La Boule NY - Newsletter

LBNY just published their Spring Newsletter. After a seemingly endless winter, high time for some sunny news!

<--- click on the logo

Austin petanque in the press

Photo credit: Larry Kolvoord/American Statesman

Heart of Texas Petanque Club was featured extensively by the Statesman.
Perfect timing: the first day of spring, and a week before their big tournament.

Statesman - March 20, 2010

Juan from Miami also filed a report about the HOT Open.

Petanque in Laos

Sandra from NY recently traveled around in Laos, and took this picture, a few hours north of Vientiane, the capital.



It underscores once more that one can play petanque anywhere.
Almost daily we get calls from folks wanting to know what size 'rectangle' you need. My answer is always:
"Don't worry about a rectangle. As long as you have an area of at least 12 x 36 ft, you're fine. Bigger? Even better. Round or oval? No problem."

Looking for unique boules?

We got hold of a few of the famous VMS Plot boules, designed by Henri Salvador many years ago.

Jeff in Detroit wrote a story about them in 2007.

By the way, VMS was an acronym for:
Vartan Berbérian, a French- Armenian engineer.
Bernard Marle, founder and owner of Groupe Marle, the world's second largest hip implant manufacturer, in Nogent (Haute-Marne).
Henri Salvador, French-Guyanese crooner extraordinaire, who sang and played petanque until his death at age 91 in 2008.

Salvador had the passion, Berbérian the technique, and Marle the means to come up with these one-of-a-kind boules.

The more I write about them, the more I want to hang on to them!

Only 3 sets left

PS:
In the summer of 2009, Bernard Marle sold 80 % of his company to the famous Washington, DC based Carlyle Group. Carlyle had no interest in the small, side-line boules operation ("What on earth are boules?") and - from what I heard - Obut tried to buy it out, but a management buyout prevailed. Thus MS remains the only truly independent boules manufacturer in France, besides Obut, and the new kid on the block, KTK.

Australia meets Canada in Fernandina Beach

Yesterday we had two surprise teams for our Saturday morning games.
The Pelletiers from Quebec, Canada (driving home from Arcadia FL) and Ben & Robert Dansby from Canberra, Australia.
Ben, who grew up in Lakeland FL but left 30 years ago, is the president of the "Boule Dogs" petanque club down under. He's touring around the US to show his son what America looks like. And Hermel & Renelle are amongst the thousands of Canadians who spend the winter in Florida. They discovered that Amelia Island is so close to I-95 that they made a stop and... decided to spend the weekend here.
Different continents, different backgrounds, but we (incl. the 26 local Amelia Island players) all had a ball together!

Paris up close

If you want to visit Paris without leaving your seat, this is it:

Paris 26 Gigapixels

Move around, zoom in & out, and discover 20 of the most beautiful monuments.
The 2346 photos were shot from the St Sulpice tower and then stitched together.

I had no idea there was a place with so many chimneys per sqm.

With a bit of cruising I found some Parisians doing what they do best: sitting on a terrace for lunch.

Thanks to Ed in Encinitas.

Anthony Bourdain being "had for breakfast" ...

The Travel Channel's wandering chef gets creamed by the natives:



Watch in HD (720) and full screen! So crisp you can almost smell the weeds he talks about.

Note to Anthony: come and train with us stateside, so next time you'll be kicking their "derrières"!

Thanks to Joe in Detroit.

Update
When I watched this clip, the place looked extremely familiar. Then again, petanque next to a greenhouse behind a building is a common sight all over Provence. But - stubborn - I dug into my old photos from 2001 (when cameras were 1 megapixel) and... bingo!
It was filmed at Café-Relais de la Galine, about a mile east of St Rémy de Provence. La Galine is a local institution, where retired men (and the unemployed) play every day of the week. The 4 or 5 greenhouses allow for winter play. Most games involve (small amounts of) French Francs Euros to keep the tension - and the bar - going. Hence the observation of the lady is right on the money. Serious business...



Update # 2
I could have saved myself a lot of digging by just Googling "Anthony Bourdain" & Provence!!
Thus I found the complete episode of his visit to St Rémy, where they eat at La Galine (indeed) ànd more footage about pétanque (and Euros..)
The pétanque scene starts at 5:50.

Eugene, Oregon petanque on News16

Short but good!

Chanel petanque set

8 boules & one target ball in a wicker basket.
For only $ 2,800!

Cannon boules

A Dutch commercial for William Lawson Scotch.
Very funny!



Thanks to Aoyama Petanque.

Int'l NYPC Open - June 19 & 20

This will be BIG!!

New York Petanque Club is inviting everyone for a summer tournament under the century-old oak trees of Prospect Park in Brooklyn.
Teams of 3 players. Limited to 64 teams.
Registration: $65 per player.

Total prize purse: $7,000 - with $3,000 to first place.

No wonder they already have teams from Belgium, Canada, France and Spain signed up.

Click on the flyer for tournament details, registration form, and lodging options ----->

Palm Desert Spring Tournament - April 24 & 25

Triples tournament.
Entry fee: $60 per team

<---- click on the banner for all info and registration.

Fernandina Beach tournament

Last weekend we had a wonderful local tournament right here on the riverfront.

14 triplet teams with a wide variety of names, from Screwboules to Meatboules, not to forget the Big Kahunas and the local police team, Beach Boules. Ages ranging from 12 to 72.

Though mainly meant for islanders, we were honored with the presence of "Boules de Leon" from St Augustine, and "Carolina Petanque" all the way from Lexington, NC.

"Fun" was the slogan for the day and yes, fun was had by all, notwithstanding the constant breeze. We started at 9 am. Five random games for each team, with rankings on games won, and point spread. Simple, straightforward and by 4 pm we were at O'Kanes - the local Irish Pub - for Saturday evening quarterbacking.

We are truly blessed by the location, and the fact that players contribute their tools of the trade.

"Pete da Meat" brought his 16' catering trailer with cool drinks and barbecue.
Jeff provided his unique solar powered sound system so Gary, the tournament director, had no problems getting his message across, and good music was plentiful.



Many more pictures on the Carolina Petanque blog (the winners).

And below a video report by our friends from SearchAmelia, who placed a well deserved second.

Tour of Florida

Carolina pétanque "ambassadeurs extraordinaires" Gary & Shirley have been hopping from one pétanque club or RV resort to the next throughout Florida, while NC was snowed under several times.
Some resorts have strange "local" rules that take time to get used to, but as Gary points out: "Do as the Romans do..."
Here you see Shirley meeting with "the locals", many of whom are actually from far away themselves, like the northern Midwest and Canada.

Plenty of pictures and stories about their discoveries on the Carolina Petanque blog.

Indoor petanque

Spring is in the air, but for those of you who still cannot venture outdoors, or are below the equator, remember the indoor boules are a great way to train.
We brought in a lot of them by ocean freight, allowing us to offer them cheaper than what they're selling for in France.
Actually a lot of the items we sell are less expensive than in Europe. Blame it on the Euro vs US$ exchange, and our commitment to promote this wonderful game.

Of course, you can also purchase a Louis Vuitton version, at $ 2,460!

Portland Bouligans on a roll!

With Facebook, Flickr, and the like, it has become so easy to see who's playing where - and when - that blogging has become almost obsolete!

Look at the Bouligans today, in Portland , Oregon.

Petanque & curling

Every 4 years, when the Olympic Winter Games are on, you hear some people shouting: "That's not a sport!" Passionate curlers get offended, and here we go again...

First of all, that's why they call it the Olympic Games, and not Sports.

"7 reasons why curling is not a sport" - HuffingtonPost

NY Post reporters at least got off their lazy asses chairs, made an effort to try it out for themselves and filed this report:

Much the same can be said about pétanque. Don't judge until you give it a shot first. Personally I don't care whether you call it a sport or a game. As long as we're having fun!

There's no doubt curling & petanque (ànd bocce, lawn bowling & shuffleboard) have a lot in common. The purpose in itself, the way you score, and especially the fact you can knock the other team out. Very different from pin bowling, where you have no way of interfering with your opponent, thus no room for tactics.

What I did not realize is how expensive curling equipment is! Browsing around at Steve's Curling Supplies, I discovered that a new competition curling stone (38 to 44lbs) costs $ 450, and you need 16 for a game, that's $7,200. No wonder they also offer used ones at $3,800 for a set. Brushes run anywhere from $42 to $189. Shoes from $99 to $265. And then come the various accessories.

So if the argument is "which is the cheaper sport game?", petanque wins hands down.

And we need to get more newspapers / TV stations to visit petanque clubs!

Getting back to "normal"...

I think everyone present agreed that the Open was a "blast", in more ways than one.

It's just been soooo busy ever since. Paying suppliers, cleaning up, saying farewell to players who decided to stay a couple extra days, catching up on last week's orders, etc...

I could go on and on, but I think this interview with our guest of honor, Jacques Pépin, depicts the convivial atmosphere we enjoyed better than anything:

Play area - part 2

Yesterday a nifty piece of equipment was brought in to spread a mix of crushed limestone and fine gravel.
It's called a "top dresser". Commonly used at golf courses, it worked great for this application!



We had a lot of rain most of the afternoon (good timing to settle all the limestone) but the forecast for the weekend is excellent.

Some of the players have arrived: Andre & Marjorie from Maine, Gary & Shirley from NC and the Lich family from VA.

Some thirty players are arriving tomorrow, and the balance on Friday.

Play area getting ready

Today the maintenance department of Fernandina Beach started preparing the play area for 45 courts. They have been very co-operative and I am extremely grateful for their support.
The area had a layer of anywhere between 1 and 4 inches of coarse limestone rock (#57). Although one can theoretically play on any surface, it would have been quite frustrating, especially for beginners. At first we thought of covering it up with finer stuff, but the cavities in between the 57 are such that hundreds of tons would have simply disappeared.
That left only one solution: scrape up the rock down to plain dirt. And then bring is crushed limestone.
Today was scraping day. With more than adequate equipment!

Vincent Canto 1959-2009

In 2007, I noted that multiple boules orders were going to the same area in Arizona. And I got in touch with Vincent Canto, the 'culprit' who replied:

"I am originally from Lyon, France. I moved to Jerome, AZ (350 people) in 84"s and we have a strong fan club of Petanque players. Our teams are ready to compete with any body out there. Any balls? Vincent"

We emailed back & forth a couple of times, and the last news I got was in March 2009:
"By the way. We are currently in Merida Mexico and found a huge club here that plays Petanque. We will continue to play and spread the word."

He and his wife Stephanie had hooked up with our friends in Yucatan!


But the happiness was short lived. In May, I heard from Bill in Jerome ...

Vincent Canto was born to a Spanish father and a French mother in Toulouse, France. He grew up in Lyon where he trained as a machinist and chef. His parents introduced him to petanque at an early age and became very skilled. At the age of 18 he started on quite a trek around the world speaking fluent in Spanish, French and English. First he spent two years in Mexico then England, Canada and Martinique. He arrived in Jerome, Arizona and spent the next 23 years, where he met and married Stephanie. Ultimately, they settled in Merida, Yucatan, Mexico where he died suddenly after playing petanque. He introduced petanque to countless friends in the places he lived.
The stronghold of players is in Jerome, Arizona where play begins on Saturday or Sunday or both each week at 2 p.m. Jerome sits on the side of a mountain, and petanque is played on the flattest part of town which is the old cemetery parking area. The 360 degree scenic view of the mountains, forest and the town are fantastic. It is common to play until dark. Now three generations play on a regular basis. He would look out his window towards the old cemetery and if a game was being played he would rush right over and play or officiate. Vincent was instrumental in starting petanque in central Arizona and we all miss him.

Stephanie went to France to meet his family - for the first time. A trip they had planned to do together.
Immediately the clubs both in Merida - where his brief presence had left a lasting impression - and Jerome decided to hold their next tournament in honor of Vincent.
Torneo Vincent Canto (on Youtube)

And the players in Jerome pledged to send a delegation to the Open: Bill & Manuela, Anthony & Cindy, Felix & Brenda, Ron, and Stephanie Canto herself.
We will welcome them with open arms, and we will use this opportunity to award the first...

Vincent Canto Award

to someone who - like Vincent -, in a quiet, friendly, unassuming yet unflagging fashion, has been promoting petanque in the USA.

I'd like to end this post on a humorous note. In an email some time ago, Ron expressed his concern about playing in Florida:
Since we live on a hillside in Jerome AZ, flat areas are as rare as hairs on a frog's ass. Playing in an open tournament in an area where you can't buy a hill sounds somewhat intriguing!

Tournament theme song

As we're getting closer, I want to make sure we do not forget about my pledge in January, that this song would be the theme song of the next tournament.
Rhythm, balls, ocean, friendly ambiance, good food and laughter:

Tournament logo & mascot

Here's the final version of the tournament logo.

Many, many thanks to Bradbury Mattes, who's flying in from West Chester, PA to participate in the tournament, but is also a fine artist.
After receiving his B. A. from Marlboro College, Vermont, he was classically trained at the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts. Accomplished in many media, including figure sculpture, abstract metal sculpture, watercolor, collage and charcoal drawing, he has primarily focused on etching and oil painting in his current work. His recent exhibitions include Immaculata, Audubon, Squirrel Gallery, Sunset Hill Gallery, Historic Sugartown and many more.

He included two important symbols of Amelia Island, the lighthouse and the shrimp, who could be any age or sex ànd playful, akin to folks who like pétanque.

Now we had to came up with a name for the creature. Preferably genderless. Several suggestions came in. Two almost identical!
Dave Barry (who came in 2003 and 2005, but is very busy with his book tour right now) proposed "Crusty" (as in 'crustacean').
Around the same time Stan Russo (part of the Richmond VA delegation) came up with "Crusty Carreau" which adds a subtle French + pétanque touch.
A "carreau" is the perfect shot, when you knock out an opponent's ball ànd take its spot in the process.

Crusty Carreau is expecting y'all next week!

Thanks to all who submitted logos and name tips. This was the perfect example of a cooperative effort by people who have never met, but share the same passion.

Israel launches a league for seniors

(IsraelNN.com) The Ministry for Pensioners' Affairs has decided to introduce a new sport to Israel, and embrace it for the elderly. The ministry has adopted and agreed to support and promote the first-ever national Pétanque league. INN TV joined the finals and spoke with the organizers and participants.

An excellent 2:47 video clip, highlighting all the positive aspect of the game: