Bocce, anyone? Riverhead town opens courts, eyes league

Riverhead Town now boasts two brand-spanking-new bocce courts, ready for competitive play.

The town recreation department sited the courts at Veterans Memorial Park in Calverton after residents of the Windcrest East senior community asked the town board last fall to consider constructing bocce courts. See prior story, “Calverton bocce club seeks Riverhead town court, league.”

The Windcrest East Bocci Club took first place of the 24 teams in the Southampton Bocce League’s championship last summer. Frank Kelly, who’s been playing with the community team since they joined the Southampton Bocce League in 2011, told the board he’d like to see Riverhead start a league of its own.

The sport is gaining popularity and most of the senior communities in Riverhead have their own bocce courts and teams, Kelly said.

Riverhead had a bocce court at Stotzky Park but it wasn’t built to competitive specifications and was “good for planting tomatoes,” a grinning Kelly quipped Tuesday after residents and town officials snipped a red ribbon to signify the official opening of the two new courts.

The new courts in Calverton, built by the Riverhead buildings and grounds division, “far outshine even Southampton’s,” Kelly said.

They are constructed to international design standards using specific materials sanctioned by the Collegium Cosmicum ad Buxeas, the Rome, Italy-based international organization for the sport. Construction included subsurface drainage, a compacted sand base and a Har-Tru playing surface, with wooden rails and walls. The town also built a small shelter between the two courts to provide a shady place to rest or watch games in progress.

The town spent about $15,000 on materials, parks and recreation superintendent Ray Coyne said. Construction took about three months, he said.

Coyne said the recreation department will now organize a league for competitive play.

The superintendent thanked buildings and grounds chief Guy Cawley and the crew that built the new addition: Gary Hubbard, Dave Zebrowski, Ziggy Rachubka and Tom Taggert.

“They did a great job,” Coyne said.

The Riverhead Town Board attended yesterday’s ribbon-cutting ceremony and played a few rounds of bocce ball at the park.

“It’s really a lot of fun,” Supervisor Sean Walter said.

Windcrest resident Grace Blanck said the wives of the community’s bocce team are “very supportive of the men,” but, she said, women love the game too. The Windcrest community has a female bocce team, as well, she said. “We all enjoy it,” she said.

“It’s wonderful for the men and for the whole community,” Blanck said.

RiverheadLOCAL photos by Denise Civiletti
Click thumbnails to enlarge images
{gallery}2014/slideshows/2014_0806_bocce{/gallery}