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Sports

Bocce Gets a Makeover

The Union Hall Bocce League isn't your grandfather's game

At Union Hall, bocce is not a game played by older gentlemen in crisp linen trousers.

Here, instead, it is an old world game given new life by this hip, dimly lit bar with the air of a library, attracting scruffy young men (and not so scruffy young women) for a Sunday afternoon round of one of the world's oldest games.

Bocce, along with pétanque and bowls is a ball sport desecendent from ancient games played in the Roman Empire. But at the Union Street location of Union Hall on a Sunday afternoon, the sport is not just ironic or nostalgic: it's competitive. This past weekend, dozens of players gathered around the bar's two bocce courts to compete in the Union Hall Bocce League semi-finals.

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Bocce, at its core, is really a simple game. Each player tries to toss his or her ball closest to the pallina, or the small ball that serves as a marker. The team with the ball closest to the marker gets a point for each ball that lands closer than the opposing team's closest ball.

At Union Hall, the most accurate teams will advance to the finals next weekend, as fall season comes to a close Sunday, December 12, and one team is crowned the league champions.

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There is no shortage of creative names, such as Joanie Loves Bocce, Bocce of Christ, and Watch Your Balls. In the past, teams have played in matching uniforms or costumes including lab coats or matching customized sneakers, making sure to have as much fun with the game as possible.

"Some people are really dogmatic about it. For others, it's just a game to play in a bar with a beer in one hand," said Union Hall co-owner Andy Templar. "After all, it is a bar game first and foremost."

Brooklyn's hippest bocce league got its start at Union Hall's sister bar, the Atlantic Avenue bar Floyd in 2004. The game was so popular that two years later, Union Hall started a league of its own. The league is split into three divisions, Saturdays, Sundays and Mondays, and each division has ten to twelve teams.

This weekend, the best 24 teams competed in the single-elimination semi-finals, and with only eight teams advancing to finals, some players are putting on their game faces.

"It gets pretty competitive, especially now that we're in the playoffs," said Abbey Zeidler, a member of the Sons of Bocce team. "A lot of teams join for fun, but then get super competitive at the end of the season."

Union Hall's League is extremely popular, and because first preference goes to teams that have played previously, only a few new teams get the opportunity to compete each season.

To address the high demand for the spring and fall seasons, the bar created a summer league that is first come, first serve. When the league games aren't in session, the courts are open to anyone sipping craft beer in the bar.

 Next Sunday's finals begin at 1 p.m. May the best man win.

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