Petanque in Virginia

Hans in Toano, just W of Williamsburg recently decided to start a petanque group from scratch, all by himself. He opened a Meetup page to attract players and announce the first petanque party on Sunday June 27. At Upper County Park in Toano. Great idea. Reactions are coming in.

The Boulefrogs from Richmond have been alerted and may well drive over to give him a hand. After all, Richard did the same thing in Church Hill 5 years ago.

Hampton Roads Petanque Club

Petanque in Virginia

Richmond is right off I-95 on the way from NY, so I just hàd to stop and visit our friends the "Boulefrogs" in the historic Church Hill district. Just minutes from the highway.

It all started when Richard Taranto, a longstanding member of NCCP - the Washington club - moved there and suddenly found himself with no one else to play. Yet most streets have back alleys with crushed stone, all ideally suited for petanque! So he put an ad in the local community paper in the spring of 2005 and 12 people - all without any real petanque experience - showed up. Nine of those twelve are still members today, and almost thirty more have joined since.
The Parks & Recreation Dept saw the success and supported them with temporary courts in Chimborazo Park. They can now run 5 games at a time, but soon the entire park will be renovated and petanque will be a major ingredient in the new layout.
Very interesting is that most players live in walking distance from the courts. It is wonderful to see them arriving from different corners, each with their set of boules. Beautiful streets, by the way, with pearls of 19th century architecture.

They are thinking of a tournament in the fall. Plenty of alleys in the area to handle 10 or more games. If they do, there will definitely be a Carolina delegation!

Richmond Times-Dispatch slideshow

Richmond pétanque in the news

And here's an article from Richmond, VA about the "Boulefrogs".
Like in Toledo, accompanied by a slideshow to put readers in the mood.

Good to see papers are using more photos and sound. It's so much better to convey the game's atmosphere. The article describes very well what a fun, heterogeneous group this is and how they're growing.

Let's play petanque - Aug 3
Slideshow

Petanque 100 in Richmond, VA

A cheerful report from Mark in VA!

In Richmond, Viriginia, Les Boulefrogs of Church Hill commemorated the 100th anniversary of Petanque with a public demonstration of the game and picnic at the City's annual "It Starts in Parks" celebration. The petanque area was one of the most popular areas during the day's activities. The club members introduced the game to many interested people of all ages and walks of life. Even the firemen-EMT's got "fired up" about petanque and just might start coming to some of the club's twice-weekly games!

Petanque in Richmond, VA

Les Boulefrogs of Church Hill Petanque Club was formed in the spring of 2005 with an initial membership of twelve enthusiastic members.
They now number twenty-five and keep growing.
At first they played on local gravel-covered alleys until Richmond Parks and Recreation supported them in building two temporary courts in Chimborazo Playground in the fall of 2006. The Playground is scheduled for a complete renovation in the near future and they plan to have at least four new courts as the centerpiece of the playground.

Playing times: Saturday at 1:00pm & Thursday at 6:00pm

Chimborazo Playground on Google maps

For more information contact Richard Taranto, President at rktaranto@earthlink.net , or call 804-648-3939.

Lake Anna teams, boules & blues

Who can forget the musical quartet from Lake Anna, Virginia?
Glen (better known as 'Smiley' for obvious reasons), Gary, Randy and Tim discovered petanque only this spring while in the French Caribbean and got hooked right away. Now going by the name "Team Dockside" they also surprised us with an impromptu guitar & harmonica performance at Friday night's dinner.
This picture does not do them justice because for once they are not smiling - but it's the only one we have so far.
They still have a bit of fine tuning to do in the petanque department, but when it comes to close harmony, rythm, major 7 and augmented 9 chords, they were the outright champions of the Open. Only Smiley, the bass player, couldn't bring his 'tool of the trade' but we'll make it a point to set him up with a bass next time around.
Whenever they hold a tournament in Lake Anna, we're going!