and we want them to come along and enjoy the game as much as we do,” says Roah. “But I doubt very much, unless I put in my B team, that they will beat us this year.”
Horlock says his team is up for the challenge—and that revenge will be sweet.
“Rub it in their face—yeah,” says Horlock. “My guys are all psyched up. If we don’t get too cocky, maybe we’ll pull it off. What we’ll probably also do [if we win] is make the stakes higher next year.”
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ralph cowden Sun, May 31, 2009 - 8:21 am
My wife and I both enjoy Bocci and have played in France and Itialy including Calif. and Hawaii. Is the Los Gatos Club open to women? We are 75 but still have good moves. In France some of the old men fumble at women playing Bocci. My wife beat them.
the Cowdens