A Cool Day for Some Hot Petanque Playing

The second tournament of the Michigan Petanque Club was quite a hot competition in more ways than I expected. The morning chill was in the air as early arrivals tossed their boules about the terrain to get a "feel" for the gravel grip. May I add, Joe levelled the surface beautifully with his Petanque-Rake (Patent-Pending). Only a few hearty souls dared to wear t-shirts, most of us wishing we wore warmer coats. Thierry came by to weigh and size up our boules before making a purchase of a professional set of his own. Purchase them soon Thierry, the snow can fall anytime!

The tournament opened with twelve players: Dan, Gerard, Marcel, and Roland forming Pool-1; Michel, Jeannette, Cyrille, and Joe forming Pool-2; and Camille, Gregory, Jeff, and Don in Pool-3.

For me, my best game was against Don, which had us neck and neck (12/12) to the last end where Don took the 13. Taking a loss isn't exactly considered a "best game" - but the competition was thrilling.

From the first pool, Marcel took 1st place with a clean sweep - 3 victories. Next was Roland, getting 1 victory (plus 17 points) - just squeezing by Dan who also had 1 victory but 13 points.

The second pool had Cyrille with 2 victories (plus 10 points) as lead, with his father, Michel coming second with 2 victories (plus 5 points).

The Third Pool (with yours truly ranking lowest) had Gregory first with 2 victories (plus 8) and Don with 2 victories (plus 7)

With Marcel, Roland, Michel, Cyrille, Gregory, and Don off to further conquests, the "losers" played against the losers to see who was the "ultimate losers"

We divided into two teams of four and three (Eric arrived to play) - so eight boules per team
were tossed (16 boules on the terrain, quite a sight). As it turned out, I was among the losers of the losers, with three games played (and three games LOST!)

The final was played among the champions, the rankings were as follows:

1st Place: Michel (4 victories + 12 points)
2nd Place: Roland (4 victories + 6 points)
3rd Place: Marcel (3 victories + 9 points)
4th Place: Cyrille (2 victories + 33 points)
5th Place: Gregory (2 victories + 26 points)
6th Place: Don (29 points)

Afterwards, we all broke up into teams of 3 vs. 3 and played a final game. I lucked out, getting matched up with Roland (excellent shooter) and Jeannette (excellent pointer) - so they pretty much carried me along as we FANNIED the (nameless) Opposing team...

I would like to add, special thanks to Marcel for the abundant and delicious croissants, and Michel for the generous prizes.

The Club will become soon become official (registered) as sufficient signatures have been collected to send off to the Federation Petanque U.S.A. (FPUSA) We will eventually need to collect dues from members in order to have the Michigan Petanque Club paid up with FPUSA [$10 per for the license, plus possible another $10 for a combined Club registration - we'll work out the numbers later] and a vote will be held on Sunday's usual meeting to select the President of the Club.

...as to the VOTE...

I will not go into the choices of interesting candidates for the position, but would suggest to voting members that we look for a neutral, dedicated, and energetic person for the job.

We're ultimately here to consistently play Petanque among our skilled players; while bringing in new players; with the proposition of entertaining challenges from other Petanque clubs in friendly competition.

Currently, I've been constructing the By-Laws for the Club, and will be forming a draft for members to comment/edit/re-draft upon this Sunday. The By-Laws will of course be subordinate to the rules of FPUSA.

See you on the piste this Sunday. You may need to wear a warm hat.

ALSO: Let's consider a Holiday Party (perhaps at a French Restaurant)

(Photos will follow - shortly).