Taking on the world: Tatura’s Tony Borrelli prepares for World Men’s Bocce Championships

Set to be his third trip to the world championships, qualification for the 2022 iteration of the event has been some nine years in the making.

Exploding onto the scene more than 10 years ago, Borrelli qualified in 2011 and 2013 where he got a taste for the bright lights of international competition.

Now, some nine years since his last appearance, he will once again get the opportunity to don the green and gold on the sport’s biggest stage

This time around the 38-year-old will put his game to the ultimate test, competing against the best the world has to offer in the precision throw, traditional doubles and bowl throw disciplines.

By his own admission a much more refined and improved player than he was in 2013, Borrelli said he could not wait to get back in the green and gold and take on the world.

“It is always an honour to represent Australia and, this being my third time going there, I am very excited to get stuck in,” Borrelli said.

“It’s been nine years since my last appearance and from then to now my techniques have changed, my tactics have changed and I feel I have really improved as a player.

“The reason why I am so keen to go this time around is to put that improvement to the test and just see how I stack up against the best in the world.”

But how does a boy from little old Tatura become a world-class Bocce player?

Well for Borrelli the sport has always been in his blood, following in the footsteps of his parents who played religiously at Tatura Bocce Club.

“I have been involved with the sport ever since I was born, with both of my parents being members of the Tatura Bocce Club for over 30 years,” he said.

“I remember being a little toddler hanging around the club watching my parents play and picking up the game before I went down the path of your more traditional sports like AFL and cricket.

“But once I got sick of the bumps, the bruises and 40-degree days, I still had that competitive itch I wanted to scratch, and decided to get back into bocce and give it a crack.”

Dedicating himself to the intricacies of bocce, Borrelli enjoyed a rapid rise to stardom, being selected to his first national team 12 months after entering serious competition and competing in those two world championship events.

During the past decade, he has committed countless hours to the game, constantly turning up at Tatura Bocce Club to better his techniques and build a sustainable game that can challenge the world’s best.

“It’s interesting, because there is that perception that bocce is an old person’s sport, but in actuality you do need to be quite fit,” he said.

“Three times a week I head to Tatura for practice sessions on the courts and in between that I do a lot of running, cardio and strength-based exercises that have really helped me.

“Through all that training I feel I’m at the stage now where I’m ready to compete and consistently match it with those top players.”

Borrelli saw the fruits of his labour at the national championships in June, an event which served as the culmination of the qualification process for the world championships.

“If you can win a national title you are invited onto the national team and at the national championships in Morwell earlier this year I was fortunate to win the precison throw,” he said.

“A lot of training went into that and with the precision throw being my favourite event I was thrilled to win that.

“Since then I’ve ramped the training up even further, we had a camp in Melbourne in September and now I’m champing at the bit to compete.”

Primed and ready to go for the world stage, Borrelli said his objective for the event was simple.

“I hope I’m competitive, outside of that I don’t want to set any goals or limits on myself, because if everything goes well anything can happen,” he said.

“My game has improved enough where if everything falls into line I might come home with a medal — who knows.

“At the end of the day I just want to achieve my best, I might not beat the guys from the top countries, but if I can just push them to think that was a tough game and this guy is from Australia.

“That would make myself, my family and my country proud.”