Bowling/Bocce Ramp Transcript
LISA: Hey there! My name is Lisa Belcastro and I'm so excited to share with you some inexpensive ways to make sports more accessible to athletes with disabilities. For over a decade I have been working in the disability sport community as an adapted physical education teacher, volunteer, and advocate. Like many who run disability sport programs funding is often limited. Even on a shoestring budget we must find creative ways to accommodate the needs of every athlete in our program. No one deserves to be left on the sidelines and we're here to make sure that never happens.

Today we will be talking about bowling and bocce ball. In these sports the athlete would typically be on their feet and use their arm to roll the ball towards the intended target. What if you were working with an athlete that used a wheelchair? What if one of your athletes didn't have the range of motion needed to roll the ball? What if the movement patterns of these sports were too complex for your athlete? How would these athletes participate? With some out of the box thinking and creativity we're going to look at inexpensive ways to answer all these questions. Today we will be building a ramp that can be utilized for both bowling and bocce ball. 

The idea for building a ramp came after recognizing that I would need one for a number of my athletes. When I saw how expensive a bowling ramp was I knew that purchasing one was out of the question. The ramp that we're going to build today is very inexpensive, easy to make, very durable, and most importantly it will ensure all of your athletes can participate. Over the years I found that I really enjoy working with PVC. PVC is incredibly durable, easy to work with, and best of all it's really inexpensive. 

To build the ramp here are the materials that you'll need: PVC, 45-degree fittings, t-fittings, elbow fittings, and end caps. You will also need a couple of tools: a saw, permanent marker, measuring tape, PVC primer, and PVC cement. When I built my first piece of equipment I'd never even picked up a saw. You might be a master builder or maybe you've never picked up a tool in your life. Regardless of your comfort level or experience I want to assure you there's nothing to be intimidated by. 

Building with PVC is as easy as one, two, three. Step one: cut the PVC into the lengths you need. Step two: connect the PVC using the proper fittings. And finally step three: cement the pieces into place.

PVC pipe is typically sold in 10-foot lengths and can be found at any hardware store. You will need two 10-foot lengths of 1 inch PVC pipe for this project. Grab your saw. Let's start by cutting our PVC pipe into the lengths we need. 

Let's start off by measuring 30 inches of PVC. We're going to mark it with our marker. Using our saw you're going to cut straight down from where you made your mark and we're going to put a letter A at the end. You'll need two of these 30-inch pieces. You'll also need two 8-inch pieces marked with the letter B. Then you'll need two 6-inch pieces marked with the letter C. We'll set those aside. That's going to be for our base. 

Now we're going to talk about the ramp incline. For the ramp incline you're going to need two 4-inch pieces marked with the letter D, two 26-inch pieces marked with the letter E, two 2-inch pieces marked with the letter F, and finally two 18-inch pieces marked with the letter G. If you're making this for bocce you're gonna need two 3 inch pieces marked with the letter H.

To get things started you're gonna grab the pieces that you marked with the letter A. Grab two end caps and secure them to the bottom of the pieces you marked with the letter A. On the opposite side of letter A you're going to secure two elbow fittings.

Next, you're going to grab the pieces that you marked with the letter B. Connect them to the inside opening of the elbow fittings. Next, you're going to need two t-fittings. You're going to secure them to the opposite ends of the pieces marked with the letter B. Like so, and now you're only going to need one piece that you marked with the letter C. You're going to save the other one for later. Connect everything together just like that.

Next, you're going to grab the 4-inch pieces that you marked with the letter D. You're going to stick them into the openings, the remaining opening of the t-fitting. Then we're going to grab something called a 45-degree angle fitting. Looks like this. Put them on the opposite end with the piece marked with the letter D.

Now you're going to grab the pieces that you marked with the letter E. You're going to secure them into the 45-degree angle fitting. Next, you're going to grab two t-fittings. You're going to secure them to the bottom of the pieces you marked with the letter E. Then you're going to grab the 2-inch pieces that you marked with the letter F. Secure them to the downward opening of the t-fitting. Two elbow fittings on the opposite ends and you're gonna have the opposite opening facing each other. 
Now we're going to go back to that letter C that we put to the side in the beginning. You're going to fit it into the openings of the elbow fitting. Secure those together. It's going to make the downward part of the ramp secure. Next, you're going to grab the pieces that you marked with the letter G. You're going to secure them into the final opening of the t-fitting and you're going to finish off by putting end caps at the bottom. You're going to orient the ramp just like this and it's going to be much more secure once we cement it.

Now that I've completed my piece of equipment and I'm happy with how it looks, I need to cement it into place. This will ensure it stays strong and working for years to come. In this step we're essentially going to take the piece of equipment apart and put it back together again but there's a reason for that. I find it helpful to build a piece of equipment and make sure I'm happy with the measurements and structure prior to cementing the pieces together. Let's say I cemented the pieces together as I was building it. What if I get to the end and realize one of the measurements was off? The problem is the cement is so strong it's almost permanent. If I realize I made a mistake after they were cemented together I may have just wasted a lot of time and resources. 

We're going to cement every joint except the pieces marked with the letter C and that's going to be here and here. Here's why you can interchange the two pieces marked with the letter C. With these smaller pieces right here and here that will convert the ramp from a bowling ramp to a bocce ramp.

Now we're going to cement our ramp together. This can get rather messy so I've put down a piece of cardboard. We're going to start off with this joint right here.

First step is to prime it. You're going to prime the piece of PVC and also the inside of the joint and then we'll move on to our cement. We're going to hold this into place so that it gives time for the cement to dry.

Now we're going to cement the rest of our joints making sure we do not cement any pieces marked with the letter C.

Now we're going to talk about our bowling ramps. This one over here cost over a hundred dollars to buy at the store. This one over here costs just 15 dollars to make. The benefit of the DIY ramp is that it can also be converted into a bocce ramp. The benefit of the bowling ramp is that it eliminates the need for the athlete to do complex movements. The bowling ramp works by the athlete using their hands to push the ball down the ramp and into the pins. We've now converted our bowling ramp into a bocce ramp. We did this by removing the pieces marked with the letter C and replacing them with the 3-inch pieces marked with the letter H. Let's try it out.

I told you that was going to be easy! In just a few simple steps we've created a piece of equipment that increases independence and accessibility. With all the benefits this ramp brings it can be built for just fifteen dollars. 

Be sure to tag us on social media with your builds. Links to our social media accounts are available in the description. I'd like to thank the U.S. Department of State especially the Sports Diplomacy Division and the University of Tennessee Center for Sport, Peace, and Society.

We hope this project design serves you and your athletes well. Thanks for watching.