Clark County Special Olympics team gets new bocce court

The Special Olympics of Clark County got a new bocce court for their team. CONTRIBUTED

The Special Olympics of Clark County got a new bocce court for their team. CONTRIBUTED

Special Olympics of Clark County has a new bocce court for their team thanks to a friendship that developed over an online cribbage game. Bocce is also known as Italian lawn bowling.

Denise Skaggs, of Tremont City, met Karen Carbone, of Cape Cod, Massachusetts, during an online cribbage game and became friends. Carbone later learned that Skaggs’ son played on the Clark County Special Olympics bocce team.

Carbone also developed an online friendship with Skaggs’ sister Debbie and her husband David Foster, both of Tremont City, and learned that Denise and Debbie’s brother also plays bocce for Special Olympics.

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During a visit between the four, Carbone noticed the uneven ground the bocce team used on the Kenton Street campus of Developmental Disabilities of Clark County.

“While the Clark DD maintenance staff did a great job of providing and maintaining the wooden frame of the court, the uneven ground was something they were unable to flatten without major equipment,” the release says.

As a result, Carbone donated money to hire a local excavator to scrape away the current sod and level the area. The Clark DD maintenance staff even planted new grass seed designed for golf courses and made new frames out of recycled plastic lumber.

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“I did it because both Debbie and Denise have loved ones who play on the boccee team, and I wanted to help out in any way I could. It is a great cause,” Carbone said.

Carbone even visits each year to help with the Special Olympics Garage Sale that takes place in late summer on the FF Mueller Kenton Street campus.

The new bocce court is ready for the season starting in March.

Special Olympics of Clark County provides year-round sports training and competition opportunities for children and adults with developmental disabilities. For more information, visit clarkdd.org.

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