‘I feel energized at 80 years old’: Hempfield condo community bonds over bocce

Before this summer, smack talk was not common among residents of Hempfield’s Alta Vita Drive.

That changed when an eight-story condo community came together to build a boccie court.

John Marsh often plays boccie when he and his wife travel to Florida to escape the cold Pennsylvania winters. He wanted his Hempfield neighbors to experience the game.

“We had a shuffleboard court here that nobody was using — never got used,” said Marsh, 79. “I thought it might be fun to get a boccie court. There would be a lot more interest.”

Marsh’s hunch was spot on.

By the spring, 24 residents signed up to play in a 15-week tournament on the court, financed by the condo association. One game was played each week, typically on Friday mornings.

Players were split into teams of four. A handful of alternate players were ready to fill in as needed.

What started out as laid-back fun evolved into fierce competition, Marsh said.

“Each team has a colored T-shirt,” he said. “Of course, then there’s all the smack talk — ‘Hey, we’re going to beat you’ and that kind of nonsense.”

Competition only intensified when players and onlookers started taking note of the standings, Jim Perry said.

Although this was many residents’ first time playing boccie, they took to it quickly, said Perry, 80.

“By the end of the (season), I had seen a metamorphosis in people,” he said. “Some people who never rolled a boccie ball in their life became the rookie player of the year.”

Perry even committed himself to a training regimen. He practiced nearly every day during the season to perform for his team, Marsh Madness — named for teammate Marsh.

“I feel energized at 80 years old,” he said. “I haven’t worked this hard since I was 55 or 60.”

Marsh Madness fell in the playoffs to their opponent, The Bocce Bombers. But Perry was most excited for the opportunity.

“Since my high school days, I never thought I would be competing for a championship,” he said with a laugh.

The community will celebrate their inaugural boccie season with a banquet Monday, complete with pizza, beer, wings, a team plaque and plenty of gag awards, Perry said. Residents will meet in the off-season to plan future tournaments.

But until boccie balls once again roll across the artificial turf court, Marsh is certain of one thing: He is more likely to recognize his neighbors.

“We’ve really gotten to know other people in the building that (we) barely knew,” he said. “We’ve really made a lot of nice friends, we’ve had a lot of fun and people come down just to watch the other teams playing.”

For Perry, there is no time like the present to bond with neighbors.

“We know we can’t count in years whether we’re going to be able to do something,” he said. “But I know we’ve brought a lot of joy.”