The draw for this year’s National Junior Bocce Open Championships was released by Bocce Australia this month, which will see young bocce athletes featuring in Australia’s best youth bocce championships.
The draw was prepared by Max Tricarico and Carlo Bunin, and was overseen by Bocce Australia’s technical operations unit. It takes into consideration some of the best aspects of the sport and uses the FIB world governing bodies ‘Repechage’ format.
This year’s National Junior Open Championships, which will be hosted by Queensland Bocce Federation, and is sponsored by the Redlands sporting club and Sport Australia, will be contested at the Redlands Bocce Club’s 8-court BocceDome.
The championships will have the top Under 15s, Under 18s, and Under 23s female and male players competing to be eligible for selection in the World Junior Bocce Championships later in 2023.
“The National Junior Open Championships are the flagship talented youth player event in the Australian Bocce calendar, where we are delighted to see almost 30 juniors representing four state and territory Member Federations at this year’s event,” said Bocce Australia’s Sports Development Director Sonia Fava.
“These championships pit our best emerging youth bocce from across the country against each other in tournament conditions, providing an important opportunity for national team technical staff to identify players for future honours, and in doing so, they will follow in the footsteps of many current and former junior bocce-roos.
“We look forward to joining the bocce community and other interested onlookers in Brisbane on May 20 – 21 to cheer on the future stars of Bocce Australia, as they compete it out to become national champions.”
Many states and clubs have already started their training, with many saying that they have had an influx of interest from young new bocce players keen to master the sport so that they can be eligible to go to the National Junior Open.
Any juniors wishing to learn and play bocce should contact their local state bocce federation representative for details about the junior training programs and competitions in their state.
Bocce Australia is excited and looking forward to welcoming as many young athletes and families as possible to Brisbane for the weekend of May 20 – 21, 2023.
Bring it on for Junior Bocce!