CREATION

It was no April fool’s joke, when on April 1st, 2009, Matthew Banner sat in a Southeast Portland café searching through internet forums and found a posting titled, “Bocce Anyone?”

After further reading about how to expand the Bocce League, Matt was eager to get started and rein in some more fun seekers from all over Stumptown. Matt quickly contacted Dominic Bernacchi with an email titled, “So Where Do We Begin?”

Regardless of a small local network, Matt was armed with the basic concept of how to get started and pounded the pavement to generate excitement among friends and new acquaintances. Visits to peer-dominated habitats paid off and helped net very excited players. Also, flyers, posting and word-of-mouth aided in garnering the Portland chapter’s first enthusiastic members and soon enough the roster began to fill. When Rip City’s skies were grey and the streets were wet, no one imagined the prospect of having a Summer Bocce Ball League. Yet, within two and a half months, Matt’s diligence and a few hundred emails later, the Portland chapter was underway.

Although having never met face-to-face, Kristina and Matt Kern provided an immeasurable amount of help for the league with ideas, organizing and technical needs. The work done by these two have been very valuable and much appreciated. A very special thanks is due to them for helping start this chapter in the league.

Lastly, a very special thanks to Tim Lyons for coming to aid in advising and filling a special role in the scouting of parks, starting up our Facebook page, and taking the first pictures at our practice. Tim Lyons is Matt B’s official teammate, and has provided the league with some much-needed support, especially during the last weeks before practice, and was among the first people expressing interest in the league from the very start.

A very special thanks is due to Tim.

Without the help of Kristina and Matt Kern, Tim Lyons and Dominic Bernacchi, Matt’s workload would have been significantly heavier.

We are now fully engaged in our season, taking in Portland’s best weather, enjoying fantastic bocce games and the best is yet to come.