Indoor Bouleodrome in Detroit, Michigan Fully Operational

 The indoor courts can provide three pistes of petanque playing, and includes amenities like bathrooms, heat, luncheonette nearby, and plenty of window views of people shivering on the street. 

Pat and Fred Took the Win Today at Cadillac Square

a few distractions at Cadillac Square today, but nothing to keep us concentrating on our game.  That is, until we realized our pointing was off, then it was downhill from there.


Tim plays well when he's eating his lunch



Welcome Back Summer!

Tim's shot at the end of today's game (bringing the Pat/Tim combination 2 wins today) was just the icing on their cake as he was pointing great throughout.  We (Jeff/Fred/Alpha) just couldn't get a foothold on our opposition - we chalk it up to Tim's 4-ft sub-sandwich and bag of chips.

Hitesh and Nick Join the Campus Petanque Playing

 Hitesh stopped by at Campus Martius and that's when my team's pointing really took off.  He is a great pointer and though he hasn't been playing for a couple of years (not regularly that is) every point was close and in front.  This was devastating for the opposition which try as they might, just couldn't out point (nor shoot away) all of our close boules. 

Five Points Lost on a Shot Cochonnet



Here is today's error made by Team Captain Jeff W.

 We have been playing petanque across the street in Campus Martius Park.  The piste is quite tricky as it has water features which moisten and soften the ground in spots, wile dramatic slopes in other areas.  You really have to know the ground in order to lay in a boule.  Sometimes, you'd need to point 6 feet to the left or right just to allow for the slope of the ground.  Of course, this is an opportunity for getting around obstacles, but only if you can read the terrain.  It reminds me of the importance of playng on different surfaces because when one travels to other clubs you're not always used to the type of ground encountered.  While the USA team was away in Marseille, I texted Ziggy and asked him what techniques they'd use and avoid.  He told me that the ground is tricky, and that the plombe (high arc) doesn't work on that sort of gsurface, but Tir au Fer does.  (see photo below form Juan)



Check out the large rocks mixed in with the pea gravel



World Petanque Championships Start up in Marseilles

While we've been grooming our Detroit players for greatness, other players have ascended to the World Championships for Triplettes and Shooting in Marseilles, France.  48 countries (teams) compete in Shooting and Triplettes contests. Today begins the big world event for Juan Garcia, Ziggy Kessouagni, Pascal Corchia, and Peter Mathis.  They are guided by their coach: Didier Bloch and represented with a delegation head: Philippe Boets (of Petanque America).  Today (Oct 4th) is the shooting competition.  Pascal is listed for that competition and it involves various points awarded for hitting different boule/cochonnet set-ups.  

Shooting Contest (Madagascar Wins)

advance to about the 5 minute mark

Facebook Link to World Championships

World Petanque Championship - Team Listings

Nick, back from Spain, has to re-learn the foot fault rules - else, stand on his toes

Sam, ever nimble, executes his high arc plombes

His Excellency, Fred, likes to drop his boules with a noisy clatter just as an opponent is pointing

Today's game was with a surprising result as we (Jeff/Nick/Abu/Sam) were pointing really great as compared with Fred/Pat/Tim/Maury - we thought we'd really cream our opponents.  But after the fourth round of excellent pointing - we really had nothing to show for it point-wise.  We didn't capitalize on our opponent's using up all of their boules and leaving openings for us to add to our tally.  By the fifth round, they were warmed up to the terrain and out pointing and out shooting us.  Really, it was our own fault for not grabbing those early points fast enough.

Don't Count Your Chickens Before They're Hatched

"Don't Count Your Chickens Before They're Hatched"
It is a good lesson to remember because Team-Tim (Tim/Jeff/Alpha/Rafael) were up 11 points to 2 before Team-Abu (Abu/Sam/Fred) began their ascent, 1 point per round, catching up and then winning 13/11 in a comeback upset.  Tim was already reporting the point disparity (at 11/2) to Pat, and he was planning to take his win and leave...  but the pointing from Team-Abu was fierce and we just couldn't compete.

Team Abu with Double Wins

It must be on account of Tim's Pretzel-bun sandwich that we took both games this afternoon at Detroit's Cadillac Square Park.  Dumbfounded, Team Pat shambled off the pistes.   While taking an early lead, Team-Pat's pointing fell apart like a weather-beathen shack in a hurricane after Abu laid in some nice starting boules, and they simply couldn't regain the point until their 6th boule.  By then we had a significant boule advantage and they just couldn't compete.