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?!