By Francesca “Frankie” Silverstein
On Sunday, July 20, the Portland Bocce League Association (PBLA) celebrated the opening of two new bocce courts at St. Philip Neri Catholic Church in Ladd’s Addition. The first ball rolling on the courts marked the culmination of years of work researching, fundraising and designing, as the project has been in motion since at least 2015. To attendees, including PBLA President Karen Cambareri, it was clear this hard work paid off.
“The reaction has just been 100 percent positive—everybody wants to be on these courts,” she said. Soon, most of the league will be, as PBLA begins to transition the majority of their 46 summer league teams to playing on them.
This is a significant change for PBLA, which currently has most of its teams playing downtown at the North Park Blocks courts. However, these courts have presented numerous challenges for the league, one of the most prominent being safety. Cambareri explains, “That area downtown has started to feel unsafe for some people.” The public location also makes the courts harder to maintain, since people are free to walk or bike on them. Further concerns revolve around the courts themselves, which are only 60 feet long, rather than the standard 87, and have no access to restrooms or parking.
The new courts are around 80 feet long, increasing the potential for hosting tournaments. In addition, by partnering with St. Philip Neri, the league gains access to the church’s parking lot and restrooms, while also being able to control activity on the courts. Furthermore, PBLA won’t have to pay Portland Parks & Recreation to use the courts like they do at the North Park Blocks.
Although the North Park Blocks teams will be moving to St. Philip Neri, PBLA will continue to maintain the North Park Blocks courts, and the teams playing at the courts in Cedar Hills will remain there, at least for the time being. “We’re enriched by [the North Park Blocks courts], and it’s enriched by us, but we hope to have the same—and more—energy at St. Philip Neri,” remarks Frank Rudloff, PBLA member and the design and construction lead for the St. Philip Neri project.
Rudloff has been with the project since the early 2010s, when it was still just a shared desire to build new courts. He began researching locations, and PBLA began fundraising, putting team registration fees into a court-building fund. Eventually, the league connected with St. Philip Neri, which expressed interest in acting as the site of the new courts. The church serves many members of Portland’s Italian-American community, and bocce is an Italian sport, so the partnership felt particularly meaningful.
Partnering with St. Philip Neri also opened up new fundraising opportunities; the church helped host a dinner and silent auction. Additional fundraising efforts relied on challenging teams to raise as much money as they could, which was difficult with PBLA’s status as an entirely volunteer-run organization. Nonetheless, Cambareri highlights, “Most of this money was not corporate money; it was from our members.” A $50,000 matching grant from Oregon Sports Action significantly contributed as well.
In 2023, PBLA and St. Philip Neri entered into contract negotiations. Once those finished, they applied for construction permits from the city. After some adjustments to the proposed plans due to the presence of a heritage tree on site, the permits were approved, and construction began at the end of May this year, finishing up just in time for the July 20 opening ceremony.
This first phase of construction only built two courts, but PBLA hopes to eventually raise enough money to build another two—also at St. Philip Neri. Other goals include adding fencing and lighting to increase the safety of players, with the lighting specifically benefitting older players who may have more difficulty seeing in the dark.
This is a prime example of how the goals for the courts have always tied into the overarching goals of PBLA itself, which aims to make bocce as accessible as possible. The league is planning to use the new courts to partner with Special Olympics and offer more kids classes. Cambareri emphasizes, “Bocce is a game anyone can play.” Through the St. Philip Neri development, PBLA is helping this statement ring true, opening the world of bocce to Portlanders of all ages and abilities.
A crowd gathers around Portland Bocce League Association’s new courts. This is just a small part of Portland’s thriving bocce community. Photo by Karen Cambareri.
