Tag: Petanque

Most everybody in the Bay Area is aware that La Boule d’Or, the San Francisco pétanque club is in big trouble.
After years of glory, the second oldest club in the United States is on the verge of collapse.
It barely manages to attract a handful of players and its tournaments are sparsely attended.
It is obvious that the club needs help to stave off disaster.

But La Boule d’Or’s predicament is not unique.

Many pétanque clubs are steadily losing members and something needs to be done to counter this trend.

The problem in San Francisco and in Marin County is that these clubs were originally founded by native Frenchmen and attracted mainly French players.
Many of these old-timers passed away and practically none of their children (eager to conform with their American peers) took up that sport.

I said practically none because fortunately there are exceptions.
And the exceptions are Agnes and Gilbert Sonet.
Early on, this nice French couple instilled in their son Noah the love of pétanque. He started playing at 3 ½  and now at 11 he is already a remarkable player.
I predict that this boy will undoubtedly improve with age and soon be somebody to reckon with.
We need more people like Agnes and Gilbert… I think that we should look for ways to clone Noah.

But seriously… The only pétanque clubs thriving in America are clubs headed by younger Americans. And rightly so.
They have the savvy and the energy that many older French people don’t have anymore.

So what can we do to promote pétanque?

It seems to me that we need some incentive. We need to dangle some kind of carrot in front of youthful individuals to incite them to set foot on our fields.

What kind of carrot?  I don’t know.
I leave it to you readers to provide answers. Let me know if you have a killer idea susceptible to snare potential recruits.

If you do, I am pretty sure that our club could find a nice way to reward the person with  the best workable suggestion.

Get your brain in gear… On your mark, get set, go!

Alain

Let me start by paying tribute to the dedicated people who cleaned the field Saturday afternoon: Christine Cragg, Claudie Chourré, Helga Facchini, Antoine Lofaro, Charlie Davantes and Sabine Mattei.
Thank you very much to every one of you!
When you see any of these people, buy them a drink (or a lollipop) and give them 3 bonus points next time you play against them.

Back to the tournament.

Sunday was a mild day, bordering on the cool side. It was a little chilly in the morning and fair (with pesky gusts of wind) in the afternoon.
Registration closed at 9:30 a.m. meaning that people who lived outside the Bay Area had to get up pretty early to be there on time.
I am particularly thinking of the people from the Fresno Pétanque Club. It takes about three hours to come to Marin by car. This means that these people had probably to get up at 5:00 a.m. to be to the field on time.
This is what I call dedication to the game.

In the morning, warm coffee and croissants were available.

Forty-five (45) players, fifteen select triplettes registered to play. They were as follows:

1. Alain Marchand, Alain Efron, Evelyne Marchand
2. Charles Davantes, Helga Facchini, Liv Kraft
3. Henry Wessel, Dan Velasco, Calvert Barron
4. Bernard Passmar, J.M. Poulnot, Tamara Efron
5. By Vang, May Lee, Thomas Moua
6. Alain Gusella, Hendrik Idzerda, Minnette Etallaz
7. Steve Jones, Wolfgang Kurz, Christine Jones
8. George Zolinsky, Bill Hansen, Christine Cragg
9. Jean Claude Etallaz, J.C. Bunand, Sabine Matei
10. Etienne Rijkheer, Kevin Evoy, Carolina Jones
11. Frosty Sabo, Colette Van Der Meulen, Marcy Mallette
12. Paul Yang, Jer Thao, Chong Xiong
13. Patrick Vaslet, Hans Kurz, Holly Sammons
14. Barbara Hall, Erin McTaggart, Narin Garrett
15. Fue Vang, Nicolas Yang, Michel Yang

Three 13 points games (not timed) were played before lunch. In my opinion it is too much.
My team finished its third game at 1:30 p.m. (we were starved) and we had to restart playing shortly after that.
We need to start playing earlier (logistically difficult for some people) or strictly enforce a time limit for each pre-concours game.

After lunch, 8 teams qualified for the Concours and 7 teams for the Consolante.

After a successful morning run, my team was eliminated shortly after lunch and this gave me a chance to take a few pictures.
Unfortunately it is extremely difficult to use a long lens in a shaded environment. The photos you will see are the best I could produce under these conditions.
(Your comments are always welcome).

At the end of day (around 5:00 p.m.) the final results were as follows:

Concours:

1st   Place:  Patrick Vaslet, Hans Kurz, Holly Sammons –  $ 96.00 ($32 ea)

2nd  Place:  Paul Yang, Jer Thao, Chong Xiong –  $ 69.00 ($23 ea)
3rd   Place:  By Vang, May Lee, Thomas Moua – $42.00 ($14 ea)

As you can see, the Fresno club did extremely well (2^nd and 3^rd place) and Paul Yang’s team lost to Sonoma only by a hair (12/13). Absolutely nothing to be ashamed of and thank you all for making such a long trip to play with us.

Consolante:

1st Place:  Frosty Sabo, Marcy Mallette, Colette Van Der Meulen – $14.00 ea
2nd Place: Bernard Passmar, J.M. Poulnot, Tamara Efron – $10.00 ea

Another great pétanque day.

Thank you Pétanque Marinière and thank you all for coming to play in Marin’s sandbox.

Alain

PS: To look at pictures of this event, turn the sound on, click on the “Home” link at the top of the page, and click again on “My photos” located on the right side of the page.