Facility Standards

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Bocce Facility - Design General Guidelines

There are three types of bocce sport facilities:

	Open bocce alley,
	Covered bocce alley,
	Bocce hall (arena)

Bowling alley - general guidelines for the design / construction of new bocce facility / courts:

The optimal orientation (direction) of the courts (the best daylight provided) is Northeast-Southwest (recommended).

Good and easy access with the possibility of sufficient parking for vehicles (in 10 seats, it is recommended to provide a minimum of 1 parking space).

Each bocce alley should have club rooms (locker rooms) with showers and toilets and separate for two teams, as well as one group of toilets for referees.

A Clubhouse (Appendix 1 – Drawings 20) built next to the court complex would have rooms for meetings, training, and presentations; a restaurant or refreshment area for players and the public; club rooms (locker rooms) for players; restrooms and showers; storage rooms for equipment; and a utility room for maintenance of the facility.

When designing and building new bocce alleys, one should strive to build 8 courts in a row (at least four bocce courts). Also, if it is possible, and it depends solely on the acceptable price of the investment, it is not good to design pillars between the courts; the entire range should be designed without support.

Benches for reserve players and support staff should be placed in a suitable place along with the court (minimum 13 team seats).

Stands (or stairs for sitting for outdoor bocce alleys) should be 75 cm deep, 45 cm high, and width (seating area per person) 50 cm. The first row must be 1,25 m away from the edge of the court (passage space). If there are more than 5 rows of stands, after every 5th row, it should be a metal fence.

Lighting minimum 300 lux.

An advertising board with the results and schedule of the competition, participants’ names, and other information should be placed in a suitable place.

Existence of an electronic scoreboard/clock/timer with an audible signal.

The bocce alley must have a thermometer.

Temperature for play minimum 10°C.

There should be a usable heating system for bocce alleys in halls.

When designing new bowling alleys, it is necessary to adhere to the legal regulations related to planning, design, and construction of buildings or facilities of this kind and ensure the accessibility of buildings to persons with disability and reduced mobility.

Boccedrome “Zrinjevac” - Zagreb (Croatia)
One of the most beautiful bocce facilities in the world

Zrinjevac-Bocarski-Dom-450x

Zrinjevac-Bocarski-Dom-3-45

Figure 160: Bocce Facility “Zrinjevac” Zagreb (Croatia) - View 1

Figure 161: Bocce Facility “Zrinjevac” Zagreb (Croatia) - View 2

Zrinjevac-Bocarski-Dom-2-45

Zrinjevac-Bocarski-Dom---45

Figure 162: Bocce Facility “Zrinjevac” Zagreb (Croatia) - View 3

Figure 163: Bocce Facility “Zrinjevac” Zagreb (Croatia) - View 4

Court Characteristics

Regardless of the type of bowling alley (open, covered, hall), its court(s) should meet all the requirements listed in the International Technical Regulations (I.T.R.) - PART TWO - CHAPTER I - EQUIPMENT - COURT, described in Article 4 (Court characteristics):

Total length: 27,50 m (tolerance ± 5 cm) - Figure 3 (Dimensions of the court).

Maximum width: 4 m.

Minimum width: 2,50 m.

The court must be bounded by lines according to the I.T.R. - Figure 2 (Nomenclature of the court).

The fourth or end line should be visible.

Distance of the end line from the protective rubber sheet is up to 25 cm.

Distance between courts: 20 to 50 cm, exceptionally it is allowed that every other court is separate.

Distance between the side line and the fence is a minimum 20 cm (tolerance ± 10 cm).

Distance of spectators stands and spectators from the court is at least 1.25 m (tolerance ± 20 cm).

Protective rubber sheet height is at least 20 cm.

Height of the fence from the front of the courts is at least 1,50 m.

Height above the courts (up to the bottom of the lights) is a minimum 4,50 m.

At the bottom of each court should be placed elastic protection for bocce balls at least 20 cm high and mesh or some other fence through which allows watching the game, in order to protect people sitting behind the fence at least 1,50 m high (Fencing Specification – Table 2).

On each court there must be a scoreboard for the result (points 1-99), a scoreboard to review the combined game (circles) (ends 1-8), and bocce balls holders for each team designed to allow players a good view of unplayed bocce balls. The numbers must be at least 20 cm high.

Granulation of the final layer of sand is 0 to 4 mm.

Terrain must be free of falls in the horizontal plane; falls cannot be greater than 0,15% of the total length (27,50 m) and 0.5% of the total width of one court.

The ground surface (earth, asphalt, or concrete) must be constructed in such a way that it is connected to a moving layer of sand to prevent slipping and possible injury to players.

From the forehead where the scoreboards to which the direction precision throw is performed to prevent movement and obstruction of the throwers.

Numbers of courts are from left to right looking towards the scoreboard.

Matches shouldn’t be played if the temperature is below 10^oC.

The Court Filling (final/playing layer) control

The court filling control is performed in the court using a "court filling check device" (Figure 56) in such a way that an empty bocce ball with a diameter of 97 mm and a weight of 1100 grams is dropped from the hand through a device 25 cm high. The height of 25 cm is the initial height of the free fall of the bocce ball and indicates the position of the bottom of the bocce ball, i.e., the height point at which the bocce ball is "placed" just before discharge.

The stopping distance of the bocce ball must not be:

	Less than 2,50 and more than 4 m measured on DRY COURTS,
	Less than 2,40 m and more than 3,90 m measured on WET COURTS,
	Permissible deviation ± 10 cm.

Figure 164: Court filling check device

In case of deviation from the specified values, the courts are filled if the stopping distance is longer than EXPECTED, or sand is removed from them if the stopping distance is less than EXPECTED, so that the indicators are within the defined values. Otherwise, the courts are not suitable for play (without the possibility of play). The check is performed in both directions of play at any position on the court.

Bocce Club “Zrinjevac” - Zagreb (Croatia)
European Club Champion 1997

Zrinjevac-Bocarski-Klub

Figure 165: Bocce Club “Zrinjevac” Zagreb (Croatia)

Bocce Facility Equipment Requirements

Every bocce alley should have at least the following equipment:

	Throwing disciplines mats (precision and progressive throw); characteristics defined by the I.T.R.,
	Bocce balls and jack target and bocce balls and jack obstacles for throwing disciplines defined by I.T.R.,
	4 target bocce balls, 3 obstacle bocce balls,
	adjustable bocce ball holders for progressive throw defined by the I.T.R. (2 per court),
	"Compasses" for drawing a circle (1 per court),
	Court/ground filling control device,
	Ground leveling device.

The Base for Bocce Courts

The base for bocce courts can be:

1.	Sandy base
2.	Asphalted with a sand coating of the final layer

Sandy bocce courts

They are generally not optimal. Once, all bocce courts were exclusively sandy, built-in layers as follows (from the bottom layer to the top-end layer for the game):

	well-rolled stone base made on a solid surface – terrain,
	gravel base,
	sandy surface,
	sandy playing surface - sand fraction 0-4 mm.

All outdoor playgrounds should have good drainage. It is made by drainage pipes in such a way that the bottom of the pipe is about 35 cm above the maximum groundwater level, while the depth of laying drainage pipes is about 80 cm.

If the terrain is karst, and the bocce alley is built in the previously described a correct way in layers sufficient height of the vertical layer, then it is not necessary to build drainage, but the terrain itself accepts the entire amount of rainwater and absorbs it.

Asphalt bocce courts

Today, almost all courts (both outdoor and indoor) are built with paved surfaces. It is very important that the final layer of asphalt is "coated" with tar emulsion mixed with finer sand granulation, in order to keep the moving layer on the ground. This is the so-called bonding coating.

The final layer (playing) must also have a granulation of 0-4 mm (important note: no moving layer of 2 mm, as was the case before the introduction of the "control device").

The preparation of the asphalt surface is the same as the preparation for all other asphalted surfaces.

It means: making the lower load-bearing layer-stone base in a thickness of up to about 20 - 30 cm, grain size up to 4,50 cm. The approach is made after a certified inspection of the planum (flatness, fall, compactness) by the supervisor. Ensure compaction of at least 30 MN / m².

On the thus prepared stone base, the wearing of a wearing layer of asphalt concrete marked AB 11, BIT 60 (this mark may vary from country to country) in a thickness of 4 cm. The wearing layer of asphalt concrete is made as a mixture of stone flour, stone materials, and bitumen as binders.

The contractor must present the certificates of installation materials. On this layer is placed the final bituminous load-bearing layers, marked BNS 32, BIT 60, in a layer thickness of 6 cm. The mixture is composed of stone flour stone material (max. 32 mm grain size) and bitumen as binders. It is necessary to perform the so-called "connecting coating" as previously described, and before laying the final layer of sand 0-4 mm.

NOTE:

The standards and measuring units for materials, flatness, and compactness in the process of building asphalt courts may be different in different countries.

Figures 160-163, 165 Photo Credit: Bocce Club “Zrinjevac” Zagreb (Croatia)

Figure 164 Photo Credit: Bocce Federation of Croatia (hrvatski-bocarski-savez.hr)

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