The Team posing for the camera.
Although the team only began four years ago, the Upper Perk Blue Bocce team finished their season 8th in the Philadelphia, Montgomery, Chester, and Delaware county regions after going up against Glen Mills on March 5th.
Upper Perk Bocce consists of two different teams: the Blue team and the Gold team. Throughout the season, both teams have trained hard to be at their best. The gold team played 8 total games, while the blue team played 14 total games because they made it past the playoffs.
The WSJ interviewed the Bocce team’s coach, Mr. Thrush, who stated that Bocce is “a great mental sport to play” as it takes precision and skill to line up each roll of the ball.
Throughout this year’s season, the blue team competed against many of the larger nearby schools. Some of their wins include games against Upper Merion, North Penn, and Perk Valley.
The match with Perk Valley progressed into the Golden Frame. The Golden Frame stage of the game is like overtime in other sports. Whoever scores the first point during the golden frame wins the match, and the UPHS team just barely got the point.
After they finished their season, all of the players were ecstatic. One of the team players, Jadyn Shafer, stated, “I had a lot of fun this season,” and “I was very excited about making 8th”. The team played very well, and each of them was awarded a medal for their hard work. They wore their medals with pride for the days following the season’s closing.
Mr. Thrush told the WSJ about how the sport can help a student with their future, he stated that “Students can be a three-sport athlete because they might play a fall sport, a spring sport, and this fills their winter sport”. It gives them a cool, relaxing middle sport during the winter season. It also allows for a student to be the team captain of 3 sports if they are the team captain for all 3 seasons, which looks good on their transcripts.
The team currently consists mostly of seniors, which means a lot of spots will be open for next year’s season. Students can join by emailing Mr. Thrush at [email protected].