Michael Scialdone Sharkey broadcasts from the United States Bocce Federation National Championships at the Highwood Bocce Club in Highwood, Illinois in June 2023. Photo provided.

SARATOGA SPRINGS — From ancient Rome to Saratoga Springs, the sport of bocce has a long and storied history that is still being celebrated by local players such as Michael Scialdone Sharkey, whose passion for the sport has resulted in tens of millions of hits on social media platforms.

Sharkey’s family hailed from Vitulazio, Italy, a small town about 22 miles north of Naples, where they would play bocce in their vineyard every Sunday. When they came to America, the family started hosting tournaments in central New York and the Finger Lakes. Growing up in Saratoga Springs, Sharkey even had a bocce court in his backyard. Today, he is both a gold-medal-winning national tournament player, and the owner of the Bocce Broadcast Network (BBN), which livestreams games on YouTube.

“I just spent all my money on all this camera equipment and switchers and all this stuff that I had no idea how it worked at first,” Sharkey said. He lugged his gear to the Italian Community Center in Troy and recorded some league games that he then uploaded to YouTube. To Sharkey’s surprise, the videos quickly generated hundreds of views.

Encouraged, Sharkey began broadcasting tournaments from around the country, including the Las Vegas Bocce National Open Championship in Nevada, and the United States Bocce Federation National Championship in St. Louis, Missouri. 

“There’s this whole kind of underground tournament circuit that the sport operates on, and until recently, nobody really was aware of it, outside of the players and their families,” Sharkey said. 

The BBN made those tournaments accessible to a wider audience, allowing new generations of fans to become engrossed in the ancient sport. 

“I see the excitement in people when they see the sport for the first time,” Sharkey said. “A lot of people played growing up in the backyard or wherever, but when you see the next level, the professional level of this sport, people get excited about it.”

While the network broadcasts bocce to the world, Sharkey is also working to increase the sport’s popularity here at home. In January, Saratoga Springs approved plans to build a $13,000 bocce court in Veteran’s Memorial Park. Sharkey’s father, who has built many of his own courts, reached out to the city to offer his assistance.

“Saratoga has the money to do nice things, so we’re hoping they’ll build some nice courts out there and maybe in the future we can have some leagues there,” Sharkey said. “We can introduce people to the sport, but then also introduce them to this competitive style if they want to take it further.”

Last year, local high schools piloted a unified bocce program run by Special Olympics New York. The league provided an opportunity for students with limitations in adaptive areas to play bocce. The pilot program was a success, and in October 2023, the BBN broadcast the unified championship tournament live from the Italian American Community Center in Albany.

As the sport grows in popularity both nationally and locally, Sharkey noted that bocce has survived for generations thanks to the hard work of countless volunteers. “There’s just this real generational passion for the sport that I think is really unique,” Sharkey said. 

The BBN’s next broadcast will be the World Series of Bocce at the Toccolana Club in Rome, New York on July 18-21. The network is also scheduled to cover the ABC Open at the Palazzo di Bocce in Lake Orion, Michigan in September.

Photo of Sam Skott via Skidmore Athletics.

SARATOGA SPRINGS —Skidmore College alum Sam Skott has been added to the field hockey team as an assistant coach to Beth Hallenbeck. 

Skott graduated from Skidmore College in 2015 with a degree in biology and later earned a Master of Arts in Teaching of biology at Clarkson University. She is currently a biology teacher at Emma Willard School in Troy, where she also coaches field hockey and softball.

During Skott’s playing career at Skidmore, The Thoroughbreds won three Liberty League titles and qualified for four NCAA Tournaments. The two-time All-Liberty League honoree was the Liberty League Tournament Most Outstanding Player in 2013 after scoring the game-winning goals in the semifinal and championship games. In that 2013 season, Skidmore advanced to the NCAA Semifinal game for only the third time in program history. Skott finished her career with 54 goals and 122 points in 85 career games.

Ari Berliner, Melissa Myers, and Nicole Stout from the Jason Morris Judo Center in Scotia all won their respective weight classes at the 2024 USA Judo Senior National Championships in Ontario, California last month. Berliner and Stout collected their fourth national titles, while Myers won her third. Image provided by Jason Morris.

Ballston Spa High School junior Gabrielle Bozeth is formally honored by the district’s Board of Education at a meeting on June 27. Photo via the event live stream.

BALLSTON SPA — Ballston Spa varsity girls track and field standout Gabrielle Bozeth was formally honored at a June 27 Board of Education meeting for what her coach called a “historic,” record-setting season.

At the meeting, Coach Matt Germann highlighted some of Bozeth’s accomplishments:

Times Union’s girls track and field Athlete of the Year

Holds eight school records in outdoor track and field

Made the Suburban Council All-Star list three times this year

Qualified for New Balance Nationals, where she placed 34th in the 200m dash

In Section 2, she’s ranked #1 for the 100m and the 200m

At the New York State championship meet, she won the 200m federation and placed 2nd in the 100m federation

Bozeth was also a member of a relay team that Germann called “the greatest relay team I’ve coached in 20 years.” In indoor events, the team broke more than 23 school records. They also won both the 4×100 and the 4×400 at the William F. Eddy Jr. Meet last month, among many other accomplishments.

Germann also praised Bozeth for her hard work and humility. 

SARATOGA SPRINGS — Saratoga Central Catholic’s annual baseball camp will return on July 15-18 and August 5-8. The 35th iteration of the camp will be directed by coaches Alphonse Lambert and Dale Long Jr.

The camp is open to boys and girls ages 7-14 and will be located at the West Side Rec Little League fields at 166 Division Street in Saratoga Springs. 

To learn more or to register, visit www.spasaints.com. Registration forms must be printed and mailed with a check to Coach Lambert.

Graphic via the Adirondack Thunder.

GLENS FALLS — The Adirondack Thunder, an ECHL hockey team affiliated with the New Jersey Devils, won a handful of awards after concluding a successful season.

Team President Jeff Mead won the ECHL’s “Executive of the Year” award. 

Player Darian Skeoch received the Professional Hockey Players’ Association’s “Built Tough” award.

The team received the ECHL’s “Specialty Jersey of the Year” award for its Country Night jerseys. It also won the ECHL’s “Ticket Department of the Year” award for year-over-year growth.

The Saratoga Springs varsity boys distance runners captured several state titles this year in cross-country, indoor relay, and outdoor relay events. Photo provided by Shane Zanetti.

SARATOGA SPRINGS — The Saratoga Springs varsity boys runners won the “triple crown” of distance running this year, a feat that Coach Shane Zanetti said may have never happened before in New York State history. 

In November, they won the New York State Class A Cross-Country Championship. In March, they were state champs in the 4×800 indoor relay. Then, earlier this month, they won another state title in the 4×800 outdoor relay.

Coach Zanetti said that many of his runners have been talking about winning races, capturing titles, and setting records since they were in 7th grade. When the moment finally came to realize their ambitions, they were ready.

“A lot of these guys have been at it together for many years,” Zanetti said. “I think they build a lot of trust in each other and a lot of accountability towards each other.”

“When we’re going for these team championships, you know that everybody takes it seriously and it’s kind of just like pushing each other to see how far we can take it,” said Charlie Dybala, one of the outdoor 4×800 state champions.

“Being on a team like this,” said cross-country champ Hudson Shaw, “gives you the skills that you’re going to need after high school because you know how to persevere through a lot of hard work that I think is unique to distance running in particular.”

The long road to the “triple crown” began at the cross-country state championships in November, which the Saratoga crew won in a sixth-man tiebreaker. The first runner was only 25 seconds apart from the sixth, reinforcing Zanetti’s belief that his teams are filled with players who are near-equals in both talent and contribution. 

“I was the third runner that day and I just thought it was really cool as a team to run in such a tight pack,” said Darren Pasek. “That day, we all were as close as we were the whole year and that’s how we won. It was all about teamwork.”

The second leg of the “triple crown” was the indoor state championships in March, where Saratoga’s near-equal relay team had no apparent weak spots.

“We could’ve alternated or changed our order completely around and it would’ve come out to really the same result,” Zanetti said.

That strategy also worked for the outdoor relay team earlier this month when they secured the third leg of their “triple crown.”

“We had a bunch of guys who could be interchangeable that took whatever spot they were in really seriously on that given day,” Zanetti said.

When Saratoga Springs High School held its commencement ceremony on Wednesday morning, five Saratoga runners bid farewell to their teammates. Despite this loss of talent, sights are still set high for next year. On the distance running crew’s to-do list: repeating all of their state title victories, and making it to nationals. 

“We definitely are coming back with a vengeance,” said Darren Pasek. 

Cross-Country State Champions

Thomas Isenovski

Owen Blaisdell

Darren Pasek

Luke Dacey

Cooper Brandriss

Jacob Bernd

Hudson Shaw

Indoor Track 4×800 State Champions 

Jacob Bernd

Luke Dacey

Owen Blaisdell

Thomas Isenovski

Outdoor Track 4×800 State Champions

Jacob Bernd

Luke Dacey

Owen Blaisdell

Charlie Dybala

Ramon Hernandez Jr., from the Jason Morris Judo Center, took home a silver medal in the 81kg final at the Peruvian Open in Lima on June 23. It was the second career medal at a Pan Am open for Hernandez, who won bronze in Chile last month. The second-place finish in Peru allowed Hernandez to jump 85 spots on the World Ranking List up to a career-high #179. Photo provided by Jason Morris.