CarolinaPetanque Open in Winston - Salem

Sat & Sun May 17 & 18

Tournament program and details

Miller Park on Google Maps

See y'all there for a lot of petanque, and a lot of fun!!

Press Release (PDF)


Update Thu May 15:

We're at about 16 confirmed teams. Including two of the top players in the country: Khalid from Charlotte, and Mamary from Philadelphia. Serious business! As both are also excellent teachers, we will all learn a lot over the weekend.

The courts:

An afternoon in Lafayette

Lamorinda Pétanque in Lafayette, California (just east of San Francisco) has been around for 16 years, but in 2007 they moved to a brand new location on St Mary's road in what truly looks like a Mediterranean garden.
Free shaped, surrounded by plants and trees, and bordered by large rocks. Large open spaces, but also cozy shady corners, always wide enough for one game. A dream, to play, and just to be.
I got there early, but surprise guests Ken, Christine, Ellen & Roberto drove in from San Rafael to keep me company -- with lunch!
Then came a group of students of St Mary's college with language professor - and pétanque coach - Claude. "You sound just like the guy who sold me my boules!" he said. "What are you doing here?". Small world!!
We all started to play, more club members arrived, and we ended the afternoon with a delicious potluck dinner. The after dinner game got cut short due to chilly temperatures, but the ambiance was as warm as ever.

Slideshow (with music) - 2:00 min

Petanque in Brooklyn

If you live in Brooklyn, there is ample opportunity to play!


Brooklyn Boule plays in McCarren Park on Wednesday nights at 8pm (with lights!) and on Sundays at 3pm.
Tristram is always out there, with extra boules, to welcome new players.


Brooklyn Boule Blog






And Brooklyn Petanque holds tournaments on the courts at Pit Stop Restaurant on Columbia St every other Saturday at 11:30am.
They just posted this seasons schedule.

Brooklyn Pétanque





In other words, you can find folks to play with at least two, sometimes three times a week. And train for the Bar Tabac tournament in Brooklyn on July 13!

Petanque in the vineyard

Last weekend I had the good fortune to witness the Season Opener party of the Big Boules of Dry Creek club in Healdsburg, CA.
Jerry & Susie were the gracious hosts this time and had lined the driveway with witty mini petanque billboards.
All the right ingredients were there: brilliant weather, excellent food, exquisite wine in more than adequate quantities (several members have vineyards), an idyllic setting, and - above all - more than 60 delightful pétanque devotees.

As usual, I ended up on the boules terrain, put my camera on the side, and pétanque took precedence over pictures. But the few I made should put you in the right atmosphere, and encourage you to move to that part of the world tomorrow, if not tonight.

Slideshow (1:35 min) - with music

Jerry's scoreboard is a simple wooden plank, with 26 holes and - surprise! - 2 corks: a blue and a red one.

Petanque in Provence

Thousands of miles away, in entirely different surroundings, yet strikingly similar:
a local TV report on a typical long (4-day) weekend tournament in Salon de Provence. The month of May is famous for its 3-day work weeks.
77 doubles teams, with a purse of 350 Euros ($ 550). And announcing another one for next week, with 50 ladies triples teams. All of this on the parking lot in front of Café de Bel Air, with the church in the background.
Watch the size of the stones!! Some of them look like an inch big. That's why they love soft boules.

Boulodr' homes (1)

Wine country inspired me to coin a new term for 'home courts': a mix of 'boulodrome' - the usual French term for a boules terrain in the village (as in hippodrome, vélodrome & aérodrome), and 'home'. Makes sense?

Let's start with Peggy & Davids', built on what was once a useless slope in their backyard. Useless no more!

They also have a beautiful collection of old "boules cloutées". Whenever I see those, I realize that the old custom of putting big numbers on them was actually quite convenient. If you knew how many times a day I need to explain what the "2" means in e.g. 74 / 700 / 2!



We're inviting everyone with a boulodr'home to send us some high resolution pictures. So one day we can make a coffee table book called "Boulodr'homes in America".

Petanque in Lithuania

Their league started in 2006, became a member of the Int'l Federation in 2007, and they are on a roll.
A lot of young people, guys ànd gals, quite different from the traditional image.
Great website too. "Plieniniai Rutuliai" means "steel balls"

Ready, set, action: (good - but loud - music warning)

Traveling with boules

Lots of players are asking me how I manage flying around all the time with boules in my carry-on luggage.
Here's my advice:

1) take the boules out and put them separately, clearly visible in one of those plastic baskets.

2) tell the TSA inspector, if possible before the basket goes through the machine, that you have 3 ( 6, 9, whatever..) "bocce" balls with you.
If I see the word "bocce" doesn't register, I usually make a quick bowling movement as well.
Once or twice the inspector called in a supervisor, but so far I haven't had a problem.
In the US that is.
In France boules are NOT allowed in carry-on...

Sonoma - NW Regionals

Sunday May 4th:
Here's the last, perfect shot by PJ that clinched the final for Peter Mathis, Peter Ellington & PJ Mallette vs Eric Thiebault, Antonia Chavez & Holly Sammons.
Beautiful day, great atmosphere, great games. More pics to follow soon.



For better quality, go to Youtube and click on "watch in high quality".

Petanque TV online

Petanque Passion is a brand new website that will offer complete championship reports online. Rates are 9.90 Euro per month, or 95.04 Euro per year.

For starters you can watch the 1/4, 1/2 and finals of the 21st International Festival Cannes La Bocca (April 24) for free. Hours of top pétanque, round per round, point per point.

Petanque Passion
(click on the images to see the videos)

Another petanque map

Good to see other countries are following our example.

Here's "Petanque in the UK".



To further develop our USA map we now enclose this leaflet in every order that goes out:

The boules juggler

Arsène (see previous post) is a well known juggler, magician or - simply put - "court jester". In between his numerous and popular appearances at Renaissance Festivals, he also juggles with ... boules.

Lakeway, Texas tournament

Here's a full report from Geo of Lakeway Petanque Players:

The annual Parkfest Petanque tournament in Lakeway City Park was held on Saturday, April 26. Thanks to our resident magician, Monsieur Magikhana, Arsene Dupin, we had 6 doubles teams appear, direct from Paris, France (there is a Paris, Texas but no one cares). In addition 2 teams from Austin appeared and 2 from the Dallas petanque group blasted away on our courts. Competition was fierce. Christophe Chambers of NYC was our official arbiter and was able to keep the bickering and general discord to a minimum. Rules are meant to be arbitrated, right? Well, we managed to finish the tournament with plenty of daylight remaining which left us free to enjoy the music and festivities in the park.
In third place, accepting the bronze medals were Thierry and Guillermo. Arsene and Christophe came away wearing the silver medals. The premier team taking away the gold medals and trophies were Bill Baker of Dallas and Geo Durell of Lakeway. Congratulations to all who won and a heartfelt thanks to all who participated.

Thanks to Geo & Christophe for the pictures!

Update: Christophe also posted a 10 min. video on Youtube . Nice shots!
(pick the high quality version)

Petanque in Palm Desert

Of course I had to visit Gérard & his group in Palm Desert, about 125 mi east of L.A.
After a 2 hr drive through a pretty dry and barren landscape, with thousands of windmills, you arrive in a tropical, green setting, where water seems to be plentiful.


The grounds at Civic Center Park are somewhat unpredictable (sprinklers and concrete gutters here and there) , but nicely varied from soft to hard, and with lots of shade, tables and benches.

Several of their members are chefs, so you can rest assured that their picnics are always top of the line. They were at work when I stopped by, but I got to meet them at the San Pedro Open.
I found a new nickname for Gérard: CanaBOUM, because he misses few shots. And if William (from Hyères) is in charge of the picnic, they'll have to rename the club "La Boule du Dessert".

The club is only 5 yrs old, but growing fast and they are talking to the parks department to have a larger, dedicated area.
Thanks for the warm welcome!

La Boule du Désert website

Petanque license plate

Gérard of Palm Desert gets the first $75.00 store credit for his license plate.
Only 48 states to go!

Petanque vanity plates

Actually a much better idea than my "Petanqe" suggestion.

More on Palm Desert soon!

Hollywood petanque, with a view!

And the next day I went to visit David & Diana up in the hills.
David wrote a detailed description of their court many years ago on Petanque.org
Worth a reread if you didn't see it then. A unique court indeed.
It was too hot to play and try it out. Anyway, catching up on old stories was a lot more important. Always wonderful company.
And here's the view:

Beverly Hills petanque

While in L.A., I had the great honor to join Diedrich Bader & his friends for an evening of petanque at his home boulodrome.

Home of the worlds' largest pocket scorekeeper: a wooden, mega version of the thing some us fiddle with in our pockets, stands tall - 6 ft long -, with large wheels and tiny spotlights around the numbers. A beauty.


Needless to say, Diedrich (who recently starred in Meet the Spartans) & his buddies are unbeatable in the banter department, but there's no joking around when it comes to skillful pointing. They've been playing for years. I almost felt like a novice.

The "inner sanctum" holds a collection of boules & accessories worthy of a museum and is home to the cherished Cup the teams vie for at their annual Bastille Day tournament.




Who won the game? I don't remember, but that was not the fault of the scoreboard ;-)

Great folks, memorable evening!

San Pedro Open

What a day: 66 players plus friends and family, gorgeous weather, and the most unbelievable setting.
Besides 12 teams of LAPC who organized the tournament, five teams drove in from Oakhurst, two each from San Diego and Palm Desert, and one from Fresno.

The final game was one of those wonderful combinations of ages and nationalities you'll find in few sports: the Nguyen family (father, son & grandson) from San Diego vs George, Felix & Artem from LA.

The best way to get a feel for the atmosphere is to watch for yourself:
Slideshow (4:30min with sound)

Guest of the day was journalist Charlie Schroeder who made a report for NPR's radio show "Only a game", to be aired the week before Bastille Day.

A special word of thanks goes to Steve & Dolores, who came up with the idea of San Pedro and made it happen.

New patterns for Obut ATX

So far, Obut's ATX boules were only available in "plain" and "one circle".
There are now 4 additional patterns.
Some allow for more engraving than others.
Also the leather case has been changed. Looks nice!

Obut ATX

Petanque in prisons?

If you end up in jail in Auckland or Wanganui (New Zealand) you can play petanque!

MP claims prisons like 'country clubs'

Midwest Petanque - June 7 & 8

Get ready for the 3rd edition of the Chicago June tournament!

Here are the details.

Petanque in Las Vegas

A new group has just started, with a.o. Franck Labasse, whom we all know from his days at La Boule NY.

Here's their website:
Las Vegas Petanque

Congratulations!

Petanque in Baton Rouge

The pétanque group at LSU made it in the Daily Reveille, the university paper.
Good to see they're growing!

Students celebrate French culture through pétanque

Latest news from L.A.

There's nothing like a little nap in the shade before a game.

LAPC is getting ready for the San Pedro Open. A great newsletter, as usual:

LAPC Reporter 03/2008

See y'all next weekend!

Pre-Mondial Ricard, Quebec August 15-17

A big splash! This will no doubt be the largest tournament ever held on the American continent.

Roger Roy, organizer and passionate player had told us at the NY Open that he was working on it, and everything is now in place. Inspired by "Le Mondial La Marseillaise": open to anyone, from beginners to world class players, in a festival atmosphere, in the heart of the city. He motivated local authorities, sponsors, restaurants, and - knowing him - the organization will be tops.
Although the official FIPJP statistics indicate Canada had 2268 members (2006) it is fair to say that the Province of Quebec alone, with around 50 clubs must have many more players. We ship boules to Canada all the time.

A purse of Can$ 15,000 + 100 % of registration fees definitely sounds like a good reason to go spend a weekend in Quebec City, which is also celebrating its 400 birthday this year. Pétanque ànd party time!
All you have to do at this stage is register your team. Payment to be made on arrival.

Contact:
Roger Roy, Organizer
Phone: (01)(418) 651-1500
E-mail: ricardroy@videotron.ca

Tournament website (in French)
The English version (PDF file)

Parc Ferland (tournament location) on Google maps
Quebec Tourist Information (English)

Update 4/15/08: this offer no longer applies:
Very important - a few slots are still available:
The organizers will contribute up to a maximum of $900 per team for the transportation expenses of foreign teams (comprised of 3 foreign players). Offered on a first come, first served basis, to max. 10 teams. Sign up now!

New warranty policy on boules

We sometimes get calls from people who just got a brand new set of boules from us and - guess what - they lost one or even more than one game. Life is not fair! It can be devastating.
Therefore we now give an unconditional warranty: "You lose, you get your money back".
Click on the certificate for details.

National Mens Doubles 2008

Juan (mid) & Mo (right) won this years' title in Sarasota over the weekend, organized by Gilles (left) of the Sarasota Petanque Club. Bravo!
Are we proud they're coming to Winston-Salem on May 17!

And so is Khalid, previously from La Boule NY, who now lives in Charlotte. He was selected for the US National team in Grenoble in 2006.
There will be some serious petanque. Now where are all the Carolina players? We do need you to sign up by April 30 so we can get organized.

Boules on the riverside

Our friend Jerry reports about taking his boules from the US to France (yes, as in "coals to Newcastle") to christen them while on holiday.
I love the last paragraph, and - indeed - once we have enough players over here, I'll be the first to guide one such trip!
Thanks Jerry, for the exquisite images.

My wife and I completed a canal boat trip through Alsace & Loraine, on the Marguerite. There were a number of opportunities (sometimes ending late enough to require use of a flashlight) to play Petanque (notice the glasses of Pastis in some of the photos). A number of our traveling companions became very interested in the game; yes I took three boules with me to christen them in France. A Petanque court has even been installed in the mooring park at the foot of the boat-lift incline on the Rhine-Marne Canal as seen in the background of one of the photos.
Maybe you could organize a trip through France featuring “Petanque Courts of France”; it’s a beautiful country, the people there are delightfully friendly and the food & wine are superb.

Mini piste in Austin

Everbody in US pétanque circles knows Christophe of La Boule NY. Well, right now he's in Austin, TX , and urgently needed an area to train. He calls it "Piste off". But he isn't.
As people say: size is not important (for good players ;-).

Hey Guys—
Here are some pics of my latest endeavor, my practice mini piste. I used DG (Decomposed Granite) for the material, & it drains perfectly. The actual dimensions are 28' long by 5.5' wide.
I just threw the first boules this afternoon and it works exactly the way dirt should work!
Now maybe I will learn how to play this friggin' game...
—Xtof

Kabul boules - update

The boules have arrived, so has the French contingent, and they are playing everyday!

I'm so happy that we could help them out fast. I guess the French visitors were surprised that the balls came all the way from America ;-).

Good luck, guys!

Teaching in New Orleans

Our friends from LSU were active again, teaching petanque to kids at the Ecole Bilingue at Calhoun Street, at the annual Fête Française on March 8.

Nice banner!

Petanque in the US press

When I mentioned the Sun-Sentinel article last month, I had only seen the online version. A friend just mailed me the original and now I realize it was almost 2 full size pages of the weekend edition.

Thanks to the reporter, Thomas Monnay and the editor are certainly in order. With a circulation of abt 340,000 it's the 37th largest paper in the country.

As usual, when I see figures, I like to put them in perspective, so on the right is the list of the 100 largest US dailies, with a yellow highlight for those that carried a major article about petanque in the past 2 years. Only 91 more to go ;-)


Please check if I missed some. And if you have a copy of an old article lying around, please send it to us to scan, and we'll send it back.

Boules for Kabul

The other day we got a call from an officer in Afghanistan. Originally from GA, now posted in one of the camps there, he wanted boules urgently because they're expecting French colleagues and would like to challenge them to a couple of games.
They're on their way, and we hope it will provide them hours of entertainment. They need - and deserve it !

Scoreboards

Tom from Sonoma asked to see the PA Open scoreboard again. Indeed, it's already more than 2 years ago.
We're still waiting for other tournaments to copy this unique idea!

Petanque in Paris

Gridskipper, the urban travel guide, recently ran a short article about pétanque clubs in Paris.
With pictures and a map!

Gridskipper - 7 Nov 2007

Winter training

Talk about dedication.
Oshrat & Sadie, with moral support from Nadège, were warming up for the season at Pit Stop in Brooklyn this weekend.

Actually, they hardly stopped this winter. The 3 dark pictures are from November, in Esperance (how appropriate) - in upstate NY - at 18° below zero.
"We call it HOBO petanque because we have to layer up using random clothes...and warm our hands...and our boules... by the fire :)" .
Trust me, they'll be dressed very differently at the Bar Tabac tournament - on Sunday July 13 this year.

Pastis, keep it light!

So true: in the (still) few places where you can get pastis in the US, bartenders are often unfamiliar with the ratios and pour the liquor as if it were lemonade. Topping it up with ice, sometimes a drop of water.

LA Times Magazine caught on this weekend and sets the record straight in this article, "How to pour a Proper Ricard".
It mentions that ice should always be last, but not the reason: if you put ice first, the liquor may coagulate.