Friday, June 29, 2007

Fenyx's Youngest Petanque Player

Proud parents, Pavel Kral and Renca Kralova have a new petanque player in the family, Alenka Kralova - born on June 28, 2007.

Alenka is 52 cm and 3.80 kgs.

Pavel assisted in the childbirth, showing that he knows more than just petanque!

The parents do not know yet whether Alenka is a shooter or a pointer!

Congratulations!

Thursday, June 14, 2007

Cousin Club Detroit Says Hello to Cousin Club Fenyx

Big thanks to Pavel, Jirka and Renca (and the rest of the Fenyx Adamov Petanque Club) for sending these great shirts to us in Detroit, Michigan. I wore mine today for the afternoon games and won every game (I think the shirt is very lucky!) In our final game, Mike and I played against Bob and Juwan. Bob & Juwan were winning: 12 to 5 but we squeezed in points and beat them 13:12 !!!

I fly to York Beach, Maine tomorrow night, and will bring petanque boules and my lucky Fenyx shirt to play there for the week. See you all back in Michigan on the 24th (Sunday).












Champagne Showers the Victors at Ratisovice




Pavel Kral sent over some more photos of the victorious celebrations in Ratisovice. The organizers have a wonderful tradition of spraying their champions with champagne!


As you can see by the spots on Pavel's and the other's clothing, champagne was everywhere. We should encourage a similar practice in the United States, maybe with CocaCola?






Wednesday, June 13, 2007

Some Photos of Past Grand Prix Zurich Petanque Events






















Grand Prix International de Zurich - August 17th-19th


Pétanque Club Zurich organizes the traditional Grand Prix International de Zurich, which takes place on August 17th through 19th.

It will be the 38th edition of this tournament, which, over the years, acquired an outstanding reputation in the international Pétanque community.


The GP Zurich is listed in the official calendar of the FFPJP, the International Federation of Pétanque and Jeu Provençale. A victory in Zurich is of high value, even for players with a lot of expertise in winning tournaments.

The GP Zurich is an exceptional niche-event, at the same time both a local and an international happening, attracting those who play only for fun as well as professionals. The urban ambience on the Josefwiese sets the scenery for an event that wants to be more than just a Pétanque competition. The GP Zurich is also perceived by many as a cultural and social happening.

Danger of addiction, watch out!

For all those that still want more, the Petanque Club Zurich organizes both on Saturday and Sunday so called Secteurs, or express-tournaments. These start as soon as 8 or 16 teams have signed up (fixed teams, Doublettes on both days) and go by the simple knock-out system.

Tuesday, June 12, 2007

Pavel Kral wins at Ratisovice - all 6 of his games!


Pavel Kral of the Fenyx Adamov Petanque Club won a huge tournament this past weekend, in Ratisovice, along with Ivana Brezinova and Nada Colakovova (of HTP Trebic).
This prized trophy will travel the victory circuit to Adamov for 4 months, and then to Trebic for 8 months (2 winners there) and then back to Ratisovice. If Pavel wins (when he wins!) the trophy 2 more times, it’s his for good!

Details on the tournament look good: Pavel won ALL of his games (6 games - 3 in beginning, then Quarter/Semi/Finals) where he beat Ivan Kousal’s team 15:13

Finals are played to 15 points. The final ran like this: 3:3; 3:9 (!); then 10:13, and finally Fenyx pulled ahead for the 15:13 win.
More important, Pavel said that it was fun!

Wednesday, June 06, 2007

Alliance Francaise de Grosse Point Picnic and Petanque


Alliance Francaise de Grosse Point Picnic and Petanque

Brigitte D'Arpini organized the annual Alliance Francaise de Grosse Point Picnique et Petanque this past Saturday. We had quite a few folks from all over, including the French Institute of Michigan, Alliance Francaise of Detroit, and Mark Anthony from Albion college who is setting up his own club (we welcome an infusion of youth Mark - good work!).

I had the honor of playing petanque with Henri, a distinguised Frenchman from Toulouse who pointed extremely well - of course!


There was food aplenty, and lots of social talking and laughing.



But best of all, we were able to share our time together as a type of petanque family.




















Alliance Francaise de Grosse Point Picnic and Petanque

Brigitte D'Arpini organized the annual Alliance Francaise de Grosse Point Picnique et Petanque this past Saturday. We had quite a few folks from all over, including the French Institute of Michigan, Alliance Francaise of Detroit, and Mark Anthony from Albion college who is setting up his own club (we welcome an infusion of youth Mark - good work!).

I had the honor of playing petanque with Henri, a distinguised Frenchman from Toulouse who pointed extremely well - of course!


There was food aplenty, and lots of social talking and laughing.


But best of all, we were able to share our time together as a type of petanque family.
















Alliance Francaise de Grosse Point Picnic and Petanque

Brigitte D'Arpini organized the annual Alliance Francaise de Grosse Point Picnique et Petanque this past Saturday. We had quite a few folks from all over, including the French Institute of Michigan, Alliance Francaise of Detroit, and Mark Anthony from Albion college who is setting up his own club (we welcome an infusion of youth Mark - good work!).

I had the honor of playing petanque with Henri, a distinguised Frenchman from Toulouse who pointed extremely well - of course!


There was food aplenty, and lots of social talking and laughing.


But best of all, we were able to share our time together as a type of petanque family.
















French Fear Asia's Whole New Boule Game



PARIS, June 5, 2007 (AFP) - France celebrates the centenary of petanque this year but the party is being gatecrashed by a new wave of Asian challengers.


Regarded by most as a pedestrian game played in southern France by old men in berets, fuelled by potent glasses of pastis, the sport is now becoming increasingly globalised.


The annual world championships will be held this year in Thailand and the French, keen to see their sport win Olympic recognition, are actively promoting the game internationally.


Claude Charbonnier, of the French Federation of Petanque, recently led a mission to Taiwan where they introduced the sport in universities and helped to select and train a national team.

"They are eager to learn and accept advice much more readily than Europeans. It's because of this that they are becoming so good so quickly," he said.


The game has become popular in Thailand where it was promoted by Princess Srinagarindra who is said to have played petanque almost daily. Petanque is now an official military sport in the country.


France's reigning world champion Michel Loy said: "Thai players are not far behind the French. It's because they are mainly in the military, or they are policemen. They are very disciplined and train very hard."


Thailand has already made its mark at the world championships.


In 2005, they reached the semi-finals for the first time and added two gold medals last year.
Buoyed by such a breakthrough, the president of the Petanque Association of Thailand boasted that "Thai petanque athletes are the world's best".


This year the French will also face pressure from other Asian countries such as Cambodia and Taiwan.


Petanque, whose name comes from the French 'pieds tanques' or 'stuck feet' was invented in the southern French town of La Ciotat one hundred years ago.


Its creator, Jules Le Noir, suffered from arthritis who was unable to play the energetic game of boules. To get over the problem, one of the basic rules of petanque is that one must play from a standing position, with feet together.


Despite the global challenge, France still boasts a solid foundation of petanque players with over half a million registered players.


But Loy believes their Asian counterparts will eventualy surpass them.


"One day they're going to beat us. I just hope it's not this year on their own turf when I'm playing," he said.


Copyright AFP

Tuesday, June 05, 2007

A Panorama of Petanque Play in the Windy City

[CLICK ON EACH PHOTO TO MAKE LARGER]

It was the perfect spot, right at the center of the Midwest - on baseball field #7 of Grant Park. The 2nd Chicago Midwest Doubles Tournament took place and a whole day of wonderful competition was had by all.








2007 Chicago Midwest Doubles Tournament a Hot One!

With the sun beating down on the clay pistes, the boules were getting hot enough to cook eggs!



The New Yorkers won the day with the Chicago team of Ziggy and Robert in 2nd Place.




Ziggy, by the way, was a power shooter. I almost had my leg taken off below the knee from a ball struck by him!










A banner day for all!

Michigan and Detroit Petanque Clubs Representing

This year, the Michigan and Detroit Petanque Clubs were represented by:

Joe Z. (with partner Mamary)

Jeff B. and Kerry

Denise B. (with partner Kono)

Roland and Gerard

James and Cheryl

Jeff W. and Hal



After the tournament had ended, the teams didn't fare too badly, with Jeff & Hal in 4th place (facile!) and the others not far behind (sorry Jeff B. & Kerry...)



















Dan Almost Arrested for Singing his Rendition of Ava Maria

Actually, Dan was explaining to the Chicago policeman that the "shooting" that was going on during the tournament was not with firearms.





The event went off like clockwork, with a neat gridwork of pistes and dead-boule lines stringed off on the field to allow for 12 perfect courts.
Dan read off the general guidelines at the registration tent, while the participants downed a huge supply of chilled bottled water that was thoughtfully made available.