Update on Summer Events in Europe

International Events Coordinator, Robert Pierre, also from the venerable FPUSA Southwestern Region, sent us this update (interesting enough to be posted verbatim):

“Luckily enough, a request from John Krauer made me do some research about Zurich. Here is the outcome:

La Pétanque en Suisse : Pas de Grand Prix International de Zurich 2009 !

Posté par jovial5 le 21/4/2009 20:10:00 (240 lectures) Articles du même auteur

Des circonstances indépendantes de sa volonté obligent le Comité d'organisation d'annuler le Grand Prix International de Zurich qui aurait dû se dérouler en août prochain...
La Ville de Zurich entreprend jusqu'en été des travaux de réaménagement dans le parc de la Josefwiese, qui seront achevés dans la seconde moitié de l'été. Comme il n'est pas possible à l'heure actuelle d'évaluer la place et les installations qui seront disponibles alors, le Comité d'organisation du Grand Prix a dû se résoudre à annuler la manifestation cette année.
Nous présentons sincèrement toutes nos excuses aux boulistes de Suisse, France, Allemagne, Autriche, Europe de l'Est, Espagne, Italie, Grande-Bretagne, Israël, Etats-Unis… qui avaient prévu de nous rendre visite cet été.
Il faudra donc patienter jusqu'en août 2010 pour que se déroule la 40e édition du Grand Prix International de Zurich.
D'ici-là, le Comité du GPI ZH vous souhaite une belle saison estivale et se réjouit de vous retrouver nombreux et en pleine forme en 2010 sur les terrains de la Josefwiese à Zurich.
Sportivement vôtre,
Le Comité<...

In short, no Zurich this year.”

Breeding like coat hangers!

Turn your back for a second and another petanque terrain appears, like coat hangers breeding in a closet!




This little beauty of a California terrain is home to the Petaluma Valley Petanque Club.



You can do the same with 80 yards of gravel ( about 6-7 big dump truck loads) and a nice front end loader with a box or blade on the back.

WWCQT Winners in the Paper

The Winners of the WWCQT that will Represent the USA in the upcoming Women World Championship appeared in the Local Sun Sentinel Newspaper.

http://www.sun-sentinel.com/community/news/palmbeach/sfl-flcnspdigestpb0412psapr12,0,4709690.story

Boca petanque star to represent U.S. at world finals

By Cynthia Thuma

SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT

Boca Raton's Marieke Rolland will again be a world traveler later this year.Rolland has been selected to represent the United States for the third time at the Women's Petanque World Championships in Thailand Nov. 13-15.
Petanque is a sport resembling lawn bowling and bocce that's very popular in Europe, South America and Asia, and is rapidly gaining interest elsewhere. Rolland already has competed internationally in Canada and France.In November, she'll be part of a team with Mia Kanazawa and Cynthia Stroud, who also qualified for worlds from the United States National Women's Team and are members of the Maine Petanque Club. The three earned the honor by virtue of their performance April 4-5 at Lawton Chiles Park in Delray Beach.Rolland and her teammates broke from an 11-all tie in the championship match of the qualifier to defeat Diana Jacobs, Sandra Bonneville and Antonia Chavez from the Los Angeles Petanque Club and earn the trip overseas."We were lucky enough to put the last balls in to win 15-11," she said. "It's such a great thing to represent [our country] at an event such as this. People ask for autographs and you feel like such a big shot."Still, Rolland says, she wouldn't mind a bit more support — the kind athletes in some of the better-known sports receive."Our organization [Federation of Petanque USA] gives us our uniforms and some prize money, but they can't do much more," she said. "My teammates are talking about doing bake sales to make extra money for the trip."Rolland, whose husband John started the Boca Petanque 2000 club she competes for and is the former president of the federation, said she is especially happy for her teammates, who battled through considerable adversity to win. Their club is the only petanque club in Maine."We have a lot of members, 50, maybe 55, but they did what they did on their own," she said. "There are not too many people, not too much competition there, but it'll be a big deal when they get home. They'll have champagne all over them."Americans generally do not fare that well on the international stage, leaving U.S. team members feeling a bit like Jamaican bobsledders."Exactly," she said. "That's us in the petanque world, but still, it's the Olympic Games for our sport, with 40 countries represented. It's all red, white and blue for us."

Play Pétanque in Europe This Summer!

Our International Events Coordinator, Robert Pierre, sent an update to the previous post on this subject...

"I've just been informed that Dronero is now "off," since they will host one USA team only this year, but Vienna, Austria, EuroPétanque, Nice, France, and Zurich, Switzerland, are still open. And in case there would be individuals, they still can register with me and I'll see if it is possible to build up teams. Besides, I am always available to join a team if need be. It would really be a pity not to enter one team at the EuroPétanque this year."

So... those of you with the means and skill... why not plan to join the mix in Europe this summer? Contact Robert Pierre at rcpierresq@hotmail.com, today!

Petanque at the Biltmore, FL.

Today was the first Tournament of a series of Tournaments held on every Tuesday Evening at the Beautiful Biltmore Hotel in Coral Gables Fl. right in the center of Miami for the next couple of months. Play will Begin at 6:00 pm until around 8:30 pm.

All Players welcome, New and Experienced, a great way of meeting new friends and have a great time at the same time. Mario Olivieri is organizing the event so it will be running smoothly.

WWCQT - Tournament - Boca Raton, FL.

Boca Petanque Hosted the Women World Championship Qualifier Tournament this past weekend, and it was a Success!

After the Dust settled on the two Hot and Sunny Days even for us Floridians the outcome was as follow:

Gold: Mia Kanazawa, Cynthia Stroud, Marieke Rolland.

Silver: Diana Jacobs, Sandra Bonneville, Antonia Chavez.

Bronze: Narin Garrett, Erin Mc Taggart, Barbara Hall.

Outstanding Competition and Sportsmanship from All Players.

Enjoy the Pictures!!!

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