To give all of us, this side of the Atlantic, a clear picture of the pétanque scene in France right now, Alec Stone Sweet wrote this very, very interesting Letter from France.A.o. he talks about how in 2003, the Minister of Sport declared Pétanque to be a "Sport de Haut Niveau," thus putting it on par with professional sports, how more and more players are playing professionally (unthinkable 10 years ago), how regional and national competitions are set up. If you don't have the time to read the entire 5-page report right now, go at least to page 4 where he describes La Marseillaise, the annual competiton that started this year with 12,960 players!
The picture shows Pascal Milei shooting during the finals of the 2005 national triples championships. There are plenty more great pictures by Martha Lewis annexed to his report.
On behalf of all of us: "Thanks, Alec!" - and we look forward to meet you in Miami.
Photo by Martha Lewis, rights reserved.
1 comment:
Excellent coverage, and letter. I really have a firmer grasp on how things are done "over there"
Post a Comment