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Some of Texas’ most skilful and enthusiastic bocce athletes rolled into action at the recent Special Olympics Texas Fall Classic, competing for glory on the same high-quality portable bocce ball courts that will be used at the Special Olympics USA Games next year.

More than 300 athletes and Unified Partners took part in the Fall Classic’s bocce competition, joining hundreds of other competitors taking part in swimming, golf and softball events across the West Texas cities of Midland and Odessa on 2-4 October. 

Special Olympics Texas Executive Director of Competitions and Sports Programming Chad Eason said the portable Packabocce courts used at the event provided a professional playing experience and had proven invaluable for the state’s growing bocce ball scene.

As bocce fever continues to spread globally, Puerto Rico and St Kitts and Nevis have been unable to resist it, with the arrival of new Packaworld portable bocce courts bolstering the sport’s boom in popularity throughout the Caribbean region.

Bocce ball athletes throughout Puerto Rico flocked to its Special Olympics National Bocce Tournament in September, hosted using the new courts at Pista Rafael Meléndez Pagán – an athletics track in the coastal area of Barceloneta.

The athletes and courts will be back in action at the Coliseo Roger Mendoza in Caguas on 11 October for the bocce ball competition of the Special Olympics Puerto Rico National Games.

Thousands of people experienced the emerging sport of water skyball at Lake Balaton in Hungary over summer, thanks to two sets of Packaworld’s water skyball goals and fields that created an aquatic-sport playground for beachgoers.

The portable Water Skyball Packagoals and fields were used at the popular Alsoors Beach during the peak summer period of late June to early September.

Water Skyball Federation Vice President Olga Augusztin said the experience was an instant hit with curious people looking for a new way to cool off and enjoy some exercise.

“The field was there for everyone, so people came, played water skyball or just practised shooting at the goals. It was used all day because people were hungry to play something in the water.”

Participation in Australian goalball is building, fuelled by new high-performance funding that's enabled Blind Sport Australia to set ambitious targets for future Paralympic Games and supported by portable goals that make it easy to train teams across different locations.

Blind Sport Australia Acting CEO Felicity Wilkeson said the Australian Sports Commission funding had enabled support for goalball and blind football via a shared services team of high-performance coaches and administrators, adding momentum for blind and vision-impaired sport generally.

“Having exposure to Australia’s high-performance system is opening up a lot of doors for us. We’ve entered a new space and that has allowed us to bring on Kyle Burns and two others for a new high-performance sport department.”

Bocce is gaining traction across Northern California thanks to a surge of participation in Special Olympics community programs – and the support of portable Packabocce courts that are making it easier to bring the sport to athletes.

While school-based unified sports are leading the charge in many US states, Northern California’s bocce boom is being driven by community programs – providing opportunities for people to participate in sport outside of school and during adulthood.

Special Olympics Northern California Sports Manager Mikey Parissenti says participation in the organization’s program has grown by 5-7% over the past year, with bocce’s accessibility playing a key role in that growth.

When Greg Travers decided to set up Vino Bocce to roll out bocce ball sessions at wineries across California’s Napa Valley and Sonoma counties, he knew portable Packabocce courts would provide the perfect stage.

“The plan is simple – bring bocce to wineries. The Packaworld courts are perfect.”

Kicking off earlier this month with an event at Jacuzzi Family Vineyards in Sonoma, Vino Bocce is now hosting occasions offering everything from bocce lessons and clinics to mix-and-mingle meet-ups and corporate functions, pairing wine appreciation with bocce fun.

Travers is a former commissioner of one of America’s largest bocce clubs – the Martinez Bocce Federation – and he said the response from its 2,400 members had been “100% positive”.