Dog walkers or cyclists enjoying paths through the former Townsite golf course might have noticed something different over the past week or so.
A new renegade bocce ball course, lined with driftwood and signs emblazoned with a newly minted name and logo, “First Nation of Bocce” has emerged from the field one home only to blackberries and the occasional bear.
The endeavour is the work of Townsite resident Alan Morgan. Known as the Driftwood Man because of his business selling driftwood artwork and furniture, Morgan said he built the site to add to Townsite’s community spirit.
“Townsite is coming back to life,” said Morgan, who also instigated the the establishment of a djembe drum circle in front of the Old Townhouse Inn earlier this summer.
Located to the west of Marine Avenue, between Willow and Laburnum streets, Morgan said he decided to build a bocce course because of the game’s social aspect and its broad appeal to players of all ages.
“Bocce is a very cool game,” said Morgan, who mowed the land for the bocce course himself and brought in driftwood to serve as markers and obstacles. “You don’t need anything, you can just come and play. You don’t need equipment, you don’t need to learn anything its a very good social game good for any age, any ability.”
A game with roots stretching back to ancient Rome, it is played with a white ball called a boccino or pallino. And unlike lawn bowling, bocce balls are unweighted. At the end of a round, the person with a ball placed closest to the pallino wins.
Unlike games played on more “manicured courses” Morgan said his “long-haired guerrilla bocce” is a more anarchist version of the game.
Played amid the now trimmed hay of the former golf course, Morgan said he’s had to make some accommodations. First off the game is played using a softball as a pallino.
“It’s just easier to see,” said Morgan. “It’s all about strategy because it’s hard to stop the ball on these hills, because gravity is against you.”
And if a ball should get lost Morgan said no worries: “You lose a ball, so what, you come and get another one.”
The old golf course land is owned by PRSC Land Development Ltd. Held in partnership between the City of Powell River and Tees’kwat Land Holdings Ltd., a Tla’amin (Sliammon) First Nation company. The parcel is managed by the Powell River Economic Development Society.
The city has explored the former golf course as a location for a marine-based business park. While the land currently sits undeveloped, it certainly is not unused.
According to Morgan, bocce simply adds to what people in the community are already doing with old golf course area which is crisscrossed by the Laburnum and Cutthroat Creek Trails traversing between the Willingdon Beach Trail and Townsite.
“All we’re doing is playing bocce so I don’t see how this is any different than people taking their dogs through here,” said Morgan. “Until such time as they develop it why not use it for the community.”
Readers may recall the Sallie Scanlon golf clubhouse, which used to sit near to where Morgan has etched out his course. A bungalow structure built in 1929, it was a party haven prior to abandonment and later destruction by fire in 2011.
According to the August 1929 issue of the Digester, the clubhouse contained a “tastefully decorated lounge room, and the spacious veranda open to the sweep of cooling breezes from the sea.” A reminder of Townsite’s rooted history, but Morgan does not get too wrapped up in area’s past.
“I was here working yesterday and a woman came along with her son and his friend,” said Morgan, who invited them for a game. “They grew up here, and remember playing golf here.”
“I taught them the ins and outs of bocce and we had a game for an hour and had a great time,” said Morgan. “By the end they were already planning on coming back here with their friends the next day.“
Morgan said he hopes to start a league with regular Saturday games and perhaps even host a tournament later this month.
While bocce is a popular sport in Powell River, with the city hosting it’s third annual bocce tournament with the Special Olympics of British Columbia this year and players at the Powell River Lawn Bowling club and Italian Community Club, the sport has traditionally been concentrated on official bocce ball courts in flat areas measuring about 5 metres long by ending 2.5 metres wide.
But to Morgan guerrilla bocce isn’t about playing on controlled surfaces.
“Official bocce players like manicured courses and might poo poo this type of rough play,” said Morgan, who has distributed signs around town bearing the logo “First Nation of Bocce” to encourage people to find, use and love the new course.
Reg Cisilino, a bocce player with Powell River Italian Community Club said he had no idea that Morgan was building a bocce course.
“The way I see the old golf course its all slope, the ground has to be flat for bocce,” said Cisilino.
“The erratic terrain is what’s most enjoyable about the game,” said Dennis Brosseau, born and raised in Powell River but now living in Chicago. ”We call it 4X4 bocce.”
“It’s mostly a lot of chance and giggles each toss of the ball can be different,” said Brosseau.
“The way he [Morgan] has done up the course it’s so harmonious with the grass slope and driftwood,” he said.
“I hope it keeps going because it’s really the perfect perfect place to play bocce,” he added. Brosseau will be taking his son to play the new course. “I call it adventure with an ‘E’ because you’ve got to put a little effort in.”
For more information about the site readers can go to the First Nation of Bocce or call Morgan at 604.414.5599.
