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Vice President’s Report
At last we
finally have a mandate to move
forward. After years of having
draft constitutions presented to
AGMs and being rejected we now
have a workable document which
lends to giving Petanque New
Zealand the credibility it needs
to be seen as a structured
National organisation.
We now have a
five year strategic plan which
is reviewed at each Committee
meeting. The basis for the
national training programme is
all but in place and a new
selection policy or future New
Zealand teams is evolving. It is
an exciting time and should give
all our members a sense of being
proud to be involved in the
progressive sport/pastime of
petanque.
A number of codes
are struggling for members and
we should be aware that we must
continue to talk to people about
our passion. Get a boule in
their hand and hook them just
like somebody did with you.
The Rotorua
Pétanque Club as part of the
Government Garden games are
trying a letterbox drop to all
the residents of Rotorua, funded
by a pub charity, offering them
a good time on a Thursday night
when daylight saving starts. A
lot of Australian Bowling Clubs
are trying this with great
success. You most probably saw
this on TV two years ago. The
people will have a choice of
playing croquet, bowls or
petanque. The charge is to be $5
per person with no set starting
time but registration between
5.30pm to 7.00pm.
It’s a way of
involving as many people who
turn up without the pressures of
joining a club or wearing or
playing with the correct gear.
Yes your club has most probably
done this sort of thing already
but how long is it since you did
it with a partnership club. If
it worked why don’t you let us
know the positives. We all seem
to be doing something but we
aren’t coordinating the
procedures or learning from
other Clubs pitfalls.
All our clubs
information is included in the
new publication Brenda has put
together so why don’t you set up
a contact group with the clubs
you would like to be involved
with information wise and get
thee-mails moving. I love
getting mail about my sport.
The spring season
has arrived and the number of
tournaments and events start to
fill in the weekends. The
National Doubles are on in
Rotorua, Labour weekend. If you
haven’t entered why don’t you
come to the steaming city and
watch a few games, enjoy the
attractions and socialise with
our petanque family.
Good luck. Sorry
there is no such thing as good
luck only good shots and bad
shots so Murray tells me. Yes I
have got my rabbits foot Murray.
TrevorNeilson -
Vice President PNZ
2003
Peugeot National Singles
Championship, Bay View
The surprise
factor, created by the first
day’s random draw added an
interesting dimension to the
Peugeot National Singles. There
were various levels of
apprehension and excitement for
the 54 players on completing
each game searching the draw to
see whom they had drawn in their
next.
As a result every
game was important and for most
players it wasn’t until the end
of the days play, that they
found out if they had qualified
or not in the top 32 for the
next days play. This new system
for seeding the second day’s
play received a general thumbs
up from the players as many
enjoyed playing first day games
against opponents whom in past
Nationals they may not have met
until the final part of the
competition.
A bonus received
by the top 32 players, was their
allocation of points on a
graduated scale towards
potential selection for the
National Team for the Trans
Tasman Tournament next year.
Sunday arrived
and glimpses of the ‘dependable’
Hawkes Bay sunshine peaked out
from under the rain clouds. By
lunchtime 16 players were ready
for the knockout phase of the
competition.
Masterton’s
Barbara Johnston was flying the
flag for the ‘ferns’ and
produced a popular third equal
placing with the ‘incomparable’
Christian Fouquet. The fashion
conscious Roy Zeier sporting the
casual relaxed look (shirt
hanging out, shoelaces undone
and peaked cap tilted to the
side) idled his way through to
his second National final in
succession. In the final,
everyone’s favourite Georgio
Vakauta added to his impressive
tally of National titles by
defeating Roy 13 - 9.
Also worthy of
mention was the sole South
Island representative, Dunedin’s
Branko Cvjetan who was
successful making the quarter
finals.
There were many
‘characters’ playing petanque
over the weekend. One of them (I
won’t mention his name) Ian Bak-
- thought he had lost his
cell-phone at the tournament. A
week later Ian purchased a new
phone but to add to his problems
he realized that one of his feet
appeared swollen as his shoe
fitted a lot tighter than
normal. Ian hobbled home and
pleased to get off his feet sat
down and proceeded to take off
his shoes. Now believe it or
not, guess what dropped out of
his shoe the missing cellphone.
I will say no more but thank you
Terry Lambert for the story.
The photographer
for the local paper ‘Hawkes Bay
Today’ arrived to take a few
snap shots of the action down on
the piste, which did not go
unnoticed by Christian who
generally is not slow coming
forward to volunteer for media
interviews and photographs. It
was not to be and instead the
local ‘lass’ Denise Bavidge
featured in a striking pose on
page three of the Monday
edition.
Trevor Neilson
after having mixed results from
his weekends play and coming to
the conclusion that ‘luck’ seems
to have deserted him, has
ordered a rabbit’s foot to
support his cause for future
tournaments. The mind boggles to
the potential outcome of
Trevor’s actions particularly if
there are signs of improved
results. There will be three
legged rabbits running around
Rotorua along with shoeless
horses and Trevor volunteering
to mow everyone’s cloverleaf
lawns.
Another very
significant result from the
weekend was the unanimous
passing of the new constitution
to a much relieved gathering at
the PNZ’s Special General
Meeting held at the end of the
first day’s play.
Murray Porter
2003 Peugeot National Championships Results
2003 World Championships, Geneva, Switzerland
Geneva 2003
The
New Zealand team of Seti Mailei,
Allan Fletcher, Andrew Mailei
and Georgio Vakauta met us in
the Ramada Hotel Geneva after we
arrived on a bullet train from
Paris. Graeme, Linda, Sue and I
had just finished a 14 day tour
of Europe together. That’s
another story.
The
team had arrived on the same day
but at an earlier time and tried
to source a playing surface,
where they could practice. A
rough area in a builder’s yard
had been the closest they could
find.
At
7.00pm I offered to find them
something in a wider circle. I
obtained a bicycle from the
hotel and rode off towards the
airport and found two pistes
behind a swimming/tennis club
one block from the hotel.
Unfortunately due to my lack of
French I paid for two tennis
courts to be booked that night
from 8.00pm until dark (10.00pm)
at a cost of 30chf ($50). On
returning to the hotel the team
couldn’t be found. Graeme and I
searched the streets in an
effort to find them but to no
avail. The pistes weren’t used
that night.
The
next day we went to the stadium
early, on two different public
bus routes and walked a large
block. Time taken 45 minutes.
Access was allowed into the
stadium and the surface was
examined. Vita one of the Swiss
organisers was very helpful and
receptive.
We
were the first team to arrive.
The terrain had been under
construction for three weeks and
still more work had to be done
before the final surface was
achieved. In the interest of
getting an insight into the
terrain construction, Georgio
translated and we managed to get
a floor plan of the stadium with
details of the materials used.
It
was noticed that the New Zealand
flag was hung from the roof in
the front row in exactly the
middle for the bulk of the
spectators to see. No we didn’t
know why, just accepted it with
a smile on our faces. We tried
to register but were asked to
return the following day.
We
had access to a bouledrome
behind the stadium but on
investigation it wasn’t open.
There were supposedly three
terrains available for practice.
Vita and another helper, Serena
took us in their cars to a large
sport’s area on the outskirts of
Geneva CBD. There were 16 public
pistes available.
After a couple of hot hours play
we found a supermarket and
bought lunch. It was decided to
return to the hotel by walking
into the city and catching a
bus. Later that afternoon with
Georgio’s French we were able to
reorganise the tennis courts for
petanque terrain’s and practice.
From one of the locals playing
on the terrain we were able to
establish they were actually
free public pistes.
There was a large swimming pool
in the complex and on leaving we
were unable to get a refund on
the misunderstanding but instead
scored free swims for all the
time we would be in Geneva.
The
four star accommodation at the
Ramada Hotel was excellent if a
long way from the venue. Access
to free email was something we
hadn’t had for the previous 6
weeks. There were 15 other teams
due to stay there as well.
The
next morning we went back to the
Offices at the Stadium and
registered as a team. We were
given a satchel with programme
etc. had photos taken and ID
cards prepared. The camera broke
at the point Andrew was having
his photo taken but all was
eventually repaired.
I
would like to thank Graeme who
included my presence in the
group of 6 representatives who
were accepted as the New Zealand
contingent by the Swiss
organisers.
I
must admit I did have a busy
time with these World Champs. No
complaints but considering I was
suppose to be a supporter on
holiday I had actually become
included in the playing team on
the official website before we
left by mistake.
At
the registration they had only
one spare title and that was
coach which did allow me into
the stadium and eventually onto
the terrain with the team. At
one stage I walked along the
middle path of the terrain to
get behind and watch the French
and Portugal teams who were
playing. An Arbiter came along
and told me to return to my team
there was no watching from the
terrain walkway.
The
boys invited the USA team who
had since arrived at the hotel,
to play on our terrain. Many
hours of practice were put in
and included the inevitable
swim. That night our country
cousins had arrived. Aussie,
Aussie, Aussie. Gerard, son
Quinsley and Mico from
Queensland making up the team
with Andre and Chinka the
entourage and sub player
Jean-Jacque.
Gerard had lost a suitcase while
getting held up with delays en
route and as it contained their
boules they were a bit
concerned. It did eventually
turn up the next day.
Wednesday was the start of the
meetings. Graeme asked if I
would attend a workshop on
formatting so he could go to a
different one. About 12 people
were in attendance. Two remits
one from Spain and one from
France were on the agenda for
the next day’s delegates meeting
and a further one had been
prepared by the International
body.
Fortunately I was with Andre
from Australia otherwise I would
still be none the wiser. The
whole session was in French and
nothing was resolved except the
remits which were going to be
put to the delegates meeting for
a vote. Besides the countries
arguing their case, Russia and
Switzerland with us were the
only countries in attendance.
Meanwhile the team was locked
into a three-way practice
session with Australia and USA.
We had to be at the stadium to
be taken to a mayoral reception
late afternoon.
The
Swiss and FIPJP entertained us
at a large Swiss villa in the
grounds of a public park. All
the introductions were done in
French and the crowds seem to
ignore them and carried on
eating nibbles and drinking
fruit juice. The wine wasn’t
great.
The
buses then took everybody back
to the venue, which incidentally
were two ice skating rinks. The
tournament was in the larger
with floor to ceiling seating
and the smaller was used as the
dining hail.
The
opening ceremony started at
8.00pm. Our expectations were
high for a great night’s
entertainment. The spare video
brought over by the team to
replace mine, which had got
cooked in England, was not
performing so we were unable to
catch the moments. The teams
were led out with a young person
from the Swiss Petanque School
carrying the countries banner. A
band played music to accompany
them.
After more of the French spoken
welcome and opening nothing
happened. There was no Swiss
entertainment. We were herded to
the dining hall and queued up
for a buffet where the plates
were filled by the staff. It was
late; the euphoria wasn’t
present so we all went home.
Disappointed, our expectations
had not been met.
Thursday - the shooting
competition began. Georgio
captured 24 points but needs 25
to go into the repechage. The
surprise was Gerard from
Australia; who scored 41 and was
in the top four and the final
rounds.
Graeme attended the congress and
yes he had an English
translation. I offered to find a
rental video camera and went
back into Geneva City but alas
no success.
I
don’t intend to go into all the
games played by New Zealand as I
have reported most of that from
Geneva. Nobody talked about the
terrain surface which was hard
with a sharp metal grit cover,
it’s the same for everybody and
yes it was difficult to play as
the days progressed until you
saw the last four teams in the
semis.
They had the training, skills
and consistency. You can’t say
New Zealand had easy pools, as
every country is tough
especially when you only meet
say seven of them once a year.
There were 52 teams including
two from Switzerland, the hosts
and two from France, the
defending champions and the next
best.
We
definitely need a supporters
group with only Sue, Linda and
our Kiwi leprechaun Phil Doyle
from Ireland cheering the team
on. It was difficult to give
them a lift in spirits when the
going got tough. When you see
Denmark with about 50 supporters
doing a chant and the team
reacting to achieve results it
certainly brings it home.
The
heat inside the stadium was
terrible. 37degrees in Geneva on
the final day the hottest since
1921 and we were inside with
these huge cardboard hands
fanning ourselves to get air
circulating. There were doors
available to open but because
there was a charge and security
at the two open doors the rest
remained closed.
The
communication from the control
point was all in French and very
often contradictory. You were
told pool teams and piste
numbers and then they were
changed. Not conducive when you
are trying to settle your team
down in one place and getting
them to throw boules to find
their rhythm.
For
the Gala evening at a cost of
125 chf ($200) we were led to
believe that we were going out
on a large boat on Lake Geneva
to be wined and dined. As usual
we ended up in the same dining
hall where the team had been
feed each day of the
competition. A stage had been
erected but no other decorating
for the special occasion had
been carried out.
I
don’t think I fully appreciated
the New Zealand involvement in
the Worlds until the final
night. We all arrived in bright
New Zealand shirts, plenty of
red, black and white, kiwis and
Maori patterns. Thanks Allan it
was a great idea. We looked a
team compared to most of the
other countries and everybody
stared.
While waiting out in the car
park to go inside an old guy
with a floral shirt who had
obviously been at the beer stall
since the finals had finished
earlier, wanted to buy mine so I
said 2Oeuro ($40). He duly
pulled out to my surprise a 20
euro note and gave it to me. I
then, with somebody translating
had to back out with the
explanation I needed to wear the
shirt that night to be part of
the New Zealand contingent. He
was most disappointed.
Free wine was supplied. No
wonder its free I never tasted a
decent free wine the whole time
we were away so duly the beers
were bought by all and sundry to
shout the New Zealand team.
Everybody stood around the stage
as the presentation of the
trophies took place. We then
found our seating arrangement
and knew somebody shifted our
nameplates to the back of the
venue. Who was it?
The
meal was delivered to our table
very slowly and in between the
first and second course because
of the delays, the boys were
asked to come forward and do the
haka. The French teams, both
finalists, were lined up and the
New Zealand team came forward
and placed a shell lei around
their necks.
When they stepped back and took
their shirts off to challenge
them one of the French team
whipped his shirt off too and
started to move in face to face.
As you can imagine it was a
full-blooded haka with a newly
developed intro especially
developed for the occasion. The
crowd got out of their seats all
moving forward with cameras
clicking to add to the
atmosphere.
After it had all settled down
from the hugs and kisses, the
French teams wanted the New
Zealand shirts so if you see
anybody walking around in a
white dress shirt with a red and
blue band and a FFPJP logo you
know where it came from. Sue had
to stand in a huddle with the
Kiwi guys backing in so she
could strip off to change hers.
What you do to score a shirt.
Lots of teams came up to our
tables and socialised after and
the Russians wanted signatures
on their poster. They gave each
of the team a hand carved wooden
doll, each a different size.
This added to the frivolity, if
you want to know why ask Georgio
what size he got.
The
UK contingent shouted beers, we
ate with the Irish, and the
African teams love Georgio and
wanted their pictures taken with
him. The team from Mauritania
dressed in their beautiful white
robes came to the party for
pictures; we adopted Mr. Happy
from Senegal. He is a young guy
who never stopped smiling, could
only speak French and just
couldn’t swap his shirt for mine
as somebody explained they could
only afford one each and it was
his first.
At
midnight we finally got our
dessert. The place was emptying
out by this stage - enough was
enough. It was a long hard week
and the next day everybody went
somewhere towards home.
We
were all due to fly out to
Frankfurt late that afternoon
and little did we know what was
in store at the Geneva check in.
We were all overweight.
Disaster. The boys ended up
moving all their petanque boules
into one bag and went to carry
it on board but the staff took
it off them and placed it in the
hold free of charge. As the
flight from Frankfurt to
Singapore and Auckland was all
one link no luggage had to be
reweighed so they were home
scot-free.
Trevor Neilson
Team Manager's Report
The
New Zealand team once again
performed very well as the
following results show. The team
finished with an overall ranking
of 31st= which although this was
a drop from the ranking of 17th=
in 2002 the team finished the
tournament at the same stage as
the previous year.
The
reason for the drop was because
we qualified for the second
round of the championships
through the repechage, whereas
last year we qualified directly
after the first round.
In
fact, the team equalled the
record for the most number of
games played by a New Zealand
team at the World Championships
(10) which was the same as in
Portugal in 2000.
The
team also had a record number of
wins for a New Zealand team at
the World Championships which is
four.
As
an illustration of how close to
the top 16 we are, we beat
Norway 13 - 5 in the second
round of the championships and
they went on to make the top 16.
We also had very close games
against Monaco (11 - 13) who
were quarterfinalists in the
Nations Cup and against
Seychelles (6 - 13) (a closer
game than the score indicates)
and they were semi finalists in
the Nations Cup.
Had
we beaten Singapore (7 - 13) in
our last game (and the game
could have gone either way) we
would have gone further than any
previous New Zealand team at the
World Championships.
In
my opinion there is not a lot
between the teams that finish
between about 12th and 35th. One
missed shot or a misjudgement in
tactics can result in the team
dropping several places. Some of
the other teams are now saying
that we have become very
competitive and we are a country
that is taken very seriously at
this level.
The
team would like to thank all
those clubs, associations and
individuals that contributed to
the team getting to Geneva. It
was certainly very much
appreciated.
Graeme
Morris
Club News – Bastille 2003
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St Kilda
Petanque Club
Dunedin are
very proud of their 12 large
new pistes with great
facilities and ample car
parking. All this is shared
with the St Kilda Bowling
Club.
The club was
delighted to host the 4th
Bastille Day Doubles
Tournament in July. As in
past years the weather was
fine and sunny for the
middle of winter and a great
time was enjoyed by the 65
players who attended.
The finals
were fought out between
Janet Godin & Branko Cvjetan
and Ann Sinclair & Mark
Choveaux, from Caversham
with Janet & Branko coming
out winners and Dale Finnie
& Albie Thomas from St Kilda
third.
Dale Finnie
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Hibiscus
Coast Petanque Club
Being the
oldest established club in
the country with a very
staunch French membership
and following, Bastille Day
is always celebrated by the
Hibiscus Coast Petanque Club
on the closest Sunday to
July 14.
Traditionally
the club has hosted informal
gatherings of boulistes,
hosted dinner and dances or
found some other way of
celebrating the French
National Day. This year was
no exception.
Conversely,
the club has also held games
during foul weather, danced
the Can Can in the mud, and
fading light has been know
to prevent play at the end
of the day.
Greeted by a
perfect Auckland winters
morning (15 degrees with no
wind or cloud). 18 teams of
doubles gathered to enjoy
playing the game of petanque
for the sake of playing.
There were no
prizes at the end of the
day. but plenty of music,
food, wine and laughter.
A gourmet
luncheon, compliments of the
club and washed down with
copious quantities of wine,
was served after two games.
Fromage and Apple Strudel
were served after the third
game and nobody really cared
about what happened in the
fourth game!
At the end of
the day, everyone was still
standing and eventually
departed having enjoyed a
fabulous, leisurely outing.
The Club must say an
appreciative thank you to
the Hibiscus Coast Raiders
Rugby League Club for their
help, along with John and
Debbie Greig who provided
their fabulous motor home as
the clubhouse!.
Rosie Muir
PNZ National
Representative Selection Process
The level and
depth of petanque in New Zealand
has now reached the point where
the current method of selection
of the team to represent New
Zealand at the World
Championships is no longer
appropriate.
Accordingly. from
2004, the winner of the National
Triples will not be
automatically eligible to
represent New Zealand at the
World championships.
Instead, a
selection process has been
devised, which will apply to all
representative teams, that is,
for World Championships
(including Women’s and Junior),
Oceania, Trans Tasman Challenge,
and other overseas events to
which PNZ is invited to send a
team.
The process has
been designed to be open,
transparent, and accessible to
all. It is aimed at providing
more players with more
opportunity to develop their
game to international standards,
and as such is closely aligned
with PNZ’s coaching strategy.
Step One
An initial pool
of players has been identified,
based on placings in national
championships since 1998. The
people on this list will be
contacted directly and asked if
they wish to be considered for
representative selection in
2004.
In addition,
regional associations and clubs
will be asked to nominate other
players from their area/club who
they feel should be included for
consideration, based on, for
example, local tournament
results, club championships.
This is to cover those players
who may be of a similar standard
to those on the list, but who
for various reasons may not have
entered national tournaments.
Step Two
From this group,
envisaged to be around 50 - 60
players, a smaller squad of
around 20 - 30 will be selected.
Membership of
this squad will be flexible. Its
composition will be assessed on
a regular basis, and members may
come and go depending on
availability and performance.
Step Three
This squad will
then be required to participate
in a training camp, at which
individual performance will be
assessed, and representative
teams for the various
international tournaments will
be chosen by a panel of
selectors. The selectors will
not be part of the draft squad.
Players will be
able to choose which of the
tournaments they wish to make
themselves available for (for
example, be available for the
Trans Tasman but not for the
World Championships).
Step Four
The chosen
representative teams will then
be required to participate in a
further training camp, to train
for and trial combinations for
the specific event in question.
This camp will be run by the
team manager/coach. PNZ’s aim is
to eventually have a qualified,
dedicated coach to train and
accompany all teams representing
New Zealand at overseas events.
At this stage,
participation in training camps
will be at the participants’
expense. However, it is proposed
to equalise travel costs, so
that the cost for each
participant will be the same. |
