Bocce Popularity Grows Among Fort Thomas Students, With Help from FTEF
Highlands is known for its sports legacies. Football, obviously. Basketball, baseball, soccer and more have all seen incredible highlights over the school’s history. Now being added to that FTIS storied pantheon of pastimes is an 18th century Italian sport possibly first played by the ancient Romans.
Bocce (pronounced “botch-ee”) is a sport easy for all ages to play, combining strategy and dexterity as small wooden or stone balls are tossed toward another small ball called a “pallino.” Those closest to the pallino score the most points. It’s a simple premise, and an engaging and social game. It’s also a lot of fun to boot.
So when the Fort Thomas Education Foundation granted a teacher grant request for a bocce setup for Woodfill Elementary, it became a huge hit with the school’s students. As those students aged into middle school they still wanted to play (and introduce the game to their new friends from other elementary schools). The Education Foundation helped fund a similar set for the middle school and thus the games could continue.
“The Middle School has a Unified Bocce Club that meets during FLEX time monthly, and we plan an additional monthly gym FLEX that has an accessible game that anyone can join,” says Highlands Middle School special education teacher Andrea Smith. Because of its accessibility to all varieties of students, bocce has unsurprisingly become a major sport with the Special Olympics. The Unified Club also organizes several awareness and advocacy activities for the school such as World Down Syndrome Day or Spread the Word Campaign.
As the popularity of bocce continues, and perhaps as these students age into high school, they’ll take the sport with them further up their ranks.
“ I think it is very helpful to have the Education Foundation because it allows teachers to provide experiences to our students that other schools are unable to have due to funding constraints,” says Smith of the sport’s popularity in Fort Thomas. “I think it is rare to see a program like this in a public school, but it is a testament to the support of our community.”