Argentina! Argentina! By Brian Polantz

Transcription

1 April 2013 Flying to Foz do Iguacu, Brazil for the 2012 Punto Raffa Volo Championships in Iguazu, Argentina, I was a bit on edge. Finding my connecting flight in Sao Paolo was chaotic at best. Having never been to South America, I did not know what to expect. Will someone be at the airport to pick me up? (An experience where you are missing luggage and stranded at an Italian airport will cause a little unrest in any future endeavors.) I must say I was a little surprised when I saw my name on a poster upon entering the tiny airport. The first thing that I noticed while waiting for my escort to find his driver was the advertisement for assorted cured meats and fine cheeses. Maybe Argentina wouldn t be so bad. Argentina! Argentina! By Brian Polantz A short ride over the border and across bridges painted with the Argentinean flag, I arrived at the hotel. With the early arrival of my teammates (Jason Wisniewski, Lio Gianotti and Jose Botto), and coach (Danny Passaglia). I had heard that the accommodations were less than stellar, however nice the grounds were. I would not so much call it a hotel as a glorified camping experience. Rather than one large building, there were many small cabins with three to four separate rooms. Our 15 by 10 foot room for four yes for four consisted of four small beds, an old TV and a leaking air conditioner. The lackluster sleeping quarters were completely outshined by the rest of the grounds. There were two nice swimming pools, a game/bar room, a convenience store, cafeteria and lobby, some of which had spotty WiFi. FIRST EVER 4th Place Team - L-R Jason, Jose, Brian and Lio After quickly getting settled, we were taken to the courts for our scheduled practice. The venue where all games were to be played had a rough appearance. In the 95 degree heat, I marveled at the sheet metal roof, lack of running water (in the bathrooms) and large fans that were used as an alternative to air conditioning. There was ample room for spectators, with large concrete steps acting as seating around the stadium. We were

2 President s Letter Fellow U.S.B.F Members, We are fast approaching our next National Tournament which will be hosted once again by the I.A.C Club of Stockton, California. Please consult our website for more details including a registration form, room rate information and deadlines. I think it will take a long time for most of us to forget the extraordinary temperatures all the players faced at last year s event. While the Alpine C.C provided a beautiful setting for bocce no one could control Mother Nature and she certainly gave us a heat wave. Certainly that will not be an issue at the I.A.C and I look forward to seeing everyone there from June 22nd 29th. The start of 2013 created several changes on the USBF Board with the departure of some officers and directors. Elections were held and all the vacancies were filled and we move forward. I do want to address one of the major changes the Board approved. As of July, 2012 an Executive Committee was formed in order to expedite many issues presented to the Board as well as create a smaller group to facilitate more frequent meetings and handle issues in a timely manner. That Committee is formed by the Officers and the 3 Sector Presidents. This Committee will conduct 90% of the everyday USBF affairs during the year and hopefully streamline decisions and improve performance of the Directors. More information on this Committee, their function and authority will be found in another section of this newsletter. USA would not be interested in their suggestion. I am currently working on a relationship with the Pan American Federation to possibly create a new tournament involving the USA and several South American countries. This would create an even more elite competition than we had previously as well as larger participation. The USBF has maintained a sufficient financial position the past five years and the projection is for continued stability. While we have experienced a slight decline in membership, we have in 2012, reached a record number of Clubs associated with the Federation. We now have representation in over 22 states and more facilities are being built in the Midwest and Eastern Sectors. The recently opened facility in the Boston area should finally provide the players in the East with the synthetic courts needed for competitive play and year round action. I want to thank the Board for their vote of confidence and I promise to serve the next two years ( ) with the same attitude and concern for the betterment of bocce and the USBF. Stay healthy, continue to promote and support our sport as well as the USBF. Until the next time we meet, remember winning isn t everything but it sure makes the trip home a lot better!! Sincerely, Danny Passaglia I also must report that the North American Championship which began several years ago has apparently run its course. Currently we are awaiting the final word if the Ciociaro Club of Windsor, Canada will or will not be hosting what I am certain will be the final installment of this event. The Canadian Federation has proposed a different format should we decide to continue in the future but I have already given notice that the Page 2

3 Sector Reports Gabriel Quattrocchi - Eastern Sector Over the course of our first year, we have paid close attention to our bocce courts at the Lock 1 Club. We have made sure to keep the courts compact, watered, and continually worked on our top surface to make sure it was fine. As time has went on, we have really been able to analyze the time and effort in maintaining just 2 courts (60 x 12 ). The time being broken down into: sweeping, watering, rolling, and cleaning the area around the courts from stone dust walked off. Also, every 2 months, we have had to resurface the top removing the bigger pebbles and adding fine screened stone dust. All in all, this process has broken down to hrs per week at keeping these courts at optimal level. In year one, we have expanded our base with a Friday night corn hole league (16 teams) and a Thursday night rubber horseshoes league (12 teams). The bocce leagues are moving in positive direction with new players since our inception. We hold a 3 person league on Monday night and a coed doubles on Wednesday nights. The coed league has stirred up some interest and will be approaching 14 teams come January. With all this being said, after year one we are tearing out the courts and expanding them to 66 by 11. We will be moving to a synthetic surface yet to be determined. Whether its a polyurethane resin or mondo, we are moving on from the stone dust. Make sure to thank all the volunteers at your clubs as maintaining these courts is something that probably goes unnoticed Highwood 2 Person Shootout On Sunday, February 24th, 2013 at the Highwood Bocce Club, we had forty-eight bocce players participate in a two person round robin tournament format. This was an unexpected amount of teams for this time of year where a large majority of people go on vacation in the Midwest during the winter months. The tournament consisted of four bracket of six team. The top two teams in each division made the playoffs. The event started at 8am and we finally end up with a winning team at 11pm. This was a long day of bocce but it seemed everyone had a great time. The tournament organizer Lenny Innocenzi owner of Buffo s Restaurant made sure all the player were well feed from the time they got there to the time they left. This two person tournament has a huge success. 1st Place Jose Botto /Jason Wisniewski 2nd Place Lio Giannotti / Tom Pignatari 3rd and 4th place Teresa Passaglia / Frank Deluca and Joe Masternik/Sal Lini The time requirements in maintaining these courts just doesn t make sense for our establishment. Speaking to various bocce advocates nationally, more and more facilities have transitioned to these surfaces over the past few years. This is something that we wish we would have paid more attention to from the beginning. Page 3

4 informed that our practice time had been moved and we needed to wait for our one hour of practice. While sweating off our excitement, we watched four teams practice and adjust to the rolls of the courts. The courts were quite nice, and from what I understood from other Worlds, better than in recent past. The courts consisted of fine sand sprinkled onto the Mondo bocce mats which were over ¼ inch plywood on top of the arena s wooden floor. The speed of the courts was typical, but reading the lines of the court was a challenge. One court in particular seemed impossible to make a ball roll to the middle (where the pallino usually ended up!). Raffa shooting was bouncy, causing many more missed shots than you would see on a typical synthetic court. After returning from practice, we learned of our draw from Danny. The good news, he said, was drawing South Africa, Turkey, and Venezuela. The bad news was that we drew Italy. Although I knew what he meant, I was secretly excited to play against the historically-best country ever to play the game. Our first match was against South Africans. Not having been to a Punto Raffa Volo Championships before, I did not know what caliber of play to expect from such a team. The group of four older Italian-born players reminded me of the players I grew up playing with. Jason, Lio and I started off our tournament with sporadic play. Inconsistent shooting and pointing on our side was met with consistent lagging on their side. We found ourselves down by 3 or 4 Argentina! Argentina! By Brian Polantz (continued from page 1) Venezuela and USA pose at Opening Ceremony points the entire game. A few missed opportunities on their side and our warming up to the court slightly allowed us to edge them out It was my first win in a PRV Championships. We were undefeated! Maybe it would stay that way? The next game, Jose played one of their players from the triples game. Perhaps Jose watching our game in the 95 degree heat (and their player having already played a game) accounted for the first surprise of the tournament. Jose struggled with pointing as the South African lagged amazingly. We lost the singles and were in jeopardy of losing the match. It came down to Jason and Jose. They did not disappoint, playing very well and winning convincingly. We were all happy to have our first match under our belts with a win. For our next match against the anticipated Italians, Danny kept things in perspective, wisely telling us to play our own game Large China Delegation with USA Team and use it as a learning experience. Without actually saying it, I understood that Italian bocce history was not on our side. Danny suggested that getting them to even use one time out would be a moral victory. Well, along Page 4

5 Argentina! Argentina! By Brian Polantz (Continued from page 4) with amazing raffa precision from Jose and fair pointing from Jason and I, we battled DiNicola (the best pointer I have ever seen), Benedetti Practice on the Courts and Savoretti. Not only did the Italians use BOTH timeouts, but they were frantically going up and down the court, asking permission to view the various situations with the balls. I got the sense that they were not used to close triples games. I wish that I can say we pulled the upset, but we were proud to have scored 8 points in one game against a team that never gave up 8 points in all three games combined in any of their other group play matches. With Jose having beat Savoretti in a previous World Championship (a major accomplishment), it was not surprising that Signorini played singles instead. I will never forget one of the shots from that game. Jose was playing amazingly and was winning 8 to 3. He had 2 points with 2 balls back to Signorini s one ball. After a frantic discussion with his coach, Signorini shot a distant pallino to the end of the court. Had he missed, Jose would have gone up 12 to 3. Hitting it, it landed next to his ball at the end of the court where Jose could not make a point. Signorini never looked back and won 15 to 8. After Jose s performance against him, Signornini never played another single s game that week. Our next match against the Venezuelans went well. Gauging them before we played, I thought we would have an easy match. But as I learned at the World s there are no easy matches. Venezuela had great raffa shooting and played tough, but we had found our groove and won all three games. Our last match was a must win. With the Italians beating all of us in the group, we had to win this match against Turkey to make the final 8. Lucky for me, it was on my favorite court where balls never rolled the same way twice. We struggled greatly in triples and lost. We were in a tough spot as we needed to win both of our last two games. Jose played great and won in singles. It came down to Jason and I. Things were not going well the first half of the game as we were losing. After getting the pallino back, I decided to change things a bit by playing a short pallino by the wall in the volo region. It allowed us enough consistency to outlast our opponents and secure our spot in the quarterfinals. The quarter finals consisted of all the first seeds against the second seeds from group play (Italy versus Switzerland, Chile versus USA, Argentina A versus Brazil, Argentina B versus China). That night, the stadium was packed. Having both Argentinean teams qualify, you could feel the national pride in the air. As all 8 teams were lined up to be announced to the crowd, suddenly a frenzy of loud Argentineans entered the stadium The Guys after a huge steak dinner! through a side door. The parade of fans was draped with Argentinean colored flags, shirts, scarves, hats and more. They carried and beat drums, getting the crowd into an Argentina! Argentina! chant. It was passion for country and sport that I had only witnessed before on TV. It Page 5

6 Argentina! Argentina! By Brian Polantz (Continued from page 5) gave me goose bumps. Jose vs Signorini USA vs Italy Singles game The screams of excitement from the crowd rallied both Argentinean teams to victory. Italy handily beat the Swiss. Amid all the excitement, we kept our calm and beat a better seeded Chile in triples. Jose handed the Chilean his first singles loss of the week. We made it to the semifinals! It was a proud moment to know we had secured a 4th place finish (the best PRV place ever achieved by a men s team). With a little luck, we would have been matched against anyone other than Italy in the semifinals. Unfortunately, we did not play as well the second time against Italy and lost the match. I truly believe that had we gotten to play one of the other teams, I would have been writing about a US vs Italian World Championship game. Playing one of the This was my first PRV World Championship experience. Knowing how experienced Danny is with World Championships, his excitement for our 4th place finish put how special our achievement was in perspective. Our success was largely helped by our friendship. With Jose s pranks, Jason s calm, Danny s wisdom and Lio s mothering abilities to keep us all in line, we shared a great experience. There are several memorable things I take away from Iquazu, besides the bocce. Celebrating the birthdays of Jose, myself, Teresa, and Olga (Teresa s sister) all in the same week, we ate some of the most interesting cakes available. Being called the best dressed team due to our variety of hip uniforms, we turned heads. With Jose returning to the country of his roots and having relatives there, we all felt a little more at home. Visiting the Iquazu National Park, we experienced the most amazing, unforgettable wildlife and waterfalls. Ultimately, any superficial issues we dealt with were far outshined by the friendliness of the Argentinean people, the quaintness of Iguazu, the deliciousness of their food, and the pride of their nation. It was a great experience. Head Referee section and Electric Scoreboards Veteran Team from South Africa teams from Argentina for 3rd place, we struggled and finished 4th, quite the accomplishment. Page 6

7 Pallino D Oro 2013 If You Build It They Will Come By Dario and Natalina Bernardi Over twenty bocce players gathered on March 2 and 3 at the Guilford Lake Grille and Bocce Club in Lisbon, Ohio, to compete in the 8th annual 2013 Pallino D Oro Punto, Raffa, Volo singles tournament. All players were members of the United States Bocce Federation or Canadian Bocce Federation and hailed from Ohio, Michigan, Pennsylvania, New York, California, and Toronto and Windsor, Canada. The format was group play in the morning, with eight players advancing to single elimination. Saturday was the United States Pallino D Oro, Sunday was the North American Pallino D Oro. The tournament was hosted by Mike Grasser, proprietor of Da Vinci Bocce and American distributor for Super Martel Bocce products and Colorifico Adriatico synthetic bocce court surfaces. Mike puts on a first class tournament. The courts were well prepared. All players received stylish Da Vinci Bocce windbreakers and other items. A set of brand-new Super Martel 107s was raffled off. (When Mike called the winning number, a grinning Brian Polantz strutted forward and, like a kid in a candy store, immediately selected a set of red, white, and green balls. When asked how he made such a quick selection from the treasuretrove display, he replied, colors of Slovenia. Rumor has it he s been sleeping with the balls under his pillow. And finally, the awards were must-see spectacular (see photos). Bravo, Mike. Well played. The venue was worthy. A few years ago, the owner of Guilford Lake Grille asked Mike to design and build a bocce club as an addition to the lake front restaurant. The design called for four outdoor courts (84 X 12 ) with a limestone base and Har-Tru court clay surface, to be followed one year later by a facility built over them, with huge garage-style doors to open in the hotter months. Many future projects are in the works, including finished walls with additional artwork, hardwood ceilings, and resurfaced courts with a synthetic material. In short, this grand facility is only getting grander. Anyone lucky enough to stumble in to the Guilford Lake Grille as the afternoon wore on and the competition heated up might have caught a glimpse of the distinguished face of a man looking down on the proceedings from the balcony with obvious appreciation. This was Dick Sekely, lifelong entrepreneur, prominent Ohio businessman, and owner of the Guilford Lake Grille and Bocce Club. Dick and his wife, Lindia, had decided, If we build it, they will come. And so they built it, and they came. And so should many more. Top-ranked U.S. player Jose Botto won both tournaments. When Jose s final raffa shot struck the target ball with a decisive clack, it was turn out the lights, the party s over. Jose promptly presented his winning set of balls to a surprised Alex Converse, a local player and GLG staff member who has done much of the construction work. Bravo, Jose and Alex. Thanks go out to the staff of the Guilford Lake Grille. Alex, April, Ariel, Bob, Christa, Lindia, Lolo, Quozz, Roy, Scott, Tabitha, and Tracy all provided unfailing hospitality, accommodating any request with good cheer. Results: Pallino D Oro United States 1. Jose Botto, Michigan 2. Jason Wisniewski, Michigan 3. Pat Pezzin, Toronto 4. Natale Scala, New York Pallino D Oro North America 1. Jose Botto, Michigan 2. Tony Rossi, Windsor 3. Chuck Weeden, Michigan 4. Pat Pezzin, Toronto In 1968, Robert De Ropp wrote a book called Page 7

8 Pallino D Oro 2013 If You Build It They Will Come By Dario and Natalina Bernardi The Master Game, which contains the following passage: What people really need and demand from life is not wealth, comfort, or esteem, but games worth playing. Seek, above all, for a game worth playing. Having found the game, play it with intensity. Play it as if your life and sanity depended on it. (They do.) Swiss Team just prior to Opening Parade All participants in the 2013 Pallino D Oro can appreciate the above sentiment. They have found their game. With the help of visionaries like Mssrs. Grasser and Sekely, may it grow. Argentina Pictures Views of Iguazu Falls Views of Iguazu Falls Military Band rehearsing for Opening Ceremony USA vs Turkey Pre-Game ritual exchange of gifts Page 8