Joseph and Ava Della Croce may have started seriously playing bocce only this year, but the sport has run in their family for generations. Knowledge of the sport was passed down from their parents, and one of their relatives even founded the Italia-America Bocce Club on The Hill.
“Our family’s always been around it,” Ava said. “All of our aunts and uncles play. It’s been in the family the whole time.”
And while cousins Joseph and Ava, both 16, have played recreationally with family and friends for years, the teens only set their minds to the sport in the early parts of 2025. Both are headed to Brittany, France, at the end of October to compete in the World Bocce Junior Championship.
“I’ve come up here with my dad a couple times and rolled just for fun, but I’ve never taken it competitively until these past six months,” Ava said.
Bocce, a sport that originated in Italy, is a ball sport that involves tossing or rolling balls closer to a smaller target, known as a pallino. The world championship will use Punto Raffa Volo rules, which Mike Della Croce, Joseph’s father, says makes for a more strategic game that requires more skill and precision.
“I’m really excited,” Joseph said. “I’m excited for traveling and playing other kids from different countries.”
Ava says she began practicing bocce in January or February, while Joseph started practicing at the start of the summer. The catalyst for their pursuit of the sport was a desire to make it to the World Bocce Junior Championship come autumn. Mike knew there was an opportunity to try out for the tournament, and since he says there aren’t many teens their age that play bocce, he thought the cousins had a good shot.
Throughout the summer, Ava and Joseph say they practiced five or six days a week with family members, and they often practiced together. Practices lasted around an hour and a half. Since no other girls from the U.S. were attempting to qualify for the world championship, Ava’s only necessary qualification was proving her dedication to her father and beating him in a game.
Joseph, meanwhile, went to Chicago on Aug. 16 for the U.S. Junior Singles Championships, where he had to win two of three matches to qualify for the international tournament. He played a boy from New York for all three matches; while he lost the first, he emerged victorious in the last two.
“We drove up after (Joseph’s) soccer tryouts at (Christian Brothers College High School) at night, got in around one o’clock in the morning in Chicago, and he played at four o’clock in the afternoon the next day,” Mike said. “It was fun.”
Ava says her favorite part about bocce is meeting new people by playing the sport. Joseph agrees — he says he enjoys getting family and friends together on Saturdays to play at the Italia-America Bocce Club on The Hill.
“It’s real enjoyable when you get to play with your son,” Mike said. “It’s a different experience because you’re teaching him something that you love. Now I see how my dad felt teaching us.”
The World Bocce Junior Championship will welcome children and teenagers to France from all around the world from Oct. 27 to Nov. 2. Joseph and Ava will be split into divisions, and then brackets, to compete. Beyond the competition, the family plans to spend a day sightseeing in Paris.
“I’m excited to play against other kids my age, because I don’t think I’ve ever played against kids my age before,” Ava said.