LIFE

Linear bocce tosses forth Saturday

Will Higgins
IndyStar
Alex Jimenez rolls to victory in the 2014 North Americans.

Linear bocce may be a young sport, but already a rivalry would seem to be brewing.

In just 12 months and after just two official competitions, the game has produced two titans. They'll clash for the first time Saturday at the 2015 North American Linear Bocce Championships, which will be held in a back alley near 42nd and College Avenue.

Indianapolis resident Alex Jimenez last October won the sport's inaugural event, the 2014 North Americans. He sat out the U.S. Open in June, which was won by Travis DiNicola of Indianapolis. Both Jimenez and DiNicola are entered in Saturday's event, which will be held in the alley between Park Avenue and Broadway Street, beginning at 42nd Street and heading north.

Linear bocce — well, at least the back alley of Indianapolis kind — was invented in Indianapolis by inventive Indianapolis Star reporter Will Higgins. Impressed by a version of bocce he saw pioneered in an alley off Kessler Boulevard by local sports enthusiasts Jeff Ayers and James Kelly, Higgins decided to take things further.

The game is still bocce but with a twist. It's played in bumpy back alleys (so it's luck-based) and in one direction. Traditional bocce goes back and forth, like horse shoes. Linear bocce goes only forth, like golf.

The tournament Saturday begins at 3:30 p.m. Play ends at precisely 5 p.m. at the gonging of five bells from the nearby St. Joan of Arc Catholic Church. Play is continuous. A person would have to be in ridiculously sorry physical condition to need a time-out in Linear bocce.

Players will meet at 3 p.m. in the parking lot of the public library at 42nd and College for instructions.

The weather forecast appears optimal, 66 degrees and partly sunny. Spectators are welcome. Admission is free.

Following the competition, players and hangers-on will move to the Red Key Lounge at 52nd and College for beer-drinking and Manhattan-drinking and an extremely brief awards ceremony.

Contact Star reporter Will Higgins at (317) 444-6043. Follow him on Twitter @WillRHiggins.