Stefano Chiandotto, the newly appointed Australian Bocce Junior and Men’s National Team Head Coach, has fourteen of the country’s best youth and senior players training across three states, as the Bocce-roos prepare for the upcoming World Junior and Men’s Senior Championships.
Three training clinics were held, starting in Brisbane with junior coach Kerrie Reitano who will debut coaching the junior team in Monaco for the Denis Ravera Bocce International Challenge.
In Melbourne, the training clinic included assistance from Victorian Junior coach Angelo Parisi, assisted by elite national and international players Dino Mikolic, Tony Palermo, and veteran player and coach Gino Montuoro.
Also present was Franco Fava who attended after having completed a busy week of training for the women’s raffa team that will be heading to Mersin, Turkey for the Bocce-Raffa World Championship.
The Sydney training clinic completed the trio training package and was a combination of the junior and senior squads across the bocce Bocce-Volo and Bocce-Raffa codes of the sport.
It was a bocce busy weekend at the Catholic Liverpool Club which included Bocce Sports Director Sonia Fava who was assisting the Bocce-Raffa players and Linda Chiandotto who assisted the junior players.
Upon announcing the 14 players selected, Stefano Chiandotto said:
“After being on hiatus for the past three years, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, it’s exciting for all concerned to prepare for what we hope and plan will be a busy and fruitful campaign at the world titles.
“Bocce Australia and I have selected a talented and versatile squad, which are doing really well in their preparations. Some of the younger ones need some careful coaching so that they are not only physically fit but also mentally hardened. With more practice, the squad are making good ground and should be well prepared by the time of the world titles.
“We will face tough opposition in Monaco, France and Turkey, particularly from the top four (France, Croatia, Italy and Slovenia) whose youth programs continued throughout the pandemic. So, we need to ensure both the technical staff and players make the most of training camp as it’s important to put ourselves in a strong position heading into the world titles.”
To help the juniors offset some of their travel and other costs, Bocce Australia has set up an Australian Sports Foundation fund to enable all donations to be 100% tax deductable. Please make a donation here if you are able to.
Together, we can help support these young Bocce-roo athletes at the World Junior Championships.
