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More than 30 years ago, Wayne Farinacci traveled to Rome, N.Y., for a prestigious bocce tournament he read about in Sports Illustrated. Now, he runs a tournament for which folks are traveling to Wickliffe from even greater distances.
Farinacci is the tournament director of the Laketran Cleveland Challenge Cup of Bocce, which wrapped up three days of competition Sunday at the Wickliffe Italian and American Club. A record 78 teams competed - some from as far away as Canada and Florida, making it the largest tournament in the Midwest.
It all kind of started as Farinacci returned from that trip to Rome. It was a trip that ended rather abruptly for a team that went there full of swagger as rulers of the backyard local scene.
"We said in the car on the way home, 'We've got to build a bocce court. Enough of this playing on the grass.' " remembered Farinacci.
Sunday, Farinacci and the members of the Wickliffe I&A celebrated the 22nd year of the Cleveland Challenge Cup, which was played on six first-class, limestone-dressed courts, drew nearly 10,000 people over the weekend and handed out $8,000 in prize money.
Defending champion JJ's Litehouse of Sharon, Pa., came all the way through the losers' bracket and beat Felice Construction of Rochester, N.Y., 16-6, in the final to win the title and claim the $3,000 that went with it.
Twenty-six of the competing teams arrived from outside of Ohio for the tournament, which has grown from just 41 teams in 2001 and has added attractions such as live entertainment and food vendors.
Also added this year was an invitational playoff featuring teams representing Laketran, Lake Metroparks, Lakeland Community College, Lake Hospital System, Leadership Lake County and The News-Herald.
"This is the best tournament around right now," said Felice Construction's Ezio Carrozzi, whose four-man team also hits the road for tournaments in Detroit and Toronto, among others.
"This is a beautiful tournament, and it's so good to see the youth in this area playing the sport. It truly says a lot about this area because, unfortunately, that can't be said about a lot of other cities. You need the young kids to play."
The influx of younger players into the ancient game has fueled its popularity and the growth of the tournament, Cleveland Challenge Cup advertising and operations director Tony Continenza said.
"The game is continuing to grow because of the younger generation," he said. "In my case, I play with my three sons - they're all in high school. We have some teams that are second generation. Their fathers are here on a team, and their sons are playing on another team. They're continuing the game and the heritage and maintaining that Italian culture that's keeping the sport alive."
The game that has its roots in the Roman empire is played with eight large wooden balls and one smaller one, called a "pallino." The pallino is rolled downcourt, and teams earn points with alternate attempts to roll the larger balls closest to it.
A team may also "spock," or knock away, the opponent's ball from near the pallino.
Farinacci, who has "Bocce is my life" embroidered on his Campobasso team shirt and has gone to that Rome tournament for 32 straight years, is the spocker on his team.
For now.
"It's family-oriented," Farinacci said. "My two boys will be on my team forever, and one day they'll say, 'Dad, you're not going to be the spocker.' Well, until you can hit better than me, I'm the spocker."
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