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If the children who ventured to Saturday’s second annual Kids’ Fair at Bardascino Park maintain even a trace of their tenacity, they could help bocce, often marginalized as a game for old men, to challenge tennis for the title of “the sport of a lifetime.” As participants in the Bambini Bocce Tournament, the youngsters toiled in the sun at the 10th-and-Carpenter-streets site yet flashed gigantic smiles and displayed the type of sportsmanship that Larry Lindsay, the competition’s creator, had hoped to witness.
For nearly four hours, the 20 tykes, with an age range of 5 to 12, furthered the park’s 34-year reputation as a haven for happiness. They also showed the Bella Vista space’s summer league soon will have a new generation of talented tossers.
As noon approached, the eager entrants in the single-elimination affair began to form two-person teams. Their anticipation delighted Carla Puppin, a member of the Friends of Bardascino Park, the day’s sponsor.
“We have so many families who enjoy the park, so we figured we would hold the event to gather them and to get them engaged with our friends group, too,” the resident of 10th and Carpenter streets said. “It’s fun to be able to offer fun to the kids, especially the ones about to try bocce.”
“There is a lot of demand for bocce around here,” Lindsay, her husband and an avid player, added.
One can find proof of that in the park’s nine-year-old, 48-member summer league that includes parent-child teams. No separate children’s league exists, but one could form if sufficient parental availability were to mesh with juvenile interest.
As crafts, food, a magic show and a raffle sought to seal the other attendees’ enjoyment, Lindsay aimed to amp up the competitors with a description of the rules. Their attention never wavered as he revealed that every scoring period, or giro, begins with the rolling of a small ball, the pallino. Each team guides one heavier ball along the court to determine whose orb is closer to the pallino.
The rules deem the closer roll’s owner “inside.” The other unit must then try to top the opponent’s position by rolling its next ball. If the second toss has more accuracy, the original leader follows with an attempt, but, if not, the trailing team continues until it either gains supremacy or exhausts its ball allotment. When the duos have run out of balls, an official determines scoring by proximity to the often yellow pallino. With four rolls, a team can score as many as four points in a period, with winners needing anywhere from eight to 15 points to win a round.
Filled with knowledge and excitement, the children sped practice tries down the 90-foot court, with a roll from Christopher Corona leaving Lindsay amazed.
“Are you a professional?” he asked the 10-year-old resident of Sixth and Dickinson streets.
One of 10 rookies, Christopher carried his intensity into his round but lost a 10-8 contest.
“It sounded like fun, so I decided to play,” he said of entering. “I did well for my first time. I’ll be back next year.”
His 6-year-old brother Bryant was determined not to let the family go winless. Teaming with 11-year-old cousin Karen Tlacop Pilco of the 1000 block of South Ninth Street, the ball of energy proved a great marksman, placing his two-handed heaves within inches of the pallino and sending his balls right at his competitors’ offerings, putting the latter in terrible positions. In their semifinal, he gained some vindication, knocking off his brother’s vanquishers in a 9-7 decision.
The bocce tournament and other events, including summer concerts, owe their existence to the 20-year-old friends group. Occupying the area that from 1904 to ’68 served as the Community Hospital, the park has thrived since ’99, as the Department of Recreation has greatly assisted its evolving identity.
The City agency that year made the friends group part of the Parks Revitalization Project, enabling members to receive leadership training, partake in skills workshops and compete for grants. Four years later, it chose the park as one of 12 sites for capital improvements, a move that included the bocce court’s renovation.
“People come from Norristown to play,” Lindsay said.
The group held a fundraiser for the court at the South Philadelphia Older Adult Center, 1430 E. Passyunk Ave. June 11. While Lindsay and others are eager to preserve the elderly’s affiliation with the game, they are thrilled to expose new minds and arms to the sport.
The finals featured Bryant and Karen against Marcel Roscioli and Shane Cohen-Mungan. The latter pair had minimal drama in its two prior rounds and relaxed by throwing a wiffle ball against a wall.
Precise rolls led Lindsay to make several measurements of the balls’ distances from the pallino to determine a giro’s leader, with each assessment drawing a crowd. With his cousin’s guidance, Bryant executed great rolls, but Marcel and Shane seemed intent on securing the winners’ trophies and the five accompanying water ice certificates.
The boys removed suspense by amassing four points in a single period to take a 6-0 lead. Bryant and Karen launched respectable rolls, but their foes responded with attempts that either gave them an exact touch, or kiss, of the pallino or left them within inches of it.
The first-to-10 round looked as if it could end in a shutout, as the boys grabbed a 9-0 advantage. Bryant recovered three points, but he and his cousin had to settle for the runners-up trophies and three water ice certificates, as Marcel and Shane triumphed 10-3.
“I feel so happy,” the 8-year-old Marcel said.
A resident of the 1200 block of Ellsworth Street and a to-be third-grader at a Center City’s ICS Independence Charter School, he had played at Bardascino before but never in a competition.
“This is my first time playing,” Shane, of the 700 block of Pemberton Street, said.
The nine-year-old to-be fourth grader at William Meredith School, 725 S. Fifth St., waved his certificates and slapped hands with his lifelong pal.
“They were good,” he said of his opponents. “We weren’t calm at the beginning, but after we had such a good start, we weren’t nervous.”
“We’re happy to have won,” Roscioli said. “What a great day.”
Contact Staff Writer Joseph Myers at jmyers@southphillyreview.com or ext. 124.
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