Hazleton hosts first home bocce ball matches vs. N. Schuylkill as local schools adopt unified sport
KAYLEE LINDENMUTH / SHENANDOAH SENTINEL - A Hazleton Area Unified Indoor Bocce competitor at Tuesday's meet against North Schuylkill.
HAZLE TWP., Luzerne County – A unified, inclusive sport is taking hold in local school districts this year.
Hazleton Area, North Schuylkill, and Mahanoy Area all formed Unified Indoor Bocce Ball teams this year.
“We’re very excited that this is taking place,” Hazleton Area Superintendent Brian Uplinger told the Sentinel as his school hosted North Schuylkill for the Cougars’ only home matches this season. “We want to make sure that we’re increasing and growing our program for all of our students, all of our unified teams across the district.”
“It’s really important to make sure that we’re incorporating everyone into all of our athletic events and our different cocurricular and extracurricular activities that we have across the district,” Uplinger added.
At least 200 spectators came to the Hughie McGeehan Gymnasium at the Hazleton Area High School for Monday’s match.
“It’s fantastic. It gives me chills,” Uplinger said of the support for the program, commending the district’s staff and students who have helped put the program together.
Hazleton, North Schuylkill, and Mahanoy Area, along with Schuylkill Haven in southern Schuylkill County, make up the North conference of the Greater Lehigh Valley-Pocono Region of Special Olympics Pennsylvania.
Unified Indoor Bocce is a PIAA-recognized sport open to all students in grades 9-12.
According to the Special Olympics Pennsylvania website, teams consist “of a proportional number of students with and without intellectual disabilities.” Each team consists of between six and eight athletes, and local schools field two teams.
“It’s really taking off, which is great,” Uplinger said of the prevalence of unified sports in the Commonwealth. Hazleton Area also hosts a unified track team.
The Cougars won Monday’s matches.
Like typical varsity high school sports, the bocce teams have a championship to play for. Four teams in the North conference can qualify for the conference championship, which will be held Feb. 28 at Schuylkill Haven Area.
The winner moves on to regionals, facing schools from across eastern Pennsylvania the week of March 6-10, and the two best teams there advance to the state championships in Derry Township, Dauphin County, on March 22 and 23.
Prior to Monday’s match, the school recognized and held a moment of silence for the late Robert Solonoski, a 1997 Hazleton Area graduate who passed away last Wednesday.
He was described as a leader in introducing Special Olympics to the Hazleton Area. He was inducted into the Special Olympics Hall of Fame in 2003.
Full Photo Gallery
About Author
