2024 Bocce Rules Changes

We are making two minor changes to the Clayton Bocce League rules for 2024. The purpose is to bring our rules closer to U.S. Bocce Federation rules.

Rolling the First Ball

We are eliminating the rule that the player who rolls the pallino must also roll the first ball. Any player on the team that first rolled the pallino may roll the first ball.

Dead Frame vs. Tie Frame

A Dead Frame is a frame in which the pallino has been knocked (1) off the court or (2) to a position short of the center line. A Tie Frame is a completed frame in which the two teams' closest balls are equidistant from the pallino.

In the past we have treated Dead Frames and Tie Frames the same. The revised rule is:

  • A Dead Frame is replayed, with the team that started the frame starting again at the same end of the court. No score is recorded.
  • For a Tie Frame a tie (zero) score is recorded (TIE button in the e-score app) and the next frame is played from the opposite end, just as for a non-tied frame. The team that started the frame retains the honor and starts the next frame.

The full Clayton Bocce League rules are here.

Clayton Bocce Calendar

Email Changes

Background

The Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) is the governing body for internet standards, including email standards. Over the past several years the IETF has put forward protocols for limiting spam email, and email providers have been implementing the IETF recommendations.

How We are Affected

The Clayton Bocce website (ClaytonBocce.org) automatically generates emails to capos for various events such as score updates, match cancellations and team registrations. The main impact of the IETF email protocols on our website is that email sent from ClaytonBocce.org must have a "from" address in the form name@ClaytonBocce.org. In the past the website has been sending emails from ClaytonBocce@gmail.com, which is the main correspondence address for all things relating to Clayton bocce and cornhole. But as email providers have implemented the IETF protocols, more and more of our emails are being blocked.

What is Changing?

From now on, all emails generated by the ClaytonBocce.org website will be from info@ClaytonBocce.org. We will continue to use ClaytonBocce@gmail.com for all interactive emails. To submit questions or comments to the Bocce/Cornhole committee, please email to ClaytonBocce@gmail.com or use the website Contact Us form. Please DO NOT send email to info@ClaytonBocce.org, as this mailbox will not be monitored. Please DO ENSURE that you whitelist info@ClaytonBocce.org for your mailbox.

The Year in Review 2023

The 2023 calendar year was the busiest – and wettest - year ever for the Ipsen Family Bocce Park. The cold, wet, and wild 2022 Fall League, which ended six weeks later than usual due to the drought drenching winter … gave way to a cold, wet, and wild beginning of the Spring League … which gave way to the nearly rain free Summer League … but (you guessed it) due to playoff rain ended the Friday two days before the start of the 2023 Fall League. The common thread to each of the seasons – rain, rain, and more rain had a salutary purpose: Goodbye drought. Oh, and during all of this we brought cornhole out of the backyards and onto Main and Oak streets. The inaugural 2023 Clayton Cornhole League brought out some new blood, great new vibe, and some seriously good cornhole. The versatility of the Park combined bocce and cornhole with some great tournaments, senior play, junior play, family gatherings, team building, birthday parties, retirement parties, showers, and celebrations of life.

Fall League

Despite the seemingly incessant rain and bitter cold, the Fall League playoffs were plenty hot (thanks to every type of heater, soup, whiskey, and winter wear). For the first time in all of our league history, we had the top four seeds all lose in the quarterfinals, which made room for some new blood to the semifinals and three first time medal winners:

1st Place: Family Ties (Capo: Kris Wismer)
2nd Place: Mazzei Chevrolet (Capo: Matt Mazzei)
3rd Place: Pallino Posse (Capo: Julie Cowherd)
4th Place: Throw Pallino First (Capo: Julie Rogers)

Click here for Fall League results and photos.

Spring League

The wet start to the 2023 Spring League soon gave way to beautiful spring and early summer weather, and with it some beautifully played bocce. The playoffs looked headed for what is becoming an all too familiar championship match involving Ed’s Mudville Grill, East County Rollers, or both. But that would have to wait. Standing in their way, and rolling right by them, were the 11th and 12th seeds (Breaking Bocce and Mike’s Auto Body, respectively). The semifinals and finals, which ended just before 1:00 a.m. on a literally too hot Saturday, saw another first-time winner, Mike’s Auto Bocce take the championship with some patient, consistent, and well-placed rolling that took down both Mudville’s and East County:

1st Place: Mikes Auto Bocce (Capo: Brennan Rose)
2nd Place: Ed’s Mudville Grill (Capo: Carol Ricetti)
3rd Place: Breaking Bocce (Capo: Cathy Duckworth)
4th Place: East County Rollers (Capo: Jack Gutierrez)

Click here for Spring League results and photos.

Summer League

The wet and cold that marked the beginning of the Fall League and Spring League gave way to the opposite end of the spectrum for the beginning of the Summer League – a heat – and a lot of it – wave. The season non-started ominously when the first group (Sunday 1:30) was postponed because it was only about 110⁰. That heat soon gave way to a glorious streak of gorgeous weather that blessed the rest of the season – right up until the end when early rains scrambled the playoff schedule. What the fall and spring leagues brought in terms of surprise medal winners, the Summer League semifinals were a little more orderly. All four semifinalists were previous medal winners. In the end, the old adversaries, Ed’s Mudville Grill and East County Rollers, renewed their storied, friendly, and very competitive rivalry with three closely played games that ended with a walk-off casino, courtesy of East County:

1st Place: East County Rollers III (Capo: Jack Gutierrez)
2nd Place: Ed’s Mudville Grill (Capo: Carol Ricetti)
3rd Place: Block Party (Capos: Cathy and Mike Duckworth)
4th Place: Killer BBBs (Capo: Karen Rudd)

Click here for Summer League results and photos, including a video of the championship walk-off casino.

Cornhole

In 2019 we decided to install pavers at the courts. The courts were shut down during July and August (summer league prime time). Clayton Perry, a general manager at Skipolini’s came up with the idea of having a cornhole season on the patio to give lost and wayward bocce players something to do because they could not get their bocce fix. Success and fun followed. While Clayton left this earth much too early, his legacy lives forever at the Park as his brilliant idea has now spawned a cornhole league and tournament in his honor.

Cornhole is incredibly popular (with an ESPN contract) and in our town is played primarily in backyards. Now you can, literally, add Main St. As of 2023 cornhole is now played in the center of town using our beautiful hand-crafted boards. Our inaugural 2023 Clayton Perry Memorial Cornhole Tournament was played in July, which was followed by our cornhole season. The 2023 Cornhole League was played Monday through Friday on Court 1. We initially played on the court surface, but really found our stride once we turfed the court. Thirty-six teams played in the 7-week season. The season began with a mix of novices (sometimes the bag hit the board), minor leaguers (sometimes the bag went in the hole), and major leaguers (how do they do that!). They say a rising tide raises all boats, and people who couldn’t find the board were finding the hole and those who were already good got better with the competition.

Cornhole brought a fresh new crowd to the park and the joyful sounds that go with it. New friendships abounded and as the season went on, the level of play got better, and the cheering and cheerfulness got louder.

There is also no question that playoff cornhole is as competitive, exciting, and boisterous as playoff bocce. Teams that got knocked out stuck around and cheered on the teams that knocked them out. Our first class of semifinalists set a high standard for the quality of their play and the quality of their sportsmanship:

1st Place: Cornholios (Capo: Frankie Quadrato)
2nd Place: Sacks & Wood 2 (Capo: Jeff Nelson)
3rd Place: Tag ‘Em and Bag ‘Em (Capo: Dave Gomez)
4th Place: That’s How We Hole (Capo: Todd Skow)

Click here for Cornhole results and photos.

Final Thoughts

There is no more beautiful sight when coming down the Oak St. ramp on a beautiful evening than to see the Park lit up with 60 or more people having a good time being around each other. Our modern life is way too busy and stressful. Everyone needs an outlet and we are happy that our players chose bocce, and now cornhole, as one of those outlets.

The CBCA and its Bocce Committee want to thank all of our players for their commitment to our ‘athletic’ and social activities that help define the health of a community, that is played with good cheer, camaraderie, and most important of all, your good sportsmanship.

Life goes on regardless of how much fun bocce and cornhole are. We are saddened to have lost at least three players (that we know of) who have moved on from this life and are undoubtedly playing bocce on a different court. Rest in peace: Rich Purdue (Throw Pallino First), Eric Peterson (Mazzei Chevrolet), and Cathy Duckworth (Block Party). We know we missed some others and will miss all of them.

Finally, we want to thank the staff at Skipolini’s for their ever present and cheerful spoiling of us by bringing food and drinks so that we don’t dare miss a turn. And to our groomers, Brent Dawson and Guy Hagler, who together work on our courts 250 days a year (and regularly triggering our security system while grooming at 1:00 a.m. and later) or more watering, raking, sweeping, rolling, repeat. The Ipsen Family Bocce Park, with only four courts, has the highest intensity usage of any courts in Northern California, and undoubtedly other places too. We cannot possibly sustain this without our dedicated groomers.

Respectfully,
CBCA Bocce Committee

Brent Dawson
Cecilia Hartley
Ed Hartley
Keith Haydon
Jim Lawrence
Matt Medel
Dennis Mitchell
Becky Overstreet
Lisa York

We Can No Longer Send Text (SMS) Notifications

We are currently unable to send text (SMS) notifications to capos. In an effort to reduce spam texting, the communications industry has implemented complex requirements for texting from automated systems such as our bocce website. Meeting those requirements would require significant modifications on our part, so, until we can determine if it is feasible, we are forced to suspend text notifications.

Scoresheets No Longer Required

As announced at the Fall Capo meeting, we no longer require that paper scoresheets be filled out and turned in for each match. If your electronic score is complete and correct, there is no need to turn in paper.

We have had electronic scoring for almost two years, and teams have become proficient in keeping score electronically. Over the last three seasons we have had three invalid e-scores out of 847, for a success rate of 99.65%.

With the elimination of paper scoresheets, we can now post results and update standings and stats within 15 minutes after completion of the final match of a session.

Things to Keep In Mind

  1. With no paper score, it is important for teams to pay attention to the scoreboards and notify the scorekeeper immediately if there is an error.
  2. Our scoring system runs on servers in a secure, commercial grade data center. In the rare case of a system outage, you need to be able to complete the match score on paper. You may want to have a paper scorecard handy, and maybe keep track of the score without bothering to fill in team names, player names, etc.
  3. The scoreboards are not essential for electronic scoring; they simply show the results. If the scoreboards are not working, you should continue to keep score electronically.
  4. We have wifi at the courts, but it is recommended that you use a device that can connect using cellular data as well as wifi. Then, if there is a wifi outage, you can continue to e-score using your cellular connection.
  5. Be sure the device you use for e-scoring is fully charged before the match.

If You Do Not E-Score

Teams are strongly urged to use e-scoring. However, if both teams in a match decline to e-score the match:

  1. You must complete, sign, and turn in a paper scoresheet.
  2. Players will not receive credit for games played in the match for the purpose of determining playoff eligibility.
  3. Team and player statistics will not be compiled for either team, for the season.
  4. You will create more work for the league scorekeeper, and bad karma will follow.

Logging in to the Clayton Bocce Website

Microsoft No Longer Supported

Microsoft no longer supports federated logins. We can now accept only Google or Facebook account links.

Federated Login

Website access control systems can be quite complicated: userids, passwords, secret questions, password resets, two-factor authentication and more. For the ClaytonBocce.org website we decided not to include another access control system; instead we will use well known existing systems. If you are issued a ClaytonBocce.org account, you will need to have a Google or Facebook account, and you will login using your Google or Facebook userid and password. The technical term for this is Federated Login. We did this for two reasons:

  1. These two providers have full-featured, robust, and secure access control systems.
  2. Many persons have an account on one of these systems. By leveraging their existing account, they can avoid having yet another userid and password to remember.

How it Works

The process for logging in to ClaytonBocce.org:

  1. Click Login in the upper right of this page.
  2. On the login page click one of the three buttons to select the login service you wish to use: Google or Facebook.
  3. Login on your selected service. (This step may be skipped if you are already logged in to the service.) The first time you login you may be asked to authorize Clayton Bocce to link to your account. After you login you will be returned to the Clayton Bocce website.
  4. You will only need to do this the first time you login. Register your Google or Facebook account with your Clayton Bocce account. When your ClaytonBocce.org account is set up, you will receive an email with a one-time registration code. Enter your one-time registration code on the registration page and click the Register button. This will create a link between your Google or Facebook account and your ClaytonBocce.org account.

Notes

  • The ClaytonBocce.org login page has a checkbox labeled Remember Me. If you are using a private computer, you may want to check the Remember Me box on the login page. This will cause your browser to store your login credentials on your computer and automatically log you in when you access the Clayton Bocce website. Note: your login credentials are sensitive, so you must use https for automatic login. (ie. https://ClaytonBocce.org).
  • This website does not access any of the information in your Google or Facebook account. Your contact list, calendar, friend list, etc. are not visible to this website. Your userid and password are not passed to this website.
  • When you are logged in, Login in the upper right corner will be replaced by your name. Click or hover over your name to open a pop-up menu where you may logout or view and update your account profile.

What If I Do Not have a Google or Facebook account?

We anticipate that most bocce league members will have a Google or Facebook account. If you do not have one you will need to create one. The alternative would be for the bocce website to have its own userids and passwords, but then you would have to create one of those, so what's to be gained?

Google accounts are simpler than Facebook, so if you just need an account to access the bocce website, we suggest a Google account.

  • To create a Google account:
    • Go to the Google Home page.
    • Click the Sign in button in the upper right corner.
    • Enter your email address, click Create account and select the type of account.
    • Click the Next button and follow the prompts to enter your information.
  • To create a Facebook account:
    • Go to the Facebook Login page.
    • Click the Create new account button.
    • Fill in your inforamtion and click the Sign Up button.

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