I heard a few times yesterday that if you spend 5 weeks in France practicing the fine art of pétanque, it is child’s play to win a local tournament; Jean-Michel Poulnot (aka Le Facteur) proved it conclusively Sunday in San Rafael.
He and his teammate Bernard Passemar played extremely well and delivered the goods. They thus defeated all their opponents rather easily and to Jean-Michel’s elation, they glided smoothly to victory.
Le Facteur pointed extremely well (the best I have ever seen) and Bernard did a very effective job in knocking out troublesome opposing boules. Bernard, unlike Jacques Rattaire or Kevin Evoy, is not a flashy shooter but a very convincing one. He took his time and did his enforcing job very effectively.
I have always been of the opinion that in life (as well as in pétanque) we all have good and bad days; we all go through peaks and valleys and yesterday many teams muddled miserably through deep canyons.
Jacques Rattaire and Liza Moran started the day rather well but lost their touch later on, especially against Evoy and Grace. The same can be said about Henry Wessel and Calvert Barron. The Force was not with them yesterday.
This is why pétanque can be such a frustrating seesaw of elation and frustration.
Yesterday morning after coffee and pastries, the following doublettes lined up for action:
- Shirkey & Shirkey
- La Torre & Knuckles
- Marcovecchio & LaVelle
- Rattaire & Moran
- Evoy & Grace
- Rose & Sirico
- Moser & Facchini
- Bunand & Davantes
- Passemar & Poulnot
- Crossley & Okawa
- Wessel & Barron
- Casad & Brown
- Falcone & Drier
Eight teams made it to the Concours and five teams played in the Consolante.
In the afternoon, it was do or die time and many teams went belly up right after lunch.
In the Concours’ finals Jean-Michel and Bernard faced Kevin and Adam. Due in great part to Jean-Michel’s excellent pointing, they defeated Adam and Kevin conclusively.
Well-deserved congratulations to Le Facteur and monsieur Passemar.
At the end of the day:
Concours
1st place: Jean-Michel Poulnot & Bernard Passemar
2nd place: Kevin Evoy & Adam Grace
3rd place: Jacques Rattaire & Liza Moran
Consolante:
1st place: Bleys Rose & Teri Sirico
2nd place: Mark Shirkey & Sandra Shirkey
And that’s the way I saw it.
Alain
PS: As soon as I can, I will try to spend five weeks in France.
To look at photos of this event, click on the “My Photos” link located on the right side of this page. For best viewing, go Full Screen.