Every year, Arcata High School’s Life Skills program hosts a bocce ball tournament. This year’s event occurred on October 25th, 2024, at Larson Park. They invited all of the other Life Skill programs from the other high schools: Eureka, McKinleyville, and Fortuna. At the beginning of the tournament, everyone recited the oath of the Special Olympics: “Let me win. But if I cannot win, let me be brave in the attempt,” led by Greg Rowe, one of the Life Skills teachers.
The tournament kicked off at 11 a.m., with teams from different schools playing bocce ball against each other. The tournament was a round-robin, so every team got the opportunity to play at least three games. Each team had 2-4 players. Arcata High’s team was especially dominant this year. This was because they practiced bocce ball during PE with Mr. Ghisetti since the beginning of the school year leading up to the tournament.
“My favorite part of this event is getting all the different Life Skills classes from all over the county together to do something fun and engaging,” Ms. Cline, one of the teachers in the Life Skills classroom said. “It’s also in the community, so it draws in all these other people and it’s just nice to see everyone get together.”
Zack Harris, an instructional aid in the Life Skills class, said, “Win or lose, everybody’s winning.” With the help of all the aides, they ran the tournament successfully.
The tournament ended at 2 p.m. Despite all the hard competition, everyone was a winner!
