Yesterday, La Pétanque Marinière hosted its annual Mother’s Day tournament.
Due to this popular holiday, participants were in short supply, but everything nevertheless went according to plan.
Almost everything.
Before talking about the tournament, I would like to acknowledge the people who made this event possible.
Lately, after a few good soakings, our pétanque field started to look like a croquet lawn and with a tournament fast approaching it became urgent to dispose of the wild weeds that had colonized our field.
We appealed for volunteers but many doubted that anybody would show for Volunteers are shy, capricious creatures rarely seen in public.
Fortunately we have in our midst what Jules Romains called “des hommes de bonne volonté”, men (and women) of good will.
Last Thursday I came across such people.
They were Henry Wessel, Calvert Barron, Roger and Sabine Mattei, Claudie Chourré, Charlie Davantes and Liv Kraft.
They toiled for hours to make the field presentable.
On Saturday, Christine, Monique Bricca and Helga Facchini also joined our chained gang and helped to complete the task.
I particularly want to recognize Charlie and Liv, and Henry and Calvert who have been extraordinarily helpful.
If the field looked decent last Sunday, you owe it to all these people.
Back to the tournament.
On Sunday, the following people showed up to compete.
- Frosty Sabo & Teri Sirico
- Kevin Evoy & Hans Kurz
- Alain Efron & Sabine Mattei
- Etienne Rijkheer & Bill Hansen
- Adair Hasting & Jack Cannard
- Colette Van Der Meulen & Monique VDM
- Larry Cragg & Christine Cragg
- Francois Moser & Helga Facchini
- Jean-Claude Etallaz & Le Facteur
- Henry Wessel & Calvert Barron
- Ken Lee & Jean-Claude Bunand
- Steve Jones & Christine Jones
- Jean Bartkowiak & Charles Davantes
Four (4) timed games (45 minutes) were first played to determine who would compete in the Concours and who would play in the Consolante.
After the tryouts, the following teams qualified for the Concours:
- Jean-Claude Etallaz & Le Facteur
- Steve Jones & Christine Jones
- Jean Bartkowiak & Charles Davantes
- Kevin Evoy & Hans Kurz
- Fosty Sabo & Teri Sirico
- Adair Hastings & Jack Cannard
- Ken Lee & Jean-Claude Bunand
- Etienne Rijkheer & Bill Hansen
The following teams were assigned to the Consolante:
- Francois Moser & Helga Facchini
- Larry Cragg & Christine Cragg
- Henry Wessel & Calvert Barron
- Colette Van Der Meulen & Monique VDM
- Alain Efron & Sabine Mattei
In this particular tournament, I teamed up with Sabine Mattei (a very decent pointer) and things should have worked out pretty well.
But they didn’t.
- In our first encounter of the day we lost 6/13 to Etienne and Bill Hansen
- We won the second game 13/9 against Steve and Christine Jones
- We lost 10/12 (time constraint) against Colette and Monique
- After leading all the way, we lost our fourth game 10/12 to Francois and Helga
- through a disastrous blunder of mine.
Then we lost a consolante game 12/13 against Henry and Calvert through a lucky break that allowed them to score the 5 final winning points.
Drat!
I didn’t play well for sure, but I must have done something to offend the Gods (I didn’t sacrifice a chicken) for they slapped me silly repeatedly.
The weather was good most of the day, but after 4:30 p.m. gusts of wind and clouds of dust made playing unpleasant.
In the Concours semi-finals:
- Jean-Claude Etallaz & Le Facteur defeated Steve & Christine Jones 13/3
- Kevin Evoy & Hans Kurz beat Jean Bartkowiak & Charles Davantes 13/4
- Adair Hasting & Jack Cannard overcame Frosty Sabo & Teri Sirico 13/12
- Etienne Rijkheer & Bill Hansen got the best of Ken Lee & Jean-Claude Bunand 13/10
In the finals, the unthinkable happened!
Before the beginning of the final game Le Facteur left the field to attend a dinner engagement, forcing Jean-Claude Etallaz to face Adair Hasting & Jack Cannard by himself and armed only with 3 boules.
He naturally lost but still managed to score 5 points.
This type of behavior should not be condoned!
Even though Jean-Michel had told Jean-Claude beforehand that he might have to leave, this is a serious breach of etiquette and sportsmanship.
To ensure that this won’t happen again, the club should declare Jean-Michel AWOL (Absent Without Official Leave) and officially reprimand him.
When you sign up for a tournament, you commit yourself for the duration.
Except for a dire emergency, a player cannot leave a tournament before he has completed his playing engagement.
Despite this flagrant “faux pas”, please join me in wishing Jean-Michel a happy 60th birthday (May 13).
In the Consolante, after miraculously defeating Sabine and myself 13/12, Henry and Calvert lost to Larry and Christine Cragg 12/13.
Final results:
Concours:
1st place: Adair Hastings and Jack Cannard: $29.00 each
2nd place: Jean-Claude Etallaz: $21.00 each
3rd place: Kevin Evoy & Hans Kurz: $13:00 each
Consolante:
1st place: Larry and Christine Cragg: $12.50 each
2nd place: Henry Wessel and Calvert Barron: $8.50 each
Alain
PS: To look at photos of this event and listen to accompanying background music, turn your computer sound on, and click on the link “My Photos” located on the right side of this page.