Bocce League Holds Another Successful Tournament

If you pulled into the Mackle Park facilities last Saturday you might have been surprised by the activity level at that park. From those utilizing Kids’ Cove, the popular Spray Park, taking a walk around the Mackle Lake, playing basketball or kicking around the soccer balls on those fields you had to be amazed at how busy it was.

Couple all that activity with the huge turnout for the Marco Island Bocce Ball League Tournament and you had a recipe for a great day of fun for all ages at the city’s local facilities.

The Marco Island Bocce League was founded by Charlie Pineno in 2017 and is today the largest organized league on the island. Last Saturday over 120 players would compete in their annual event. Unfortunately, Charlie wasn’t there to see the success of his labors, as he would lose his battle with cancer in August 2021.

Bocce itself has become an extremely popular game throughout Florida and especially here on Marco Island. It is the third most popular sport in the world, after soccer and golf. Close to twenty-five million bocce enthusiasts play in America alone, demonstrating its growing popularity.

It is a very simple game that doesn’t require any great strength requirements which sometimes eliminates players of other competitive sports the older they get, therefore allowing individuals or couples to still enjoy the recreational and social advantages of sports.

The winners of the tournament would persevere even through the loss of one of their players due to illness.

The results of the tournament are as follows:

1st Place

Jim Kothe

Jack Donnelly

Paul Norman

2nd Place

Bob Hulnick

Abe Bangrazi

Nancy Sheridan

Mike Zoretic

3rd Place

Nick and Dolores Fernandez

Gene and Patricia Herchenroder

More about the game and how to become involved can be found by going online to or by calling  Peter Pareene 518-339-1612 for more information.