Portable courts from Packaworld set the stage for the bocce competition at the Special Olympics New York State Fall Games recently.

The inclusive game was one of seven sports played at the annual event, which saw around 1,000 athletes from across the state competing for glory on 21 October.

The bocce competition was hosted on 10 Packabocce courts, all set up within the eye-catching Adirondack Sports Complex in Queensbury.

Packaworld Chief Executive Peter Roberts said bocce was currently riding a wave of popularity and he was proud to see the courts helping to take competitions to the next level.

“It was a real bocce wonderland out there – an amazing event."

A pioneering program to promote inclusive sport in New York has seen basketball, volleyball, baseball, track and field and the highly accessible sport of bocce reaching a whole new group of students across the city’s public schools.

Co-funded by Special Olympics New York ($50,000) and New York City Public Schools ($300,000), the initiative is providing schools with competitions, coaches and equipment to ensure people of all abilities, including those with disabilities, can experience the joy of sport.

But while the growth in participation across all the sports involved has been strong, it’s the rise of bocce ball that has perhaps been the largest surprise.

A community organisation on a mission to improve understanding of how it feels to be blind has staged a unique goalball event for Girl Scouts at Camp Prairie Schooner in Kansas City.

Made possible by new portable goalball goals, the event was one of many ‘immersion experiences’ Blind Spot runs to enable sighted people to experience the world of the blind.

It was also the first time the scouts taking part had the opportunity to enjoy goalball – a Paralympic sport that puts those with and without sight on an equal footing because all players wear blackout goggles and pick up the position of the ball using only their ears.

​A portable bocce court from Packaworld will help set the stage for four days of sport, joy and cultural immersion as part of the Special Olympics World Games’ Host Town Programme in Bamberg, Germany.

Bamberg will host athletes from Bahrain in June as part of the nationwide Host Town Programme, helping them acclimatise and sharpen their skills for the supreme challenge of the Special Olympics World Games in Berlin from 17 to 25 June. 

​​The Packabocce court being used for bocce training and events in Bamberg is the same model as the courts athletes will compete on at this year’s World Games, allowing locals and visitors to get a taste of ‘the World Games experience’ ahead of the main event.

The Paralympic sport of goalball has rolled into the University of Minnesota’s sports facilities in a big way, with two new inflatable Goalball Packagoals helping to ignite a passion for the sport on campus.

“It’s still in its infancy but the participation and excitement from the visually impaired community here on campus has been fantastic,” said Jaime Medina, the university’s Assistant Director of Intramural Sports.

“Goalball this year has really taken off."

Medina says goalball fever began to take hold on campus in October 2022, when the university began open gym goalball sessions on Saturday afternoons roughly every other weekend, attracting up to 30 participants each time.

Buffalo is home to rising NFL star Josh Allen, tasty wings, and soon an inaugural high school unified bocce league that will be played on innovative inflatable bocce courts from Packaworld.

The new unified league, run with support from Special Olympics New York, will see students with and without disabilities competing together in teams for their high schools to determine the divisions they are placed into for a finals tournament in the fall.

The league’s creation follows the success of the inaugural Section VI Unified Bocce Culminating Tournament in November 2022, attended by 66 students from four high schools.