This article will appear in the February 2015 issue of the United States Bocce Federation Western Sector Newsletter.

The new Western Sector Tournament schedule was just released. It was somewhat puzzling to see a heading at the top of the schedule that read: “United States Bocce Federation membership required at all Raffa and Western Sector Championship Tournaments. Membership recommended for Open.”

One might ask why this statement puzzles the author. One could read into the statement that membership is optional to play in open tournaments. A little history may help explain. In 2000 the Western Sector was the envy of the bocce world. The Sector had just sponsored a friendly competition hosted by Campo di Bocce of Los Gatos with men’s and women’s teams from the United States, France, Italy and China in attendance. The event was quite spectacular and the president of the CMSB, Mr. A. Lagier Bruno, was in attendance at the event. The CMSB is the highest governing body for all of bocce and also represents all disciplines of the sport at the world and Olympic level.

Shortly after this event some disgruntled Western Sector bocce players decided to form a new organization to represent our sport. They named the new entity the American Bocce Association or ABA for short. The ABA signed up some Western Sector clubs and issued its own membership card. This rift or schism caused many hard feelings among players loyal to the USBF and those loyal to the ABA. Some clubs required an ABA card in order to play. Other clubs required USBF cards in order to play. Some clubs joined both organizations and accepted both cards. The bottom line was that a player had to be a member of one or the other organizations in order to play in any tournament in the central region of the Western Sector. Some players became members of both the USBF and the ABA in order to be eligible play in all of the tournaments in the Bay Area. The USBF national board of directors even voted to ban officers of the ABA from renewing their memberships in the USBF! This aggravated the situation and created even more hard feelings. This confusion or insanity lasted from 2001 until 2006 when the USBF board voted at the board meeting in St. Louis to accept all ABA members and bury the hatchet so to speak. Some ABA officers re-joined the USBF right away and most of the ABA members soon followed.

There is a silver lining in every cloud. Because of the turmoil during those years when two organizations were competing for members, it became automatic and ingrained in every bocce player that in order to play in a tournament they had to have a current membership in one or the other organizations. This mind-set carried on after 2006 and USBF cards were required for all sanctioned open or raffa tournaments. Membership in the UISBF Western Sector grew to 884 by 2008 and all tournament players carried a current USBF card. The sport of bocce was growing by leaps and bounds not only in the west but also in other parts of the United States. New clubs were springing up and introducing new players to the sport. Somewhere along the way membership started to decline. A lot of the new players joined the USBF in their enthusiasm for the sport but settled in to become more casual players and did not renew their memberships. There are other reasons for the decline in membership, but that is beyond the scope of this article.

In 2013 the Western Sector board voted to require USBF membership to play in sanctioned raffa tournaments, but not in sanctioned open tournaments. Many open players who had been long time members of the USBF and had experienced the membership competition that took place between the ABA and the USBF early in this century were insulted by this new policy. Some felt that the USBF looked down on open players as second-class members of the organization. It made no sense to them that membership in the USBF was required to play in raffa tournaments but not in open tournaments. Many were hurt by this policy and did not renew their memberships in 2013. The USBF lost 267 or 40% of the members in the Western Sector in 2013. Open players really do count! The Western Sector board saw the drastic decline in membership in 2013 and corrected their mistake. They fixed the problem for 2014 voting to require USBF membership to play in all sanctioned open and raffa tournaments.

One definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over hoping for a different result. Yes, the Western Sector board voted in November of 2014 to once again make membership a requirement to play in sanctioned raffa tournaments but not sanctioned open tournaments. One of the arguments used by the proponents of this policy is that some of their members only play in one tournament and don’t feel that they need a membership in the USBF to play at their home club.

The key term that has been used in this discussion is “sanctioned” tournaments. Policy until 2013 was that in order to have a club’s tournament “sanctioned” and listed on the Western Sector Bocce Schedule, membership in the USBF was mandatory for players at these tournaments. The schedule is a very valuable marketing tool for clubs to make players aware of their tournaments. Some clubs now join the USBF and gain a seat on the Western Sector board. They can make motions and vote on policy for the sector. Sometimes the motions may not be in the best interest of the sector but more specific to the interests of the club. One problem is that some of these clubs only have a few members but have the same vote as clubs with dozens of members. This is a problem that should be addressed, but is also beyond the scope of this article.

As a backlash to the policy re-introduced for 2015, several clubs will ignore the policy and require membership in the USBF in order to play in both raffa and open tournaments. The following clubs have taken this stand: Italian American Citizens Club of South San Francisco; Peninsula Italian American Social Club of San Mateo; Italian Athletic Club of Stockton; Waterloo Gun and Bocci Club of Stockton; and Los Gatos Bocce Club. Perhaps more clubs will look at the situation and take the same action. Please consider renewing your membership and take a stand on this issue. Support the clubs that embrace USBF members in both open and raffa tournaments. Membership has its privileges. One of those privileges is the right to play in sanctioned tournaments!