• New Zealand Teams

• 'Boule Blacks' off to Essen

• Essen Events

Clem Boer, Steve Lawry, Laurel Priestley

Jean-Pierre Bedel, Patrick Bon, Gavin Campbell

Clem Boer, Steve Lawry, Laurel Priestley, Jean-Pierre Bedel, Patrick Bon and Gavin Campbell will make up New Zealand’s two teams at this years World Championships in Essen, Germany, 26th - 29th September.

Patrick gained selection to replace, late withdrawal Tony Christiansen, by virtue of having been in the 3rd team at the 1995 Nationals.

The general standard of play has risen significantly in New Zealand over the last year with many having the opportunity to play against quality international opposition at this years Air New Zealand Open.

The indoor terrain at the Herne Bay club has also been an excellent amenity for the National representatives to avail themselves of so we can be guardedly optimistic regarding their prospects.

We wish them good fortune in adding to NZ ‘s currently modest list of international successes in petanque.

Chris Priestley and Berit Boer will be accompanying the team as coaches and Cam Calder will once again be NZPA delegate to the Congress of the FIPJP which takes place before the tournament begins. Topics to be debated at the Congress include:

• Who should bear the costs of teams participating at a World Championship - as petanque grows in popularity across the globe and more and more countries send teams to the World Championships it is becoming impossible for one country to bear the expenses of accommodating each delegation. As a result currently no country has offered to hold the 1997 World Championships.

• A proposal will be debated that the fees paid by each country should be determined by the number of licence holders each country has. A further proposal is that the more licence holders a country has the greater the number of votes at the FIPJP the country would get. I expect debate to be fierce on this one!

Cam Calder, 'Boules Gazette', Spring 1996, Issue 5

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The Grugehalle in Essen was converted into a huge indoor petanque terrain for September 26 - 29. As the closing ceremony drew to a close work started on removing the crushed brick and stones terrain and restoring the hall to its pristine state.

During the World Championships the two New Zealand teams faced a fairly arduous program with over 70 teams participating - depending on the draw a team could find itself playing at 2.00am!

It was about this time that New Zealand (2) gained it's victory over the Seychelles though earlier in the evening they were heading for success against the Czech Republic.

New Zealand (1) met Austria early in the morning about 10.00am. The Austrians arrived late, one of the players “sans boules” possibly after a hard night the night before and went on to give New Zealand (1) their sole victory.

All the New Zealand teams learnt a lot from their experience and enjoyed the camaraderie of being part of the wider petanque family.

Consistent accuracy with shooting and mastering of the “plomber” technique of pointing are still a couple of areas which would help improve our international success rate.

Cam Calder, 'Boules Gazette', December 1996, Issue 6