The first Thorold Intergenerational Bocce Tournament hit the target of bringing people of all ages together for fun, fitness, and community involvement on September 8th at C. E. Grose Park.
On a gorgeous sunny day, the Club Capri team was awarded the gold cup as champions of the tournament. Club Capri’s Italian Stallions celebrated a perfect record in their undefeated performance on the courts.
Club Capri’s Italian Stallions Win Gold
On the Club Capri team, left to right, Jon-Paul Carfagni, Jack Ciocca, Paul Carfagnini,and ace player Tony Celima won four straight games to earn the championship. Pictured above the foursome is shown with Mayor Terry Ugulini and Councillor Fred Neale at the presentation ceremony. In the tournament final game with The Lawn Dudes, Club Capri rolled to victory with a 12-4 score.
The tournament featured ten teams with creative names to capture the focus on fun for the day.
- Frankie’s Team
- A Yellow Bunch
- The Go Getters
- The Paone Team
- The Lawn Dudes
- Hayden’s Heroes
- Britalia
- The Ferrari Four
- Romba Balle (aka Ball Busters)
- Club Capri’s Italian Stallions
For the Team Spirit Award, players voted for Frankie’s Team as the winning group with four-year-old Frank Iorio in the line-up. Frankie’s Team probably scored a lot of points for the sporty colourful wigs players and their cheerleading squad slipped on for fun.
Players covered all the generations from kids to seniors including four-year-old Frankie to 89-year-old Mardocheo Paone. Other players we noticed at the tournament included Serge Carpino, Nick Dellomo, John and Elaine Damcio, Jenny Ludlam, Anthony Grossi, Joe Maiorano, Lanigan, Sergio Paone, among other members of the community.
In celebration of National Grandparents Day, the tournament rules required one bocce team member to be 55 years or older, one had to be younger than 20, and the other two players were any age, but at least one player was required to be a Thorold resident.
At the awards presentation, Mayor Terry Ugulini praised the Age Friendly Committee for organizing the bocce tournament which was a sequel to their first Swim and Move Night hosted by the group to unite all generations in Thorold.
Congratulations to Jean D’Amelio Swyer, chair of Thorold’s Age-Friendly committee and event volunteer Diana D’Intino for producing a fun recreational tournament for a great turnout including players and spectators raising our community spirit.
We hear the positive feedback on the first tournament has encouraged organizers to roll it out again as an annual event. How do you feel about these type of events in our Age Friendly Community of Thorold?
Find more local Thorold news in our community blog.