ECASD Bocce Team to Compete in Regional Playoff

“Come on, Now”

Who wouldn’t want to be on or support the Ellwood City Area School District’s Bocce Team?

Since 2017, the team has been growing and succeeding.

In fact, the team is headed to SRU today to compete for the regional playoff after taking 1st place and the gold medal in section playoffs. They defeated Shenango—last year’s gold medal team—12 to 3. Ellwood City had 2 teams in the playoff tournament.  Team 1 took 1st place and Team 2 took 4th place.

“Both teams played great,” said Coach John DiBuono. “Team 2 almost upset Shenango losing 8-5 in the final frame of the game.”

The top 2 teams from the regional playoffs will then advance to Clarion University for the state playoffs.

“The coaches are very proud of the players and hope to move forward after the SRU tournament,” DiBuono said.

DiBuono is joined by a team of coaches including: Mandie Szakelyhidi, Darren Pigza, and Emma Szakelyhidi.

He was inspired to start a team after reading an article about a team at Central Valley.

“It caught my interest, so I mentioned it to our superintendent at the time, and he thought it was a good idea for Ellwood City,” DiBuono said.

So, he and Mandie Szakelyhidi joined forces to recruit students. Bocce is a unified sport including a mix of general education students and special education students. Each team requires a roster of three special education students and three general education students.

DiBuono said the team grew quickly, and he thought he might have to make cuts because of the number of students each team could have.

“We had no problem finding kids to play,” he said.

DiBuono said one of the best parts of the Bocce team is the collaboration.

“The kids get along so well together and truly help one another,” he said. “It is a sport of communication. The coaches are not allowed to talk during the games, so we can really see the general education kids helping the special education kids and vice versa. We get to watch that transpire.”

And the team is like a family. Although team two didn’t qualify for the regional tournament, they will be there cheering their team one friends on as they make a push toward states.

DiBuono said the entire school rallies behind the Bocce Team. Prior to COVID, the team hosted “Fill the Stands” events and also sold “Come on, Now” shirts as a fundraiser—all efforts supported by the entire student body.

The Bocce season begins during the first week in December and continues through March if teams progress to the playoffs.

DiBuono said he will never forget the moment the team won the gold medal at section playoffs.

“It was great the kids were fired up,” he said.

The Ellwood City Bocce Team includes the following students:

Team 1: Natalie Foster, Braden Freed, Joy Mangiapane, Anthony DiBuono, Maddy McCommons, Daniel Rogers