Bocce Outings

Bocce Corporate Outings & Parties

Looking for a unique holiday party
or company outing?

The Bocce Guy (yours truly) and the Joy of Bocce LLC can run your corporate outing or bocce party. We offer a unique venue that will break from the old -- exciting bocce action, great food and camaraderie.

You can be sure this is one holiday party that your guests will remember for years to come!

Mario Pagnoni, author of the best selling Joy of Bocce, is a retired public school teacher and high school coach of 32 years. He is a frequent public speaker and often attends bocce ribbon cutting ceremonies and other bocce related tournaments and events. He has helped the Martignetti Family Charity Bocce Tournament raise over $100,000 for organizations such as the Jimmy Fund and the Joey Fund. A frequent radio and television guest, he tirelessly promotes the game via his appearances and writing. He'll help make your event successful.

Very popular on the west coast and in mid-America, we are the first in the East to offer such programs. When corporate managers in California saw the social dynamics and camaraderie associated with bocce company parties, they were "hooked." We think you will be too.

A group or company can rent our services for a four-hour (or longer) event.

The fee includes...

Facility rental
Use of bocce courts set up right on the function hall carpet (or outdoors on the lawn)
Use of professional bocce balls
Use of scoreboards
Instruction in how to play
Bocce tourney or informal bocce play
Referees/game officials
Catered dinner and beverages
Optional awards/gifts for winners or for all attendees

Your company outing will be run by New England's leading Bocce aficionados

Mario Pagnoni, "The Bocce Guy", is the author of The Joy of Bocce, which Newsweek called "the definitive guide to the sport". He also connects nearly 10,000 members of the bocce community with his ezine, The Joy of Bocce Weekly.

Pagnoni will be your event director--on hand to explain the game, demonstrate the techniques and strategies and answer any questions you may have. An accomplished public speaker, he can add value to your event by presenting a talk on bocce or offering a book signing session. He often gets requests like "Please make the inscription to the best bocce player in DesMoines."

Email via this site's Contact link or write BocceGuy@JoyofBocce.com or Voicemail Mario Pagnoni at 800-211-1202 ext 4949 and he'll call you back on his dime to discuss your party/outing options. View the photos below for an idea of how things might go at an outdoor venue.

This series of photos shows how your bocce outing might go. This one was on the grounds of a mansion in Fort Lauderdale, Florida.

This from the host's promotional material..."Nestled in a small pocket of Fort Lauderdale on the South Side of the New River is a very unique home with an infamous past to match. Our site for Bocce and dinner will be the Futuristic Fortress, designed by renowned architect Donald Singer in 1982 for Mr. Howard Brody, a notorious drug lord in the 1980's. This house is at the edge of a 4.5-acre site -- the lush property is like a private park with many palm and shade trees, some dating over two centuries."

Of course, you'll need some good looking and well dressed referees like these to set up the bocce courts, organize the event, and oversee the games. The Joy of Bocce - Experience It!

While the caterer sets up for dinner, we set up 2" wide vinyl template bocce courts right on the lawn. Ten 12' by 60' template courts to accomodate 20 teams of 4 players (80 attendees).

Yes, the place has a great pool, patio, and bar area. This is where we will give out the awards and have a gourmet olive oil tasting and Joy of Bocce book signing.

A close-up of the bar is definitely in order.

This first-class event was spearheaded by Heather Huebner, corporate events manager for Hartford Steam Boiler Inspection and Insurance Co.

Waiting for the guests to arrive, the caterer made sure that beverages were "at the ready."

The shuttle limo buses arrive with the attendees who hail from all over the USA and England.

As the attendees get off the bus, the catering crew offers them a beverage and the Joy of Bocce referees give them a color-coded sticker placing them randomly on 4-person bocce teams.

We set up 5 sets of double courts around the grounds and placed 4 teams randomly in groups for pool play.

The Joy of Bocce scoreboard - a thing of beauty. Because of time restraints we played games to 9 points or 20 minutes, whichever came first.

Let the games begin!

After a brief primer on how to play, each team played an opponent in their pool of 4 teams. Then the two winners played each other and the two losers played each other.

Many at these events have never played bocce before. Most become instant converts.

Each double court had an umbrella-table and chairs with beverages. The event planner, Kirkland Event & Destination Services, Inc. (who hired us), was on top of their game. Click the photo above to visit their web site.

Ref at work - and a better look at the umbrella-table set-up.

After pool play we seeded the teams based on record and point differential. We sent them to new pools with each new seeded pool playing for a different prize (and against teams with a similar skill level).

The Gold Medal Winners. Who would-a-thunk that a random color-coded sticker system for selecting teams would group the four finest athletes on the same team!

The Joy of Bocce cap winners. These became much sought after trophies. Who knew?

The Joy of Bocce mug winners. For info on caps, mugs or other Joy of Bocce items click the photo.