FPUSA 2010 Calendar of Events

The NEW 2010 Calendar of Events  is Out.

Plan your Year Touring the USA To Play in the FPUSA Tournaments.


2010 Calendar of Events

SE Regional Singles

On a Cool Sunny Saturday Morning 15 Players signed up for the SE Regional Single's Tournament in Boca Raton, FL. We Played four Games in the Morning and after Lunch 8 Players advanced to the Quater Finals.

 The Results were as Follow:

1- Roger Arpaia

2- Juan Garcia

3- Yiannis Devert

 After the Medal Presentation was over everyone stayed for a Couple of more Friendly Games.

In Memory of Jean-Jacques Baudo

Jean-Jacques Baudo, 64, peacefully passed away on December 9, 2009. He is survived by his wife of 33 years, Annemary; a daughter, Stephanie and her husband, Daniel Blanton; and son, Christopher Baudo and his wife, Idalia. Additional survivors include his father-in-law, Joseph Vultagio; his brothers, sisters-in-law, brothers-in-law, and many nieces, nephews and extended family members in France and Switzerland.

For the last 50 years, (yes, he started when he was 14 years old) Jean-Jacques was a master hairstylist in France, Pittsburgh, Switzerland and Palm Beach. Since 1992, he has owned and operated Jean-Jacques Coiffure in Palm Beach and attracted many dear clients from all over the world. He was an avid Petanque player with the South Florida Petanque Club, and had many friends and loved ones who will miss him dearly.

A Mass of the Resurrection will be celebrated at 10:00 a.m. on Saturday, December 12, 2009 at Mary Immaculate Catholic Church, 390 S. Sequoia Dr., West Palm Beach, FL 33409. In his memory, the family requests that any donation be made to the American Cancer Society, 621 Clearwater Park Rd., West Palm Beach, FL 33401. www.cancer.org

Arrangements by Quattlebaum Funeral Home (561)-832-5171.


Please note: there is an “Online Guestbook” at

www.Quattlebaum.org

Dear fellow petanqueurs,

Our petanque family lost a dear and good friend in Jean-Jacques Baudo.Jean -Jacques will be missed by all of us.
Our sincere condolences to the Baudo family.

John Rolland,
Boca Petanque 2000.

 
 
 
These are typical faces by Jean Jaques, he was always happy and I have the pleasure to call Him a Friend, he loved music and liked to talked to Me in Spanish We all will miss Him.
  Juan

Big weekend in Montreal!

Here is a brief summary of what went on in Montreal this past weekend. Weather was mostly clear and cold, 30's-40's. Pretty town, and the tournaments were held in a suburb of Montreal, so strip malls and motels were the scenery. The boulodromme where we met is part of a municipal sport center which houses facilities for gymnastics, boxing, swimming, soccer, tennis, a snack center, and yes, a boulodromme.

If the boulodromme reminds you of something, that is because it used to be a racquet ball/handball facility. As you can see, they made openings in the walls and there are still upstairs viewing windows that spectators also used for watching the games. The courts are only 12 meters long and when each area is further divided into two courts, they are a little narrow, too. However, when used full size, the are plenty wide though still short. Ceiling hight is ample for even the highest lobs and shots. The floor is concrete and covered with small gravel (1/4" minus), and need to be raked after games to restore the surface. Play is a little mushy in places, fast in others. and there are no rocks over 1/4". But, you can guess that the wonderful advantage of this facility is apparent when the cold wind is biting outside and it is shirtsleeve weather inside. Boulodrommes are popular due to the severe winters and there are 6-7 of them around Montreal.

This get together had two announced purposes. One was to pick two teams to travel to the world competition next year in Taiwan. The second was to conduct a meeting of the eligible federations to begin a discussion of how to have a tournament between all the federations in this hemisphere, the Americas.

Haiti had committed to attend this get together, which meant that the three countries, USA, Canada, and Haiti, would play to see which two would go to Taiwan next year. However, early in the week, it became apparent that Haiti was not going to be able to attend.

It was decided to have a PanAm tournament at this get together to decide which country would win the right to send a team to Monaco or Laos, for the next "Confederation Tournament". The Confederation tournament is for countries around the world whose teams win in their regions, but that may not have won the right to send a team to the world games.

Canada and the U.S. competed in this tournament that was held on Saturday in a best two out of three format. Canada put up their best team, the one that will go to the "worlds", as will ours.

Here is the U.S. team just before the toss of the jack.(L to R, in blue, Eric Bertin, Jean-Pierre Subrenat (captain), Xavier Thibaud, and JP Malette) The Canadians are in red. It began about 11am and continued until almost 5pm. The teams were well matched, quite a change from years past, when the Canadians have quickly put us away.

And guess what?! The U.S. won the first game, the Canadians the second, and we won the third game, so FPUSA wins two out of three!! Our team not only goes to Taiwan, but also has the right to go to the Confederation Tournament. Here is the victory photo! The fellow on the left in black is Claude Azema, president of the FIPJP who flew over from France to attend.

And, to complete the tournament; an awards banquet at the facility. Again you see Claude Azema, seated, and Bernard Aurouze, president of the Canadian federation, (standing) and saying a few words.

On Sunday, there was an impromptu open tournament, for any and all, for 24 teams of doubles.

We have good reason to be very pleased with our four "worlds" team players. A number of local players expressed their genuine surprise to me that we took home that big trophy in the photo above. I came away thinking our players were quietly hopeful all along when they arrived in Montreal that they would win, and they were very gracious to their Canadian hosts when they did.

We thank our Canadian hosts for their heartfelt hospitality. We all know how much work there is to put on a tournament, arrange for the meals, and all the other details that volunteers offer to attend to.

Letter from Thailand. Women World Championship

Well, here I am, home for 6 days and finally catching my breath and doing something which I don’t like: writing.
But as captain of the women USA Petanque team, I like to give all of our Petanque friends my version of the trip to Suphanburi, Thailand where the WWC. were held.

We all got to Bangkok on different days ( John and I had a wonderful time exploring this city and surroundings for a few days prior) but managed to meet at night, at a French restaurant before going the next day to Suphanburi. This evening was by itself quite anadventure, since upon arriving there, it had relocated. After walking, asking and finally at a police station asking for a taxi, we got there. We met the others , played boules ,ate and had a wonderful time. It was very hot however even at night , we noticed.

The next day we gathered at our Hotel, John had arranged in advance for transportation from there for the whole team, which was great. Mary Albright joined us.
During the 1hr and 30 min trip some of us tried to sew the MERI logo’s on our uniforms but we finished doing this in Cynthia’s room, among lot’s of talking ! But great fun.

Arriving in advance made registration etc. easier, not cooler, since air conditioning was kept to a minimum. The rooms were cool, fortunately.
Did I mention it was hot in Thailand?
This is very important to know since John found out that we were going to play outdoors! under a steel roof, so at least no sun.

Not allowed in the “stadium” (a 15 min. ride from the Hotel) we practiced next door to it in the full sun.

By the way, the food in the Hotel was mainly Thai (I have had enough for awhile) with some continental touches . At the “opening dinner” at a nearby Hotel ( much better than ours) there was a huge buffet , but with the same kind of problems encountered at our place: we don’t speak Thai, which created some confusion when ordering etc. All part of this adventure! At least we could follow the teams drawing on a big screen and in the mean time I caught up with some faces from other countries. We recognized each other from previous years. The Petanque world is wide spread, yet so small.

Up early the next day for Cynthia’s shooting contest, we were all there to encourage her from the side lines, while John was there to set up the balls for her. We were all proud of her and afterward John was happy and I think Cynthia felt the same way.

The “Opening ceremonies” followed. Lots of speeches by the Thai delegates but also a

Wonderful show with local boys performing as an acrobatic animal (dog?) on poles and jumping from pole to pole ( difficult to explain). Another performance was a snake like dragon being run around by young men, with long sticks. Very impressive.
A big marching band was on hand and the flags of each nation were paraded. I never tire walking behind the USA flag , but I think the whole team feels the same way about that.
Just to remind you, it was very hot during all of this!

As far as the Petanque, we were fortunate to play a lot of friendly teams, no problems except the language barrier at times .The referees did a great job explaining certain procedures . The games were timed. 1 hour and 2 “maines” after that. This was new for all of us and I have to admit it took some getting used to. There is no time to catch up after a slow start and that happened quite often.

The terrain was challenging and although John tried to help us with this problem, we did not improve fast enough. ( a big thanks to John, for everything)

We had good communication and lots of fun playing together and learned a lot which will be beneficial in the future.

Despite our results I will cherish this experience ,again and I hope my teammates will do the same. We did our best ,that’s all we can do.

In the meantime we saw some great Petanque being played.

The shooting contest won by Mrs. Papon was quite impressive and the finals between

Thailand and France (which was not timed) was wonderful . Thailand won and they certainly deserved it. Watching this , I think I drank 4 bottles of water, well you know :

It was hot out there! (last time)

The “farewell” party was a dinner, with Thai dancers, singers and a band as entertainment. The exchange of gifts was done and then the dancing started. Despite the average menu, ( according to other countries also) we all had a great time, new friends were made and believe me the FPUSA can be proud of this team in many ways.
We all got along ( thanks Mia and Cynthia) and Sandra, was a great 4th player,

My thanks to Mary Albright for watching all the games (I think she suffered the most from the heat) , Susan for her support and Mark for taking pictures.

I like to thank the Maine Boules Club for their financial support, also the Boule NY and

of course our sponsor MERI, because of you this trip has been unforgettable.

What an adventure!
Wishing all of you Happy Holidays and a great 2010!

Link to the Slide Show:
http://picasaweb.google.com/Juankydotcom/Thailand#slideshow/5409355962549752034

 
Marieke Rolland,
Boca Petanque 2000 Club.

New FPUSA Suggestion Box!

A new way to bring in ideas to promote our favorite sport has been added! It is a suggestion box that resides on the FPUSA website.

You will see a link on the sidebar just to the right of this posting. Next time you have the "great idea lightbulb" go off in your head, share it with us. Maybe something good will happen because of it!

Wine Country Classic, Sonoma,CA.

Come Join The Valley of the Moon Petanque Club at the Wine Country Classic on October 17th and 18th 2009.

Random Doubles - A social alternative to the more competitive Wine Country Classic. There will be 2 separate tournaments held on Saturday & Sunday. Please join us for one or both days. Sign up online at www.vompc.org Small disclaimer, if interest is too low for one day or the other, we will have to consolidate for just the Sunday.

What: Random Doubles

When: October 17 & 18, 2009Where: VOMPC, Depot Park, Sonoma, Ca

Time: Sign-up by 9:00 am

Other: $10 per team Lunch is not included, however we will have aperitifs for all following the Final on Sunday evening.

Two Regionals in one great NYC weekend!

Hosting its first NE Region Tournaments the weekend of September 19 & 20, the New York Petanque Club, whose home terrain in Brooklyn's Prospect Park is perhaps the most difficult to play on East of the Mississippi River, had great cooperation from the weather and a wonderful turnout of some of the best players in the Northeast.

Combining two regional tournaments, singles on one day, doubles on the next, as a way to build attendance and make the weekend worthwhile, over 21 players brought their best game for Saturday's singles and 19 teams squared off for Sunday's doubles.

Players from five FPUSA clubs were in the mix and by Saturday's end, after some fancy boules work not often seen this side of the Atlantic (lots of carreaux and carefully picked données) the victors emerged:

First Place: Xavier Thibaud(NYPC), 2nd Place Philippe Hemery (LBNY), and 3rd Place jointly- Gilles Ray(NYPC) and Robert Dunn (LBNY).

On Sunday, another day of glorious weather made for a great picnic with many spectators joining the fun. A few roaming family pets reminded one that the provision in Art 15 of the rules about animal interference in games is there for good reason.

By day's end, with street lights coming on, and the score in the final game between Jean Pierre Subrenat and Eric Bertin, and Xavier Thibaud and Gilles Ray, all of NYPC, at 12-3 for JP and Eric, there was a pause to move to a better lit court. Et voila! There was a "sea change", Xavier and Gilles found their game and in 3 ends came up the victors, 13-12!

A more detailed and very well written description of the tournaments by Thierry Juillard (NYPC), with a fun accompanying video, can be found on the NYPC site.

World Championship in France

While you guys are playing in some petty tournaments such as "La Marseillaise" ... FPUSA International Events Coordinator, Robert C. Pierre, along with his son, Renaud, and a friend Laurent Scarabicchi, entered the 30th World Championship on August 22 and 23 in Cagnes sur Mer, France. Well, to be honest, we are talking of the "Championnat du Monde des boules carrées" ... in other words, square boules, which of course happen to be cubes.

Courts are 2 X 7 meters, and both boules and cochonnet are made of wood. One boule weighs 4 ounces, and the cochonnet 1/2 ounce. The latter must be thrown between 4 and 7 meters, but otherwise, all of the Petanque rules apply.

There were 132 Triplettes to start with, spread over the -very- steep streets of the "Haut de Cagnes", crowned by the 13th century Grimaldi castle (Monaco Prince family, and therefore Grace Kelly's as well ...). A very tough competition if you ask me, which absolutely everyone can enter, yet with some chances to win as the "square boules" have a tendancy to behave as they want. Even more so since the small and narrow streets of the haut de Cagnes are not only steep, but most of the time they are also cambered, and more than often, boules "roll" on edges and corners out of the court; and when playing downwards, be prepared to run after your boule which could frankly roll down across several courts !

Eventually, we didn't do so well and lost at the 3rd game; of the "consolante" ...

Of course as you will see in the video, it was not my fault as my cochonnet shooting was impeccable; well actually I was shooting at the boule, but all the same, we got the point!

If you are interested by the 31st World Championship of the "Boules Carrees" next August, get back to me for info. Maybe we could put together some FPUSA teams ?

—Robert C. PIERRE

---

FPUSA National Doubles, July 25-26

Three different tournaments, each with a consolante gave a full weekend of fun on the Lamorinda Petanque Club courts! Thirteen clubs sent players and Fresno topped the list with 10 of theirs on the courts each day!

Under the able direction of club president (and FPUSA VP) Mary Albright with the whole club helping out, Lamorinda showed they have the chops to put on a first class event. We even had a dignitary or two, most notably Jacques de Noray, Deputy French Consul in from San Francisco, who helped present awards.

Hosting their first Nationals on these courts, they didn't drop a stitch, every thing came off flawlessly and after the men's final ended Sunday evening and it was completely dark, they brought a couple of cars onto the terrain to light up the awards ceremony, raffle, and deeply appreciated and table filling apero.

The full-on Apero!

All 22 of their courts were in use, most with tournament matches, the others for practice and pickup games. Under the mid-afternoon sun, all were grateful for the shade from the pear and apple trees remaining from an old fruit orchard.

(the "mixed" see below for names)

The courts are devilishly difficult, but great fun to play, with small undulations and hard and soft spots abounding. Ends were often won with points two feet away, and shooters had to hit "au fer" or several feet in front so the boule could settle down before it contacted its target.

(here are 1st & 2nd Women's winners, apologies for not having photo of 3rd place Teri & Lisa)

Saturday evening's BBQ buffet was a delight with some Texas style beef and chicken served with wonderful beans and plenty of sauce.

It was great to see Louis Toulon, too. He and Max took first in the men's consolante!

(and with Monique Martin in a walking cast, she and Dolly Ebollito took 4th in the Women's !)

In 90 degree heat one looks for shade and finds it on these courts.

RESULTS:

SATURDAY- MIXED DOUBLES- 20 TEAMS

First Place RAYMOND & PIM NIELSEN (Boule d'Or) Second Place PETER MATHIS & HOLLY SAMMONS (VOMPC)

Third Place JOHN AND TISH HARRIS (Oakhurst) Fourth Place BOB CORTRIGHT (PPC) & EMILY ETCHEVERRY (LPM)

SUNDAY- WOMEN'S DOUBLES- 13 TEAMS

First Place ANTONIA CHAVEZ (VOMPC) & PIM NIELSEN (Boule d"or) Second Place NARIN GARRETT & HOLLY SAMMONS (both VOMPC) Third Place TERI SIRICO (PVPC) & LISA VAUGHN (VOMPC) Fourth Place DOLLY EBOLITTO & MONIQUE MARTIN (both LBJ)

MEN'S DOUBLES- 21 TEAMS

First Place RAYMOND NIELSEN (Boule d'Or) & ALAIN GUSELLA (CFdS) Second Place PETER MATHIS (VOMPC) & MICKEY COUGHLIN (Willits Boules Club) Third Place JER THAO & BY VANG (both Fresno Petanque Club) Fourth Place JOE & BOB CORTRIGHT (both PPC)

Our players in Dronero, Italy, July 24-27

Don't these guys look familiar? (left to right, Jean-Pierre Subrenat, Peter Crowley, and Xavier Thibaud, all New York players)

They are in Dronero, competing in the major petanque tournament in Italy, the 9th Epaci Occitan, with teams from Europe, Africa, South America, and Asia. Even "Le Grand Marco" was there defending his previous victories at this event.

Robert Pierre , our International Events Coordinator, there as a both coach and player, tells us that try as they did in both doubles and triples combinations, they weren't able to qualify for the concours by getting out of the pools. Robert, playing with his summer club from Cagnes sur Mer, did manage to get into the concours, but elimination followed.

However, in a pre tournament demonstration game, the team above did fanny Belgium. That is something to brag about.

Robert also reminds us that there is still an opportunity to play in "La Nismoise", either in a doubles or triples combination. see the posting just below.

Last Chance for Nismoise!

Our international events coordinator, Robert Pierre, reports from Dronero, Italy, where he is playing on a team with Jean-Pierre Subrenat, Xavier Thibaud, and Peter Crowley, that he just met with the President of "Fanny Nismoise Petanque Club" in Nismoise, Belgium who tells Robert he would welcome a US team as a guest at the "La Nismoise" tournament, August 21-23, less than a month away.

Robert played in this tournament last year and highly recommends it to capable players. If your schedule permits it, and you'd like to be considered for this opportunity, please contact Robert immediately. It could be the highlight of your summer!

La Marsellaise - Montreal, CA.

La Marsellaise was Played in North America in The City of Longueuil just West of Montreal.
This was a must Do Tournament, the Atmosphere was perfect for Petanque and meeting some Great new People plus it helps when You have Friends in Canada like Claude Lopez that let us stay at his House and Serve as a Tour Guide on the last day of our Visit. I also meet many other Friends that come down to Florida to warm up during the Winter.
Three Teams from the FPUSA signed up for the Tournament and Two of them made it to the Round of Sixteen.
They Sure put up a Show with the Men's Semi-Finals and Final and The Women's Final. Accurate shooting was the name of Game, just one hit after another and the Game was decided on the final crazy Play that left everyone shocked, on a tied Game 9-9 and with a Tight group of 4 Boules all about 10 inches apart the point was for the Laulhe's Family with a single Boule and the other Team had 3 boules surrounding the Point with the last boule in hand Youssef shoots and Carreaus perfectly staying in place and making 4 points to WIN 13-9.

I took lots of Pictures, Just follow the Link.


http://picasaweb.google.com/Juankydotcom/LaMarsellaiseMontreal#

Bastille Day - Miami -

The Biltmore Hotel in the center of Miami celebrated Bastille Day on Tuesday July 14th with Dinner and Petanque. This is our Home Courts for now, it is definitely a beautiful place to play and meet people and the way is going we already have three Teams that are planning to go to the Petanque America Open 2009 in Amelia Island, FL. http://petanque-america-open.com/ and further more a Miami Petanque Club for 2010.

"The Americans" in Marseille

Though the finals in the Marseillaise won't have any of our players in them, we do know that our own Xavier Thibaud and his team progressed to the eighth finals, putting him in the top sixteen out of almost 4600 teams in the competition.

This is the farthest an American citizen has ever progressed and we are happy to be basking in his success. Xavier, a resident of NYC and member of the New York Petanque Club, reports that he was proud the French press referred to him as "The American".

Xavier and his two teammates, Andre Lozano, and J.F. "Tichon" Hemon, both former world champions, won 10 games out of the 13 that will be played in this year's Marseillaise. An astounding feat! The score in their last game was 11-13, so close it could have gone either way!

We also report on the success of our other players in this, the largest tournament in the world. Alec Stone-Sweet tells us he made it to the 7th game before being converted to a tourist, and we are told that Ernesto Santos and Yngve Biltsted, LBNY, playing on one team, and Robert Pierre, playing with a team from his home town, Cagnes sur Mer, all made it to their second game, putting them in the top 50% of the teams in Parc Borely, Marseille.

For those who have followed the video stream of the games, it has been a fun week and a wonderful opportunity to see the great players of the world and imagine ourselves pointing and shooting with the best of them.

(photos courtesy of LBNY and Boulistenaute)

The Marseilaise-4,592+ to 2 in a dozen games

One of our best players, Alec Stone Sweet, is once again in the milieu of the Marseillaise, probably the largest tournament in the world and certainly the best known.

It is single elimination from the very first game, and Alec tells us that after he and his team won their first three games on Sunday, fewer than 600 teams remain out of the almost 4600 (that is nearly 14,000 players) that began the tournament. Doing the math tells us that it will take winning another 10 or so games to end up the supreme champions of this grand event. But Alec has progressed to game 6 in 2006, so don't be surprised if he gets to game 9 in 2009, or farther, even.

Our International Events Coordinator, Robert Pierre, is also entered on a team from Cagnes sur Mer, though we haven't had a report from him, yet.

Looking for more on the Marseillaise? Try www.boulistenaute.com You'll read interviews with Alec there and get a sense that this is a grueling, tiring tournament and for only for the most competitive players. But, winning or even placing well in the Marseillaise is a reward like no other.

Photos courtesy of Boulistenaute.com

FPUSA NW Regional Triples and Singles a big success!

This past weekend players from around the FPUSA'S NW Region were on the Portland Petanque Club's terrain trying to prove they had better game than any of their opponents.

Thirteen triples teams and 26 singles players competed during the weekend in a very successful event organized by Tournament Director Albyn Jones, and supported by player volunteers gathered by PPC club president, Philippe Agnesse.

We enjoyed a wonderful Saturday evening buffet under the twilight skies and took to the courts afterwards for pickup games to keep our edge for the next day's singles tournament.

NW Region Triples winners: Left to Right Pierre Brun, Hugh Gallagher, Daniel Andre(3rd Place, PPC), Greg Conyers, John Hunt, Lee Harris (2nd Place, Seattle Petanque), Thai Nguyen, Pierre and Philippe Agnesse (1st Place, PPC),

in front, FPUSA President Joe Martin and Tournament Director Albyn Jones.

NW Region Singles winners, L to R, Albyn Jones Tournament Director, Duong Nguyen (3rd Place, Seattle, Joe Cortright (1st Place, PPC), Philippe Agnesse (2nd Place, PPC) & Thai Nguyen (4th Place, PPC)

And what is a tournament without a banquet?!

Play in the "Fanny Nismoise" August 21-23!

Robert Pierre, our International Events Coordinator, has successfully secured a spot for an FPUSA triples team to enter the well known "Fanny Nismoise" tournament in Nismes, Belgium, August 21-23, 2009.

It was last held in 2007 and 11 countries, including ours, competed. As the extract from the web page shows, it is a nice affair in a pretty setting. On Sunday, there is also an open select doubles.

Nismes is about a 2 hour drive from either Paris or Brussels.

If you are a current FPUSA license holder and are interested in joining the team, please contact Robert for further information.

PS to enlarge the web extract, just click on it.

Three National Tournaments in One Weekend!

The Lamorinda Petanque Club in Lafayette, California, welcomes you to three tournaments all on the weekend of July 25th and 26th!

The National Mixed Doubles on Saturday the 25th, and on Sunday the 26th, the National Men's Doubles and the National Women's doubles!

Set in an old pear orchard on a terrain that flows around trees and boundaries, it offers a weekend of challenge and fun!

And on Saturday evening enjoy a catered BBQ dinner that includes your favorite smoke cooked meats with all the fixin's and all beverages, too!

Read on for the entry forms, meal reservations, and hotel and direction info.

Click on the images to enlarge them.

Any questions, please contact: Mary Albright, or Brian Murphy

Hope to see you there!