JIMMY REED admires his shot during a recent bocce practice session in preparation for the Special Olympics.
Bears, Buddies and … bocce?
Members of the Independence Association’s Special Olympics bocce team — known as the Bath Brunswick Area Adult Special Olympics Bears — got together last week with the Bocce Buddies of Bath for practice at the Bath Area Seniors Activity Center. The Bears are preparing to take part in the Special Olympics Estate Games next month, competing for Olympic gold at the University of Maine at Orono on June 6.
The team has been playing for three years at Bath’s South End Park, where there are two outdoor bocce courts. But the contests at the Special Olympics won’t be played outdoors, so the team had to find a place to play on a grass carpet indoors to get ready for the competition.
Luckily, they didn’t have to travel far. Bath’s senior center has been offering bocce indoors for the last eight years, and center officials were delighted to open their doors to help the team.
Although the Independence Association center is in Brunswick, the Olympians hail from Topsham, Bath, Brunswick and Wiscasset. They’ve had eight official practices using Olympic rules thus far, which have taken place Thursday evenings over the course of the last two months.
The team is working hard to play by the rules they’ll be expected to face in Orono. Among them, they have to use a flag bearer whose word is final, letting them know which team has to play next.
“It’s fun, but it’s work,” said Jimmy Reed, one of the Bears, just after he rolled his green ball and knocked the small white ball, called a pallino, down the court. That action earned his team a point.
The Bocce Buddies of Bath were excited to have the Bears visit.
“It will take them a little while to get the hang of working on a grass carpet,” said Jean Anthony, the leader of the bocce group. “Playing outdoors on rock dust takes more energy. They’ll learn how to roll the ball more gently before the competition.”
The Bocce Buddies expect the Bears to practice with them at least once more before the Olympics.
For information about the Independence Association, visit www.independenceassociation.org.
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