CJ Korowicki was a manager on the Mt. Lebanon football team in 2022 when the Blue Devils won their first PIAA championship.
The motto of that team was “Leave Our Legacy,” a slogan that popped into Korowicki’s mind when he and classmate Teba Latef attended a special needs leadership summit that October.
“That’s when I thought, ‘Why don’t we leave a legacy?’” Korowicki recalled.
So, he and Latef helped create the Lebo Legacy Games, a student-run event held that final school day before Christmas break that promotes inclusion through a school-wide bocce tournament.
Korowicki and Latef put together the first installment of the event in 2023 before graduating in the spring of 2024. The two then passed the torch to current students Kat Walters and Dottie Pieklik, who facilitated the second annual Lebo Legacy Games held Dec. 20 at Mt. Lebanon High School.
“Kat and Dottie, they’ve done fantastic. I could sing their praises all night long because they’re amazing,” said Korowicki, now a freshman at Penn State who is majoring in recreation, park and tourism management.
The event was a rousing success, with 84 teams and 560 students playing. That was up from 64 teams and 380 students the previous year. There were also 50 student volunteers, some of whom served as referees.
“People that maybe wouldn’t necessarily interact now have a chance to interact and be a part of something special together,” Walters said.
Korowicki said he made the trip back home to attend the tournament this year simply to congratulate Walters, Pieklik and others for pulling off another successful event.
Walters, a junior who is involved in the Yearbook Club and student council, said that the school previously held an event that served as a send-off to students into the winter break, but that an upgrade was sorely needed.
“It used to be a competition between the seven elementary schools in every single grade, but it had the reputation where a lot of people would leave early from school because it wasn’t that fun,” Walters said. “So the main goal of this event was to pick a sport that everybody can play.”
And what better than bocce, a sport in which one can excel regardless of how many push-ups they can do or how fast they can run the 40-yard dash.
“We used a unified sport. So we used bocce,” said Korowicki. “It’s a game that everybody can play. It’s inclusion. Everyone wants to get involved. Everybody wants to play. Everyone wants to be a part of a team. And if they don’t, if they don’t have somebody, we assign a team to them. They can sign up individually.
“The biggest goal of ours was inclusion and awareness to our special needs students and awareness to our unified bocce team. We promote them heavily. And then, in general, the special needs department.”
When Korowicki was a student at Mt. Lebanon, he was heavily involved with LeboSTARS, a student-run organization that pairs students with disabilities with nondisabled peers to share in activities and develop friendships. Special needs students at the school compete on the unified bocce team, and some of them also took part in the Lebo Legacy Games.
Among the students participating was senior Payton Collins, the leading scorer on the Mt. Lebanon girls basketball team. Despite never playing bocce previously, Collins and a few friends captured the title at the inaugural Lebo Legacy Games.
“We all kind of laughed about it and thought it was just luck,” Collins said. “But honestly, we’re all just kind of good at it for some reason. I don’t know why.”
With a target on their back, Collins and company didn’t have as much success this year, but that didn’t stop them from enjoying themselves.
“This brings everyone together and is super fun,” she said.
Another teen tossing bocce balls was one who can typically be found throwing — and hitting — baseballs. Graham Keen, who is considered one of the top sophomore baseball players in the country, participated in the tournament. His team was eliminated in the quarterfinals.
“I was off today,” Keen said, shaking his head. “I was going to go down last weekend and play a little bit, but I didn’t have the time and it clearly showed today.”
Even in defeat, though, Keen couldn’t help but smile when speaking about the tournament.
“This is awesome,” he said. “It brings everyone together. You meet a ton of new kids.”
Senior AJ Hyland and his pals played again this year after suffering a first-round exit the previous year.
“Honestly, it gave me the motivation to turn it around and get it going,” said Hyland, a lacrosse player. “This is a must-win for us.”
As it turns out, Hyland’s team did a lot of winning, stringing together a series of triumphs that led them all the way to the championship game, which was played in front of the entire student body. But in the end, Hyland’s team, Bocce Boyz, was defeated by Bocce Committee, 10-5.
Hyland’s team might have come up short, but he sounded happy to have been a part of a special event that organizers hope will continue for years to come.
Said Hyland, “It brings everyone together, which is what we really need in this school.”
Brad is a sports writer at the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, but he's currently on strike. Email him at beverett@unionprogress.com.