After various attempts over the years to bring bocce ball to Tellico Village, two new courts have been installed.
For the unfamiliar, bocce ball involves two opposing sides throwing a small ball, sometimes called a “jack,” from one end of the court to a certain distance on the far end. Players then take turns bowling to have the closest ball to the jack, and the player with the closest ball earns a point for the team.
Acquiring the courts was the result of a bit of ingenuity between a business, a volunteer group, a donor and the Tellico Village Parks and Recreation Department. It started when Cook Bros. Homes, a company that builds homes in the Village, approached the Property Owners Association about wanting to construct a trail in the Chatuga Drive area.
Knowing that Cook Bros. had installed a bocce court near The Neighborhood at Tellico Village, TVPRD Director Simon Bradbury saw an opportunity. He proposed that if Cook Bros. would develop two 45-foot-long bocce ball courts behind the Chota Recreation Center at a reduced cost, the community’s all-volunteer Kahite “chain gang” would build them their desired trail.
“Bocce, probably six years ago, was brought up as an activity that folks would like to do here. And looking at the methods of doing it, it was very expensive,” Bradbury said. “It’s something that’s always been in the background.”
Cook Bros. agreed to build the courts for $13,000 — in exchange for the volunteer labor. The original estimate to build the courts was more than $20,000.
After learning about the project, the Timeless Tellico Foundation, which facilitates donations to improve recreation and amenity facilities, programs and equipment for Tellico Village, came through with a $13,000 anonymous donation that was earmarked for the bocce ball courts. Denise Ertell, a member of the nine-member TTF board of directors that approved the donation, thinks the donor designated it for bocce because they saw a need.
“It’s somebody who lives here and wants to provide amenities to people,” she said. “It was a little savior, a little white knight coming by.”
Gary Mulliner, who started the “chain gang” group in 2007 and helped build the mile-long trail for Cook Bros., said the donation allows for more amenities to be expanded.
“What it does is it provides funds for other things that Simon would like to have done, because that $13,000 was going to come right out of his POA budget,” said Mulliner.
Bradbury appreciates that the collaborative effort is what made things happen. He said that John Wand, who serves on the TVPRD advisory committee, was also instrumental in planning the bocce courts.
“What’s really cool about it is everyone came together,” he said. “We’re excited about it, and it’s how a foundation works. It’s alternative funding to make things happen that (would) maybe not happen with other methods.”
Ertell called the collaboration “very creative” and a “win-win for everybody.”
The first night the courts opened, about 20 people came out to play. Recreation Center members interested in playing should check in to reserve the equipment. Play is first come, first served as TVPRD — which oversaw the courts’ design, site and construction — assesses usage and needs.
