With 100+ degrees Outside in the Midwest - it's HOT BOULES weather

CONCOURS DE PETANQUE - August 20th - Minneapolis

Concours de Petanque
AUGUST 20 2006
OPEN
CHAMPIONSHIP OF THE NORTH
DOUBLES MIXED
CASH PURSE
ENTRY FEE $5
PLAY STARTS AT 10AM
BELTRAMI PARK,MINNEAPOLIS
TO ENTER
EMAIL mplspetanque@yahoo.com
call Don Holzschuh 612-229-6353 (leave Message)

Hot Hot Hot Days of Petanque in Detroit

Lots of new faces and plenty of old familiar ones too. Jeff and Wil returned to play, along with new player Wayne M. - TonyT; Mike B.; James & Cheryl; Joe; Lindsey; Doug; Willie & Nate - all brave souls came out to Campus Martius Park despite the heat and played great boule games.

100 Degrees at Campus Martius Park - But the Tents Saved Us!

It was a true steamy day at Campus Martius Park, but the many tents set up for a previous event provided a comfortably cooler canopy under which to play.

Golden Pig Trophy Presented to Club

For smaller club tournaments, the Cochon d'or will be presented for the victor's signature. The Golden Pig trophy is made entirely of wood, and makes for a memorable showpiece for any petanque club. I'm making one for the Michigan Petanque Club too.

Cochon d'or Tournament - Saturday - Campus Martius Park

Depending upon the people attending, this will either be a singles or a doubles tournament. We shall use the same format as last week which should allow late-comers to also participate.

Paris Plages - 20 July to 20 August

For a few years, the city of Paris has been converting the quays (lowered walks along the Seine) into an urban beach (with a swimming pool; lounges for tanning; misting "trees"; music; performance art; rockwall climbing; volley ball - and of course PETANQUE courts).

This year, from July 20th to August 20th, there will be DOUBLE the fun with a beach on both the Left and Right (Gauche/Droit) banks of the Seine.

If you consult the map (click on it to enlarge) you'll see that this year's petanque is being played day & night near the Pont Louis Philippe (Rive Droite).

Michigan Petanque's very own Ken C., will soon be relocating down to Huntsville, Alabama. We sure will miss him and especially his reports on his many victories in his "Best Of's" against Joe Z.

But as Alabama is still very much in the Midwest Region, I'm sure Ken will form a strong and competitive club.

Just make sure you are the one keeping score Ken...

Let's Do It Again Next Saturday !

With the on-the-fly singles tournament going so well this past Saturday, we've decided to do it again next Saturday (July 29th) beginning at around 11:30 a.m.

As we've already seen, even if you show up late, we can still squeeze you into the tournament using this hyrid format.

Of course, if you can show up at 1100 a.m. then it'll be much easier to set-up the initial matches, but no worries.


See you there! This time, a trophy!

Singles Tournament at Campus Martius Park a Success

Saturday's Singles Tournament at Campus Martius Park went very smoothly. The tournament began at around 11:30 a.m. with 7 competitors. I assembled the matches (who-plays-whom) and we began playing. Since there were 7 players, there would be "make-up" games - a format which works nicely because everyone plays 6 games total. The players who have a make-up game that round awaits their competitor to be available.

Then Alpha showed up (making 8 competitors) - an easy addition to make (since he'd take all of the make-up matches to make his 6 games...

Then 2 more players showed (Matt & Jeff S.) - easy additions to the tournament, they'd play each other for their first match, then play any competitors waiting for other matches to end. In singles, the games are relatively fast (15-20 minutes) so this format works very easily.

The result? Dan C. won five games, easily taking the tournament's number 1 spot. Then Tony T. took 2nd place; and Third taken by Jeff S.

Detroit Petanque Club visits Minneapolis Petanque Club

Detroit Petanque Club Vice-Presidents, James and Cheryl, were in Minnesota to visit family and had a longing for some petanque. They knew Don Holzschuh's club "Minneapolis Petanque Club" was available to them - and they had many pleasant games at the club's four huge pistes. They also visited a French automobile show - with, of course, the famous Citroen on display.

Perhaps James was Exposed to Petanque at Birth?

James and Cheryl, Minnesota natives, took an extended vacation to Minneapolis and while there, James re-discovered some important icons at his childhood home which may have influenced his taste for petanque - namely, the "cochon-ette" dish proudly displayed on the kitchen wall - and even his toys - take for example, the plush barn which includes a cochon-ette!

Team Zajac's Stunning Losses Following the Bar Tabac Tournament

Michigan Central Petanque Sports News Authority - July 22, 2006

Our staff attended last night's rounds of petanque in Rochester filled with anticipation.

Would Team Z, riding a wave of momentum following the Bar Tabac Tournament in New York, finally be able to stand up to the heretofore indomitable Team LaChance? Sadly, the expectations of our staff were quashed by LaChance's rock solid play.

The first end started out with a "carreau a carte" resulting in a 4-0 lead for LaChance.

And he never looked back. The first game ended in a 13-2 rout and the second game was even more one sided - a 13-0 fanny of Team Z. Zajac was seen rubbing his forehead and muttering something about beating Akhil and Juan in New York, but if he and his pointing partner Lindsey had it in them then, it was nowhere to be seen in Rochester this Friday. The third game of the series ended in a relaxed 13-8 victory for Team LaChance and a clean three game to nil sweep of Zajac. At the conclusion of this, our reporters asked what happened - did Joe see any prospects of finally winning a round against Team LaChance?

Zajac responded vaguely about finishing in the top sixteen in two tournament days in New York, but of course there may have only been sixteen teams in both cases altogether. Zajac was vague on this point.

Our advice from the sports writing staff, Team Z should consider staying home and getting some practice for the next tournament.

2nd Chance Bastille Day Tournament - Saturday - Campus Martius Park

For those of us who could not participate in Brooklyn's tournament, we'll have a simple tournament at Campus Martius Park this Saturday (July 22nd). The timing format in Brooklyn was interesting (2 shifts of game-play) so in the interest of experimentation, I'm going to see if I can implement it here on Saturday.

Basically, as this is short notice, there will be matches played (starting at around 11am) and as others show up, the 2nd shift of matches can begin.

As people may need to leave (as not many can endure an 8 hour petanque day) their rankings are set, and the new shift matches still need to compete with those rankings.

What I'm trying to develop here is a method for running a tournament, on-the-fly, with varied participation times...

Bastille Day Victors Show Strength and Determination

I spotted these photos of Juan and Loi from FLICKR (sorry Mamary, none of you!) and re-published them here for us all to enjoy. (click on them a few times to expand them to their largest size)

It's good to see familiar faces winning the prize!

Christophe; Mario and Philippe Keep the Matches Going

Always a winning combination, Christophe of Bar Tabac prepared the tactical details for the tournament from the sand and wood for the courts, to the necessary permits to use the streets in Brooklyn for the terrain. Mario O. supplied the ongoing tournament play organization (keeping the matches running smoothly, and the scores/rankings fairly; while Philippe B. of Petanque-America provided the boules that were necessary to get the job done. Though many participants, already familiar with the sport, had their own "two" - many others needed the Obut boules that were in ample supply.

Note: If anyone has seen Joe Z.'s competition boules, please contact him. The poor guy's lost 4 sets in only 1 years time!

Michigan and Detroit Petanque Clubs Battle in First Game at Bastille Day

The Michigan Petanque Club (Joe Z.; Dan C.; and Lindsey S.) were a dashingly good looking and coordinated bunch sporting classy and light-weight blue jerseys - with Ricard caps. The more rag-tag impromptu Detroit Petanque Club (et alius) consisted of el-Presidente Jeff W. along with his YC based sister, Ali, and a veteran player Tony.
Right away DPC was going down in flames, with MPC pulling ahead 5 points, then 8 - giving up a single point to DPC to let them avoid a shameful fanny.

When all was said and done, despite some strong shooting and pointing by DPC - it was not to be, as MPC was victorious in their first match.

Here Comes the Sand!

For those who were not witness to the elaborate preparations involved in holding a Bastille Day Petanque Tournament in the middle of the busy Brooklyn streets... think about the permits involved, the tons and tons of sand trucked in and spread out by back-hoes and hand-rakes. The Hundreds of measured boards laid down carefully to form the individual courts. Then there's the registration process, the many booths that line the sides of the courts serving up food and beverages. Not to mention the scoring, the announcements for team play, and the award ceremony. It is a daunting task and I was honored to see some of this process on Sunday morning (10:30am).




Eager to get a feel for the terrain, I tossed a few boules into the - as yet - bumpy sand surface.

Teams from All Over Competed and displayed Great Sportsmanship

I'm not sure what FPUSA rules say about cowboy boots, but clearly some (see photos) have not read the rules about keeping both feet within the circle. Regardless, everyone had a great time, with applause breaking out when good shots/points were made. It was a hot hot hot hot hot day (100 degrees in Brooklyn) - but everyone hydrated and played on...

Plenty to see and Do at the Brooklyn Bastille Day

The band played jazz, while the Brooklyn Eagle swooped through with French-Flag (and USA) colors. There was plenty of delicious food to devour; and interesting people to meet (and to avoid).