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1996 National Triples
Championship -
It’s not over till it’s over!
New NZ Champions
Jean-Pierre Bedel, Phillip
Bourrel, Pam Jenkins proved the
truth of the old saying when
they came from 8 - 13 behind to
snatch victory 15 - 14 from
Christian Fouquet. Jean Pene and
Niau Ruta in a final that
rivalled the concurrent Tvson -
Holyfield scrap for drama and
tension.
The National
Championship once again
attracted sponsorship from Air
New Zealand, Peugeot and Hotel
Du Vin for which the NZPA is
extremely appreciative. The new
format of two teams proceeding
from the first day’s pool play
to a further round of pool play
on the second day culminating in
the pool winners engaging in a
straight knock out seemed to
find general favour. As ever the
NZPA is open to suggestions for
fine tuning procedures.
The two teams in
the finals will have the honour
of representing NZ in the 1997
World Championship in France.
1996 World Championships, Essen,
Germany
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New Zealand Teams
Clem Boer, Steve
Lawry, Laurel Priestley
Jean-Pierre Bedel,
Patrick Bon, Gavin Campbell
Report
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 NZ 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 NZ(2) gained its
victory over the Seychelles
though earlier in the evening
they were heading for success
against the Czech Republic.
NZ(1) met Austria
early in the morning about
l0.00am. The Austrians arrived
late, one of the players 'sans
boules' possibly after a hard
night the night before and went
on to give NZ(1) their sole
victory.
All the NZ 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 'plombe'
technique of pointing are still
a couple of areas which would
help improve our international
success rate.
-
FIPJP seat for
NZPA secretary
Cam Calder
attended the Congress of the
FIPJP which took place before
the Championships started. A
vacancy occured because of
retirement of a sitting member
and Cam was elected to the
executive committee of the FIPJP
- a huge but very worthwhile
challenge.
-
Magic in Marseille
After 3 days in
the beautiful village of Fayence
playing petanque with the locals
who Noel and Lyn Hunt of Napier
Club introduced me to I went to
Marseille where Hervé Rofritsch
of La Boule Bleue invited me to
play in 'Le premier trophee des
personalities'. Here
enthusiastic amateurs are teamed
with ex-world champions or
French champions.
I had the
pleasure of playing with Tam
Alba a semi-finalist in the
Marseillaese a huge tournament
and Jean Calvez an ex-French
champion. We lost our first game
against the team of 6 times
World Champion.
Albert Pisapia
then progressed through to the
finals of the so called 'Petite
Competition' so I now have a
very ornate trophy in the house.
A hugely enjoyable experience, a
great atmosphere - everyone
playing for the fun of the game
and all the champions being very
supportive of the efforts of the
rest of us.
In a speech at
the end of the event which
brought a tear to my eye Jean-
Pierre Escallier a previous
champion of France declared he
was going to give one of his
championship winners shirts to
me for the NZPA. A photo taken
of me speaking in French
thanking him shows looks of
bafflement and bewilderment on
the faces of those listening but
I am assured by Hervé that
though the French tongue was
barbarously treated the message
did get through.
I thought it was
superb that Marseille the
epicentre of the game should
extend such a gesture to NZ, one
of the newest, smallest and
certainly furtherest country
from them to play the game. I
was reminded of the following
quote I saw at the International
Petanque Museum at St Bonnet le
Chateau
“We will remain
proud of having created this
peaceful game that has been
round the world thereby working
for better relationships between
peoples that is to say for
peace.” - Marcel Pagnod
Cam
Calder
NZ Schools Petanque Association
up and running
After a long
gestation period the NZSPA has
been founded and the first
tournaments held. President Lou
Borok, Secretary Fiona Brick and
Cam Calder organised the first
Auckland Regional Championship
whilst Dirk Winnie took care of
the Inaugural Wellington
Regional Championships.
Major sponsorship
has been obtained from
publishing giant Scholastic and
Boules to You. 3500 schools
throughout the country were
notified of the formation of the
Schools Association. It is hoped
that as the game develops
nationally - schools tournaments
will follow across the country.
Certainly
feedback from those associated
with the first events was
extremely encouraging. The
School’s Association has
welcomed the support it has
received from Kiwi Sport and the
NZ Secondary Schools Sports
Council.
Interestingly in
Auckland despite the field
containing teams from High
schools, Intermediate schools
and Primary schools the 4
semi-finalists were all from
primary schools - the winners
Remuera primary. In Wellington
the first regional champions
were Hutt Intermediate.
News from the Clubs
Auckland
Petanque Association
Entry fees
from the first Auckland
Regional Championship will
be paid into the new APA
Account immediately giving
it funds and meaning that no
separate levy need be made
on players and clubs.
Individual
players need only concern
themselves with their club
subscription and the token
$10 annual NZPA subscription
which more and more clubs
are collecting on be half of
their members and forwarding
direct to the NZPA.
It is envisaged
the APA will provide a forum for clubs to
arrange tournament dates and
possibly a regular Auckland
club league. Details Geoff
Hughes
Christchurch Petanque Club
The club has a beautiful terrain at
the RSA Bowling Club, Hagley
Park - well worth a visit if
passing through Christchurch
this summer. You will
receive a warm welcome from
the members. Contact David
Direen
Cabbage Tree
Terrain
Home of the
Mt Albert club is a
beautiful playing area which
meanders through a small
stand of native bush at
Gribblehurst Park. The
adjoining Edenvale Bowling
club members provide a warm
welcome to visitors.
Winners of
their first tournament were
John Pettit and Niau Ruta
over Jean- Pierre Bedel and
Pam Jenkins. Thanks to Les
Thompson and Bruce Milburn
for organising a very
enjoyable day.
Club meets
Wednesday 4.00pm and
Saturday 2.00pm. Details Les
Thompson.
Cockle Bay Petanque Club
The club meets regularly
Wednesday and Sunday
afternoons. Monthly
tournaments first Sunday of
every month. Details Bev and
Buster Emsen or Peter and
Rita de Beer.
Epsom
Petanque Club
The Epsom
Club has signed on over 100
members and are currently
renovating their already
palatial premises.
Herne Bay Petanque Club
Thursday morning and
Friday evening meetings are
on again as well as Sunday
afternoons if there are no
tournaments on. The club has
held a number of corporate
events and the money will be
used to help our members in
the NZ team Jean- Pierre Bedel and Christian Fouquet
travel overseas and
eventually repaint the club
house.
The Glengarry
Spring Touranment held at
Herne Bay was a huge success
very generously supported by
Joe Jacicevich of Glengany.
Louis Mesnage, Jean Claude
Rapon and Patrick Bon won
over a strong challenge from
Jorg Schulze, John Pettit
and Allan Fletcher.
Napier
Petanque Club
Napier -
largely thanks to the drive
and enthusiasm of Noel and
Lyn Hunt have a permanent
home with the Napier Bowling
Club. The club recently
hosted a visit by National
Coach Christian Fouquet
which was useful to all
members. Itinerant petanque
players always welcome.
Details from Noel Hunt.
Stanley
Bay Petanque Club
The club celebrated
their formation with a
tournament attended by over
100 players. The terrain
needs to mature somewhat
still as the contractors
thought they knew best and
ignored the instructions
given them but the setting
is idyllic on the shores of
Ngataringa Bay and the club
is home to a growing number
of enthusiasts. Work is
underway to sort the terrain
out.
Tole Street Reserve,
Ponsonby
The local
community, thanks to the
enthusiasm of Diane Percy,
now have a compact purpose
built terrain in its midst.
An opening party attracted
over 30 enthusiasts. It is
great that more and more
such community based
terrains are appearing
throughout the country.
Corporate League to start in the
New Year
A corporate
league is planned to commence
early in 1997 sponsored by
'Boules to You' and Glengarry, to
be held each Monday evening at
the Epsom Club, 6.00pm start
over a period of 8 weeks of
summer and limited to 16 teams.
Only 8 places
left for any business to
register their interest in
competing. Details Geoff Hughes
or John Harding.
World Champion to
Coach in New Zealand?
The NZPA through
Christian Fouquet have been in
contact with past World Champion
Marco Foyot in an effort to
bring him here to New Zealand in
February.
The idea is to arrange
coaching clinics with interested
parties throughout the country.
Arrangements have yet to be
confirmed - regional NZPA reps
will be notified as news comes
to hand.
Cam Calder, Secretary NZPA |
