Minnesota students roll for glory at annual unified bocce tournament

Students from across Minnesota mixed and mingled on portable bocce courts from Packaworld at the Minnesota Unified Bocce State Tournament earlier this month.
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M Health Fairview Sports Center in Woodbury rolled out some of the 31 Packabocce courts owned by Special Olympics Minnesota to host more than 140 students from 17 schools at the tournament.

Katie Howlett from Special Olympics Minnesota said the event was “fantastic” and she was impressed with the convenience of the inflatable courts.

“Everyone loved using the Packbocce courts, particularly the event managers, because they were just so easy to move around and set up.”

Ms Howlett said the tournament’s Unified Sports approach sees athletes with and without intellectual disabilities playing together on the same teams.

​She said the unified bocce scene was steadily growing in Minnesota and annual events like the one-day Minnesota Unified Bocce State Tournament were a great way to introduce the sport to new players and raise its profile.

​Packaworld’s portable bocce courts have recently been used at national and state games in Europe, USA and Oceania and are setting the quality standard across the rest of the world.

Packaworld Chief Executive Peter Roberts said the courts were ideal for community and school-based program because of their portability. Bocce was a perfect fit for unified sport because of its accessibility to people of all ages.

“Minnesota is really flying the flag for inclusive sports for students. The tournament clearly demonstrates the huge scope and potential of Unified Sports where players of all abilities can team up to enjoy the thrill of competition, build friendships, and learn from each other.”

According to Special Olympics, there are more than 1.6 million Unified Sports players competing in more than 30 sports around the world.

Bocce is a close relative of bowls, with its roots in games played back in Roman times. It is rapidly rising in popularity and has the fourth highest participation of all sports played in Special Olympics program globally.

> Want more information about our portable bocce courts? Visit our Packabocce product page.