Players looking for a teammate

Use the comment section below to post messages.

Northern Suburb, "Pretty Boys" Joe and Ken will be representing the Michigan Petanque Club at the Petanque America Open. I'm sure they're determined for a re-match against their home-state team: Detroit Petanque Club.

Don and Jeff are very excited about playing in this Miami Beach event. The location is by-far the best (especially for November).

"We're going to try for the Gold, but if we beat the Michigan Petanque Club, that'll be good enough for us," bragged Jeff Widen, President of the DPC, "heck, we challenged those guys [MPC] to the Mid-West Boule Cup and we beat them 5 out of 5 games straight!"

Website updates & registrations

We added a link to Google Maps so you can see clearly where the courts will be, and some tips for lodging and getting there.
Registrations are coming in, so far from CA, PA, MI, NY, FL and Canada!
Some European players are telling us they are hunting for the best available airfares.
Anyone who has friends from overseas interested, do remind them that a bit of smart shopping in Miami can save them a lot of money and offset at least part of the trip expenses.

Thanks!

It's so nice that even people who can not come to Miami are sending us messages of support. This one from Tammie, in WV:

I unfortuntately will be in Utah during those dates but I just wanted to let you know how excited I was to hear about the tournament in FL, and what a great idea I think it is. I live in a little whitewater rafting community in West Virginia and my friends and I do a lot of petanque playing during these summer evenings! I really wish that I could enter the tournament!!
Good luck!!
Tammie

PA Open Website visits

After a week, we're getting close to 200 visitors per day.
Questions, and tips on how to improve the site, please send them to us!

Categories in the tournament ?

It seems the original text on our site created some confusion and lead people to ask if there will be different levels (beginners, etc..). We have changed the text on the home page, and added another item in FAQ:

Will you have categories, e.g. beginners, advanced, age groups, men/ladies etc..?
No. One big competition. Except for age, it would be impossible or unfair to qualify anyone for any given level category. We also suspect that everyone would then probably sign up as "beginner"!!
One of the beauties of pétanque is that age and strength are irrelevant. Some countries do have separate men and women contests, but... we're in Miami!

That said, remember there will be a 'consolante', where those who got eliminated in the first rounds can continue playing.

Reactions are coming in

The first reactions are coming in.
People are asking about hotels - which we're working on.
Aaron, from Boca Raton, FL says he had a blast in 2003, and is ready to come back.
Chuck, from NJ says: "Cool!"
Blaine, from KS is ready to register
etc.....

Here' s an interesting e-mail exchange with Bob, from Tucson, AZ this afternoon:
Bob:
Thanks for the notice!! I'm planning to be there to observe. . . .
Philippe:
Only observe...? You may very well play better than some who claim to be "advanced" ;-)
Anyway, thanks a lot for letting us know! Maybe we should make a provision for our customers who come to watch without registering to play....
Bob:
I'm a infrequent player. . . here in Tucson once a year at the French Day picnic and some times in France if I can get into a local game. But I do enjoy the sport and would love to play more. . . guess I'll just have to move to France! Whatever you do to help observers have an interesting time would be helpful....

We invite anyone to send us tips to make sure the tournament will be what you expect from it!

Online Registration/Payment - Fast & Safe

Team registration and payment is fast and safe through online payment. You can still fax or mail in your registration form too!

Logo for Petanque America Open Determined

Thanks to the efforts of Mario Olivieri, Joe Zajac and Jeff Widen, the logo design for the 2005 event has been determined.

"We took some of the elements of the beach, the ocean, the palm trees, and of course Petanque, and incorporated it into a unique design that will be immediately recognizable to the participants."

Welcome to the Petanque America Open BLOG site

Welcome to the BLOG-site for the Petanque America Open 2005.

We shall post here all of the latest news, photographs, and updates regarding the tournament.

You can check back for frequent updates regarding the various teams that have registered for the November event down in Miami Beach and the on-going journal of preparations for this huge and fun event.

For basic tournament information, check our main website at:

www.petanque-america-open.com

And if you should have any questions, please send them via e-mail to:

petanqueamericaopen@gmail.com