news blog

New portable courts are supporting an explosion in bocce ball popularity in Puerto Rico, with scores of athletes taking part in the latest round of the island’s national Special Olympics tournament and a new unified bocce carnival for students.

Between them, the Special Olympics National Bocce Tournament event in Cataño and Adapted Sport Carnival in Caguas engaged hundreds of Special Olympics athletes, unified partners, families, volunteers and supporters.

Both events took place on new portable bocce ball courts from Packaworld, allowing for easy court transportation to venues and providing an eye-catching and wheelchair-accessible stage for participants.

Most people are happy playing sport at their local park, gym, or pool, but for some that's just not exciting enough. 

From coral reefs to cruise ships and from Germany's beaches to Central Europe's largest lake, sport has a habit of popping up in the most unexpected places – aided by portable equipment that makes it all possible.

Packaworld’s inflatable courts and goals have supported some seriously unique places to play sport around the world. That's why we've put our heads together to come up with this selection of five of our favourites. 

Read on, and perhaps gain some inspiration for the next indoor or outdoor location you plan to transform using our portable sports equipment.

When Kendall King’s colleague first saw Packaworld's portable bocce courts at the Special Olympics World Games in Berlin, they immediately recognised their potential to transform how they could help grow participation of the sport back home in Western Australia.

King, the State Coordinator for Special Olympics Western Australia, now rolls out Packabocce courts in parks, schools and community venues across Perth to stage activations and ‘have a go’ events to introduce new players to bocce.

King said the courts were a vital part of the organisation’s campaign to provide opportunities for people with intellectual disabilities and “spread the word” about inclusion.

If you've seen people rolling or throwing balls in a park or courtyard and wondered which game they might be playing, you're not alone.

The world of ball-wrangling sports can be confusing, with titles like pétanque, boules, bowls and bocce chucked around and used interchangeably – though sometimes not accurately.

In this helpful guide we seek to  untangle the terminology, remove some of the mystery and explore what makes each of them unique (or not as the case may be!).

After reading this, you'll be sure to know your boules from your bowls, and your pallino from your jack and cochonett.

If you’ve ever delved into the history of bocce ball, you’ll know that even the sport’s biggest fans are prone to heated debates about where it all started.

Perhaps its creation stems from an ingrained impulse to target an object, honed through millennia of hunting animals to provide food for the tribe, or maybe humans are just hardwired to love challenging games of skill that involve socialising.

Whatever the idea was behind the game’s original format, it has remained perennially popular ever since.

The story of bocce ball’s development takes us on a journey of more than 7,000 years, from polished rocks thrown in the shadows of Egyptian pyramids to resin balls used on portable inflatable courts for international Special Olympics competitions.

Christchurch's Ngā Puna Wai Sports Hub buzzed with energy last week as it hosted bocce athletes taking part in one of the largest sports events the city had seen in over a decade.

Eight portable bocce ball courts from Packaworld set the stage for Kiwi rollers to battle it out at the bocce event of the Special Olympics New Zealand 2025 National Summer Games, which saw more than 1,200 athletes compete in 10 sports across six venues in Christchurch.

Casey McLean, a Summer Games bocce ball player, helped the Manawatū Team win gold in the Unified Teams category and enjoyed playing on Packaworld's portable courts.