2011-14 Bella Bocce Team

Left to right: Colleen Randazzo, Jo Ann Jacobs, Coach Manny Romo, Lydia Romo, and Laura de  la Rosa.

In 2011, June 22 to June 28, the United States National Bocce Championships were held in Livermore, California. The Bella Bocce team won the United States Bocce Federation National Open Championship. This was the first time an all-women’s team won the Open  A Championship against all other teams, including Men’s A teams. This accomplishment was broadcast on television.

The local Bocce team of Jo Ann Jacobs, Lydia Romo, Laura de la Rosa, Colleen Randazzo and coach Manny Romo, who played and practiced at the Italian Athletic Club here  in Stockton, won First Place and Gold Medal in the United States Bocce Federation National Women’s Punto Raffa Volo Championship at Round Lake, Illinois, June 16 to June 23,  2012. They defeated all teams from the West, Midwest and East, displaying the superior strength of the women players from Stockton. By winning the Gold Medal in Round Lake,  it gave them the honor of being the only  women’s  team to represent  the  United States in the World Games.

They then represented the United States in the World Games in China, where there were 21 countries entered in 2014, and were also selected to represent the USA in the North American Championship at Windsor, Canada.

There is a huge difference between the game of Open A and Punto Raffa Volo Bocce. Punto Raffa Volo is played in all countries of the world with a lot of different rules, court size, court surface and strategy. The easier style of Open A Bocce is played in the United States.