Club President to Play in National Doubles - Boca Raton, FL

NATIONAL DOUBLES (BOCA RATON, FL) - Our own club President, Joe Zajac, has been teamed up with Marieke Rolland (wife of John Rolland, FPUSA President) to play doublettes on April 2nd and 3rd down in Boca Raton, Florida.

Joe shall represent the Michigan Petanque Club in the Doubles Tournament and hopefully the two will take top prize. Marieke is an excellent petanque shooter, so Joe shall shine as the pointer in the event.

Boca Petanque 2000 piste located at 16700 Jog Road, Delray Beach, Florida 33446

SOON: Moving Outside to Royal Oak Piste

As the weather gets warmer, and the inside of the Bordine boulodrome gets very warm, our club will begin its plans to both clean-up the inside of the boulodrome for Bordine Nursery to use as its summer-stock greenhouse, and also to groom and prep our piste in Royal Oak for club play.

To this purpose, we'd like to organize a few of our members so we can work together to pack-up Joe's tables, chairs, banners and rakes in his truck. I'm not saying it will be this week, or even the next, but it'll be soon.

As for Royal Oak -- the ground there may need some weeds to be poisoned, some raking, and some grooming to get us ready for outdoor petanque play. There is a picnic table at the site, but I'm planning to build/buy a 2nd one, and we'll think about expansion.

Please keep in touch on this blog and the website (or by phone with Joe and me) as to when we'll be moving outdoors.

VICTORY FOR PALAZZO DI BOCCE

Tony Battaglia, victorious, holds aloft the Battle of the Boules cup after team Palazzo di Bocce won nine out of nine games of International Rules Bocce and five of sixteen games of International Rules Petanque against the Michigan Petanque Club. More information and photos will be posted on the Michigan Petanque Club's website:

WWW.MICHIGANPETANQUE.COM

Let Them Eat Cake

a Michigan Petanque Club member (whose name shall remain anonymous) enjoyed a heaping helping of dessert at the Palazzo di Bocce - just before the Bocce competition.

President Zajac holding the Battle of the Boules Cup

President Zajac holds the Battle of the Boules Trophy at the Bordine Boulodrome. I can tell he is very eager to hold on to it, having practiced playing Bocce at the Palazzo di Bocce numerous times this month.

Daniel Points - Master Bouler

Club Member Daniel points his boules expertly. We're lucky to have him in the club. No doubt his grandfather, Sebastien, has trained him well. The Michigan Petanque Club needs more players like Daniel. [click photo to enlarge]

Battle of the Boules Approaches

One week until the Battle of the Boules tournament. Club members are urged to roll grapefruit along their hallway carpets to practice for Bocce. (That is, if their hallways are 50 feet long!)

Instructing the Troops

President Zajac instructs the troops in the finer points of Bocce play. Also, the club members are urged to get 12 hours of sleep on Friday evening, and drink lots of water to stay hydrated.

Four Pistes - 24 Players

Twenty-four players are sorted into 4 games of Tripletts... Team mascot "Marley" looks on to ensure everything is done correctly.

Team Z Obut faced off against Team LaChance Integrale

Michigan Petanque Sports Central News Agency (MPSCNA) 11-MAR-2005

Last night was yet another spirited evening of hard hitting, tight pointing Petanque out at the Bordine's Bouledrome. Team Z Obut faced off against Team LaChance Integrale in the midst their ninth Best of Nine series.

A couple of weeks ago, the MPSCNA reporters thought they would (finally) be able to report a victory for Joe Zajac's Team Z Obut in a Best of Nine series. It was Zajac's eighth attempt against Monsieur Chance's heretofore unstoppable Team LaChance Integrale. They entered that evening 3 games to 2 in favor of LaChance, and Zajac assembled commanding leads 11-1 and 12-2 during the first two games, only to see those leads evaporate in stunning losses. Our reporting staff was so shell shocked at the time, even depressed because of our wish to finally report a victory for Team Z, that we could not bring ourselves to report Team Z's stunning defeat. (We admit that we are running out of creative ways of reporting LaChance victories, the winning streak has been so long.) So the eight Best of Nine ended 5 games to 2, as usual in favor of Team LaChance Integrale. That evening did not end there though, and Team Z rallied to win the next two games, setting the stage for last night's match.

Team Z entered the Bouledrome up 2 games to 0 versus LaChance in this Ninth Best of Nine. Mr. Chance entered the match clearly nervous, nervousness which was heightened when Team Z leapt out of the gates to a 7-0 lead in the first round. But we have often witnessed the frailty of those leads, and Mr. Chance came back to win the first round 13-11. Team Z again leapt to an 8-1 lead in the second game, a deficit this time that LaChance could not surmount, owing to brilliant pointing and textbook carreaus from Team Z, and the round ended 11-13 in Team Z's favor. The Best of Nine result at that point was 3 games for Zajac, 1 game for Chance.

The next two rounds were hard fought, seasawing up and down in the point count. Shots being fired up to four times in a round. There were numerous back to back biberons (when, on a point, the bouchon is kissing the boule). Numerous blasts sent the bouchon flying out of play. And when the dust settled, LaChance had scored two 13-11 victories, leaving this Best of Nine standing in a cliff hanger at 3 games to 3. All four games in this exciting evening of play ended in 11-13 decisions, very close play indeed.

Michigan Petanque Sports Central News believes that it is entirely possible that a Team Z Best of Nine victory might be reported in the course of the next few reports. Petanque fans - stay tuned!

(MPSCNA, in light of the unbroken string of victories for Team Integrale, is considering officially endorsing INTEGRALE as the brand to recommend for Midwest Petanquers. A decision on this endorsement is likely to be made in the next couple of weeks.)

BATTLE OF THE BOULES TROPHY

VP Jeff holds aloft the Battle of the Boules Trophy Cup. Hopefully this won't be the last time (this year) the Michigan Petanque Club holds the cup - as the Battle of the Boules competition approaches (March 20th).