Archbishop John Carroll High School Bocce Team Heading To State Playoffs In Hershey
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PHILADELPHIA (CBS) – What do you get when you put a bunch of best buddies from Saint Katherine's Day School with a couple of high school students from Archbishop John Carroll and throw them on a bocce team? It turns out you get something pretty terrific.
At Archbishop John Carroll High School, their first-year bocce team is on a roll.
"We actually went to the first round of the playoffs, regions, there were nine schools that were there," said Coach Ed Scanlon. "Even though we weren't the best team going in, I think our record was like one and four. We won three games, we sort of caught lightning in a bottle. We're going to Hershey next week."
They're headed to the state playoffs and in the gym, they're working hard.
One of the players says Coach Ed is the hardest part of the sport.
But, if there's one thing this team doesn't need to practice at, it's supporting each other.
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This is a unified bocce team so the players are best buddies from Saint Katherine's Day School and high school students from Archbishop John Carroll.
"Once they step onto the court, everybody is a competitor," said Coach Ed. "It doesn't matter whether they go to Carroll, whether they go to Saint Katherine's, alright, what their intellectual abilities are, they're all having fun. They're all trying to win."
Since the beginning they've been closer than a bocce to a pallino, so no matter what happens in Hershey, they feel they've already won.
"Coming to the bocce practices, we don't always play awesome but they're all ready to greet you with a high-five even if you do bad. They're not going to tell you," said Fatima Browne, a bocce player from Archbishop John Carroll.
Muffy, one of the players from Saint Katherine's Day School, says her favorite part of the bocce team is her friends.
"As she was saying, her favorite part is the friends that she has made, and I think the Carroll community sees these kids in the hallway now, they are giving them high-fives and rooting them on when they're going to. It really has been a win-win," said Coach Ed.
If you ask Muffy how her team is going to do in the playoffs, she has one positive answer.
"We're going to win," said Muffy.
