Petanque in McAllen, TX

Some time ago we got an order in from Jerry, a "winter Texan" in Mission, TX who'd just discovered pétanque and was looking for an adequate place to play. Unlike many RV parks, all the roads in his are completely asphalted. Great for skateboarding (which he doesn't), lousy for pétanque.

A week later Gerald, a more experienced player from McAllen, TX called with some technical questions about terrains. With Google maps it took just seconds, while on the phone, to realize that those two could get together, and here is the result.
They met on a jogging trail in one of McAllen's public parks. Excellent surface, some bystanders asking questions - even joining in - and, judging by the smiles, everyone having a good time.

Thanks to Gerald for sharing his game experience, and to Jerry (meanwhile back up North, still spreading the word) for the photos.

Petanque 100 events upcoming

Alliance Francaise Salutes Pétanque in America
Southbury, CT
The public is invited to participate in a pétanque tournament and to learn about the game on Sunday June 3rd, from noon to 4 pm. A maximum of 32 participants will play on two courts. Reserve a spot by May 27th.
Prizes to the winning team. Wear comfortable clothing and bring your set of boules if possible. To participate bring something to eat or drink and contribute $5 (members), $10 (non-members).
For details and directions contact Jean-Marie & Marda at autrans74@gmail.com or 203-262-1320 before May 27th.

Alliance Francaise First Tournament & Picnic
Grand Rapids, MI
Sunday June 10 from 3 to 6pm
Bring your own picnic lunch and beverage and blanket or chair. Deck seating and grill also on site. Two or three-person teams play for prizes. A traditional glass of pastis will be served to kick off the event and wine served during play.
$10 per member or guest.
This is at a private residence with enough room for two concurrent games.
Call Gary Morrison at 616-975-0864 for futher info and to reserve.

Petanque 100 in Louisville, KY

A celebration in Louisville as well last weekend, where Mark & his friends of Pétanque Louisville got together with players of the Alliance Francaise.

Petanque 100 in Charleston, SC

Our friends in Charleston know how to party.
If you say "celebrate", they "celebrate"!

Thanks for the great pictures they sent for the Petanque 100 album.

Anyone else wants to print a 1907-2007 poster, you can download it here.

Petanque 100 - Philly, June 10

Jeunes Amis of the Alliance Française in Philadelphia is hosting a Petanque 100 Picnic in Fairmont Park Sat June 10, from 12 to 4pm.
World famous shooter Loi, who lives in Philly, and myself will be there to help out, teach, and make sure no one leaves the park without being hooked to the game.
There will be boules galore. Bring your own food and drinks.
Exact location on the Petanque in the USA map.

Contact info to follow soon.

Update 05/23: Mamary will join too. Loi & Mamary were part of the winning team in Brooklyn last year. And we hear players from NY will join as well!

Midwest Open - Chicago, June 2

Get ready for the 2nd Midwest Open!
After a rainy but successful first edition in 2006, this year will be bigger, and in an exquisite location: Grant Park, downtown Chicago.

Even if you lose, you can just look around and say: "Wow, at least I got to play here!"

Chicago Petanque Club - complete information.

Portland Petanque Club in action

Portland Petanque Club is gearing up full steam for the World Championship Qualifier Tournament on July 21 & 22.
First they topped up part of their terrain with fresh crushed rock and grit. With lots of input from club members.


Then they had a tree planting day, with tremendous help from the Portland Parks & Recreations Bureau. There will be shade at PPC in the future.
By the way, the lawn bowling facilities which PPC partially shares with the Portland Lawn Bowling Club were originally constructed in 1945!
PPC was founded only in 2001, but they're developing very fast, with now around 60 members.

Sonoma, CA - Newcomer Tournament

Yesterday was the doubles tournament for "newcomers": a club member + a beginner who has followed the weekly training sessions.
On the left, the senior team - Byron (86) & Vaughn (91) - taking a break, and on the right the winners:
Antonia (who was on the US Team in Grenoble last year) and newcomer Jan (you didn't think you'd get their ages as well - did you?).

Once again: open clinics for newcomers, a great idea.
See our post of May 2nd.

Petanque on grass?

I have never been an advocate of playing petanque on grass, and it ticks me off when vendors advertise it as such - as on this picture. Tall grass to boot. You can't see the target ball, and the boules bounce around like on a mattress. It's misleading for new players.

But... there's grass and grass. This weekend the French Alliance here in Greensboro held a picnic and we ended up playing for a couple of hours on a patch of hard, grassy soil in City Lake Park in Jamestown.
It worked well and several people new to the game thoroughly enjoyed it.
Bottom line: if it looks bad as a lawn, it's good for pétanque!
Well, putting greens would work too, but you'll probably be banned for life from the golf club if you tried.

Good news for Canada & Mexico

Thanks to the new US Postal Service rate structure, we can now ship by Priority Mail to Canada & Mexico at a flat rate of $23, up to 20lbs or 9kg.
That's up to 3 sets of competition boules or any combination of max. 12 leisure boules.

And to any other country worldwide at $37.

Long live the "flat rate" boxes!
I think the Postmaster General deserves a set of boules.

PS: If we could only get our 800 # to work in Canada. We've been telling AT&T to get it right for months now...

Petanque in Toronto

Some people definitely have their priorities straight!
David recently moved from Guernsey to Canada and the first thing he did was to build a terrain in his backyard.

Here are 4 pictures I took during construction of my petanque terrain. It is about 12 x 2.7 metres (I would liked to have gone wider but lackthe space). I used a mechanical tamper to compress the lower layer of limestone tailings, (about 5 inches depth on top of a plastic weed control membrane). Then I tamped another two inches of fine limestone dust, and added a light loose dusting on top.

I will have to dig the end gutters out a bit so that they contain long out-of-bounds boule - an idea I incorporated after seeing an Italian Hotel bocci terrain with similar end gutters.

I used 6 x 6 pressure treated lumber to contain the whole thing. There are 3 layers on the low side of the grade (towards the ravine and the apple trees) and the low side also has pieces of 6 x 6 extending under the terrain to form a crib so hopefully the whole thing will stay in place for many years to come.

The uprights are for floodlighting (all properly cased in conduit and all external "wet environment" wire, junction boxes etc), and the tops of the floodlight posts (about 4'9") are just perfect for your beer!

This is the third terrain I have built over the years but I find that the longer I play, the more I need to learn and practice!

I look forward to Christening the new terrain just as soon as your boules arrive. My other boules will remain in Europe so there is room in my suitcase for normal peoples stuff!

David also volunteers to advise anyone in Canada who wants to build a terrain or start a group.
Let us know, and we'll give you his phone #.

Petanque in Charleston, SC

And the Alliance Française in Charleston will be playing this Sunday as well, in beautiful Hampton Park.
Everyone welcome at 4pm.

They play at least one Sunday per month; this time in honor of Pétanque 100.

The exact location in the park is on the Petanque in the USA Map.

Petanque in Dallas, TX

The North Texas Alliance Française will be holding their First Petanque Tournament this Sunday May 20.
At Glencoe Park# 1 in Dallas.
Register latest at 12 noon.

Open to everyone!
Click on the poster for details and contact numbers.

We have shipped quite a bit of boules to Dallas over the years, and hope this will be the beginning of yet another group on the petanque map.

Great shots

A compilation of some of the best shots - several in slow motion - from a semi-final game at the World Championships in Grenoble, last September.

Petanque Map

I'm plodding plotting along with the map. 33 locations so far.
Many more to go.

Thanks to everyone who sent in kudos for the project.
Feel free to link to the map. Here's the permanent link:

http://petanque.us/map

Petanque in Buffalo, NY

The photos for our Petanque 100 album are starting to come in.
Alliance Française Buffalo sent in this one of a high school tournament they organized recently.
Good idea to have the flag in the background!

Tuesdays in Westchester, NY

Our friends in Westchester started their weekly petanque meets on Tuesday May 1st.
That first day was a bit drizzly, but May 8 was perfect, with 24 players.

If you're N of NY, and want to unwind on a Tuesday evening, go to Peter Pratts Inn for a few games of petanque. May 15 will be "merguez" night!
Ah... pastis, merguez & boules...
When is the next flight?

More details

Petanque in San Pedro, CA

On April 22, LAPC hosted an open tournament alongside the famous Cruise Ship Terminal.
Excellent playing surface, lots of spectators (the passengers who are boarding!), and a great opportunity for the folks of the southern California clubs to get together.
You'll notice the open play, i.e. unmarked courts. Less rigid, more fun. Sometimes requiring a bit of patience, but that gives you time to catch up on stories with your teammates. The glass barrier is to protect from the wind of helicopters landing at the adjacent Catalina Island air ferry. The blimp was covering the event from the air.

Next year I'm going!!

Make sure to click on the pics - they're all hi-res. The group picture will definitely be in our Petanque 100 album.

Thanks to Jan Claire for the report.

King Tenaya Tournament

Oakhurst Petanque Club is about petanque, but also about having fun and maintaining traditions.
Witness their annual King of the Mountains tournament on May 19.

Read all about it here.

Their respect for culture is international so they also hold an annual Oktoberfest Tournament!

Petanque in the USA map

A work in progress: we have started a Google map that - over time - will show all the clubs, informal groups, and spots where one can play.
Anyone is welcome to send us a picture, the address, and a brief description.
Say you have discovered a parking lot with gravel that is not used on weekends, or an abandoned stretch of an athletic track, that is centrally located and ideal for petanque. Let us know. What better way to attract other players to the same spot?
We are filling in day by day with images we have on file, but your help is more than welcome.
Click on the map to see the details. There's also a permanent link to this map on the right.

Anyone in Atlanta, GA?

A message from Donna, in the Grant Park area:

Just returned from Club Med in Punta Cana Dominican Republic -- and in addition to a terrible sunburn --- I returned home with a new found love for Petanque.
If there's not a club in Atlanta, I'd love to (at least try) to get one started.
Contact: donna(at)mindpowerinc.com

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.