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2007 Singapore International
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New Zealand Teams
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NZ(1):
Ron Sandilands, Simon Faby, Murray
Porter
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NZ(2): David Lippard, Georgio Vakauta, Andre
Noel
The terrain looked like an
unsealed country road covered
with mixed grades of gravel
which was a world away from the
playing surfaces that we are
used to playing on in New
Zealand. Shooting on the full
was the only option for removing
boule and the pointers needed to
identify, their landing spots if
our teams were going to have any
success.
Seventeen teams made up the
field with many of them using
the Singapore Tournament to fine
tune themselves before going on
to the World Championships in
Thailand.
To qualify in the top eight for
the second day playoffs, two
wins were required on day one.
Ron, Simon and I drew David, Georgio and Andre in our first
game and after going out to a
handy 12 - 7 lead, we faltered
and they grabbed the opportunity
going on to defeat us 13 - 12.
We defeated Japan and lost to
Slovakia and Malaysia, which
meant that we needed to beat
Singapore to go through but
again after having the lead for
most of the game we did not capitalise on our opportunities
and went down 12 - 13.
NZ(2) won four of their five
games and qualified in the top
eight teams finishing a credible
fifth place.
A key game for them
was against Thailand Port
Authority in the quarter finals
and after having a substantial
lead and having opportunities to
finish the game they went down
12 - 13.
Ron and Georgio performed in the
shooting competition with Ron
qualifying in eighth position
with 27 points but was knocked
out in the quarter finals.
Singapore fielded predominantly
youth teams with most of the
players being in their early
teens. There is a strong focus
in Singapore to introducing
petanque as a sporting option in
the schools.
As it is the
Singapore Federation employ
retiree Eddie Lim as
CEO and he
administers the game from an
office at the Sports Stadium.
During the week he also coaches
groups of children from the
surrounding schools as part of
their physical education
program.
The Singapore Association have
formed an arrangement with a
past World Champion French
player to spending two weeks,
twice a year in Singapore having
a holiday and doing some
coaching.
I understand that
Eddie has the French Coach stay
at his place. The few practise
days before the tournament we
observed the French Coach
spending four to five hours per
day schooling up local girl,
Vicki Heo, on her shooting
technique.
In the first round of the
Shooting Competition that is
held in conjunction with the
tournament, Vicki went on and
scored a world class result of
50 points. Unfortunately she was
unable to reproduce such a score
at the knockout stage and was
beaten in the quarter finals.
Every second shop in Singapore
seems to be a cafe, a restaurant
or food outlet of some
description.
One night we
decided to sample the local
cuisine and ended up seated at
restaurant down some alleyway.
The waiter keen to please
offered us ‘genuine’ western
meals for as little as $3 ...
How could we refuse?
I am not sure what meat we were
eating particularly as when we
were half way through our meals
a large rat ran along the wall
behind us. David with a
concerned look on his face
hailed the waiter and explained
"you have a rat in your
restaurant".
The waiter looked
indignantly at David and
replied, "haven't you ever seen
a rat in a restaurant and anyway
I wouldn't worry too much about
that because the meal you are
eating is high in cholesterol".
We think the waiter was trying
to be humorous but by that time
we decided it was time to call
it a day and head back to the
hotel.
Georgio and Andre flew back to
New Zealand the day after the
tournament ended and as the rest
of us had a free day before
leaving for Thailand, we decided
to do some sight seeing and
visited Jurong Bird Park.
It was
here that the immaculately
dressed Simon received a message
from the heavens, whereby one of
the local feathered friends
scored a direct hit on Simon's
white collar and down his neck.
After Simon finished waving his
hands in the air and giving the
bird its pedigree, he concluded
that it must be a sign of good
luck for the team at the World
Champs.
Murray Porter
2007
World Championships,
Pattaya, Thailand
Manager's Report
It was an emotional moment, one
that many of us will never
forget, when a team of three
affable gentlemen won the
national championships and to
boot, the additional prize of
representing New Zealand at the
World Championships in Thailand.
I can only hope to be playing
still in my 70's, what an
amazing achievement.
As we have come to expect, these
highly organised men took it in
their stride and Monday morning
was business as usual. So you
can imagine when I got the call
from PNZ to me that my
application to be the manager
was accepted I was truly
delighted. It was my chance to
put something back into the
sport that has offered me so
much and to share an indelible
experience with three gentlemen.
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Preparation
This team was already prepared;
they had played together for
many tournaments and over a
number of seasons. There was no
need to worry about the various
phases that a new team goes
through as they had already done
that and was now in the
performing phase of their
development.
What also made my job easier was
their maturity and application
to tasks we set. They stuck with
it and trained hard. I soon
realised however that whilst
they behaved as a team each
player had very different needs,
so we set individual programmes
to accommodate this.
I sat down
with each player separately,
Murray by phone on a regular
basis and discussed their
progress, I always felt that I
had the complete trust of each
player which is vital if you are
to gel as a team.
This could largely be attributed
to the fact that the team had
expressed a desire for me to be
part of the team, rather than me
being imposed upon them by PNZ.
I had learnt a fair bit about
team spirit and gelling when I
went to the World Championships
in 2005, so I was able to draw
on this experience and apply
what worked and avoid what
didn't work.
I don't say that we
got all things right but I do
think we went as a team and we
returned as a team. I was also
fortunate enough to exchange
views and experiences with the
Australian coach with whom I had
spent time with in
Melbourne during the Trans Tasman challenge.
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The Venue
The hotel was superb. We were
met by the familiar faces of
Christian, Rolinka and Terry who
had organised our rooms and
registration. It felt good to be
back amongst it and without the
pressure of being a player
although I still had pressure
because I was part of this team
and wanted to do well and have a
good experience.
All the petanque stars were there and
our team was able to rub
shoulders with those they had
been watching on video or others
players back in New Zealand had
spoken about.
The stadium was new and very
well equipped. It was air
conditioned which helped us to
acclimatise but they did have a
problem regulating the
temperature and on many
occasions we had to put on our
jackets. The catering was done
by Thai Air and was first class;
I think we all came back many
pounds heavier.
The terrain was
road metal compacted to a very
hard surface with "gap 60"
sprinkled randomly as a surface.
The terrain was watered each
evening and compacted. It was
like nothing our team had played
on before and would prove to be
a very difficult pointing
terrain.
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The Draw
The draw was completed in the
presence of everyone at the
opening gala. It was a very
tense moment as this determines
the fate of middle nations like
New Zealand. We were very
fortunate with our draw and left
the gala confident that we could
achieve a good result. The two
seeded teams in our pool were
Belgium and Italy both of whom consistently finish in the top eight and
frequently in the top four.
The remaining teams were
Australia (who we had met in Singapore and in the Trans Tasman),
Japan (who we had also met in
Singapore) and Taiwan who was
here for the first time. We
figured that we could beat
Japan and Taiwan and if we played well we could also beat our foes
Australia.
Prior to arriving we
had set ourselves a series of
objectives the first of which
was to win our first game.
Having received the draw we
believed our objective could be realised in
Round 1 and we
therefore set a goal of
qualification into Round 2.
We had gained invaluable
knowledge of how our team was
performing through the months of
training and finally in
tournament conditions in
Singapore. We were able to build
on this and plan our strategy
for each game in this
tournament.
I had decided to
score the games to assist with
decision making and to ensure
that I could recognise patterns
of play and plan our strategy
accordingly. On the whole this
worked very well and we turned a
number of games around following
strategic calls on the basis of
patterns of play.
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Preliminary Round
New Zealand 6 - Belgium 13
We had no expectation in this
game as this was one of the
favourite teams. We got drawn on
the first terrain which had
patches of nothing but hard base
course and as you can imagine it
was very hard to point on.
We
decided to play Murray first
point Simon middle and Ron
shooter. Belgium won the toss
and threw the jack to eight metres.
Belgium's first point was not
good and Murray beat it. Belgium
took the point back and we used
all our boules.
Belgium shot three times and made a mistake giving us the point. Both teams
struggled with parts of the
terrain and
Belgium's shooter was not having
a good game.
After eight ends
the score was New Zealand 6
Belgium 6, so we were still in
the game. Belgium then played
slightly better and the game was
over three ends later.
New Zealand 1 - Italy 13
Sticking with the same team
formation, we again had no
expectation in this game. This
was a very different game to our
first.
Italy played in a style that I had seen often as they decided to
attack most of our featuring
boule.
The first shooter for
Italy made 10 of his 12 shots
effective followed by the second
shooter who made 3 of his 4
shots effective, giving a team
shooting percentage of 81%.
After three ends we found
ourselves 8 - 0 down. Our team
didn't panic and won the next
end with one point. However
Italy again attacked everything
and two ends later it was over.
New Zealand 10 - Japan 13
After 3 ends we were struggling
and down 3 - 4 so we had a team
conference and decided to switch
the team around. Ron was having
success with his pointing so we
put him in the middle and Simon
shooter. We played well in the
sixth end making 4 of our 6
boule effective and leveled the
score
at 7 - 7.
In the eighth end we again
played well making 4 of our 6
boules effective and took the
lead for the 2nd time in the
game 10 - 9. In the next three
ends we could only make 2 of our
6 boules effective and lost the
game.
We had battled hard and
came out of the game a little
dejected as this was a game we
believed we could win. My job
now was to lift the spirit of
the team and get them back on
track for the next critical
game.
New Zealand 13 - Taiwan 0
This was a must win game for us
to realise our objective and to
give us a chance of reaching our
first goal of qualification into
Round 2. I had watched Taiwan
play in previous games and they
appeared to be dysfunctional
with one player trying to do
everything.
Our team pointed
very well in this game and the 2
shots required from Simon were
both effective. The game was
over in 5 ends. We could now
celebrate our first milestone of
winning the first game. The team
spirit lifted and there was a
genuine belief again.
New Zealand 4 - Australia 13
This was another must win game
to build on our confidence. Ron
had had a very good record
against Patrick and was looking
forward to their intense
rivalry. We got off to a good
start winning the first 2 ends,
both at 7 metres.
Australia's
first up shooter had not played
well in the first 3 ends so they
made a switch and put Pierrot in
as first shooter, he played well
in this position making 5 of his
9 shots effective which was
enough for Australia to storm
out to a 12 - 4 lead.
In the
last end
Australia played their first boule for 13 points and we were not able
to deal with it. It was a
disappointing way to end round
one but we put the games behind
us and focused on the rest of
the tournament.
As the results came through
Christian and I were at the
score board taking notes and
realised that Taiwan had beaten
Japan in the last round which
was an unexpected result. This
result put 3 teams on 1 win.
There was lots of debate and
after calling the organisers
over we realised we had made 4th
spot and a place in Round 2.
This was cause for another
celebration and our 2nd
milestone. Again the team's
spirit lifted and we were riding
on a wave of euphoria.
Round One
This is a barrage round for the
last 32 of the main competition.
Teams were put in 8 pools of 4
and we drew
Germany (a very young but good team)
France (2) (the reining world
champions) and Seychelles who we
had met in Singapore and was
another good team.
This was
going to be tough for us but we
had an inner belief that we
could do well.
New Zealand 6 - Germany 13
We got off to a bad start
conceding 5 in the first end.
The 3rd end we also conceded 5
points The German pointer was
exceptional throughout this game
and rarely had an ineffective
boule. We clawed our way back to
6 - 10 in 2 more ends but the
German team proved too strong
and finished the game
convincingly.
New Zealand 13 - Seychelles 11
I had watched this team in
Singapore and although one of our team finished higher than them in that
tournament it was always going
to be a tough game. We got off
to a great start and in 5 ends
we were 8 - 1 ahead. In end 8
however
Seychelles picked up 5 points to
level the score 9 - 9.
The
Seychelles middle player was struggling to find form, which we could see was our
opportunity.
The game was very tight and if
we were going to make an
impression it was now. Going
into the 11th end we were 12 -
11 ahead. We put Simon in at
first point and finished with a
strong end making 5 of our 6
boules effective.
We had taken
game against a stronger team and
an even stronger belief that we
could achieve something very
special.
New Zealand 4 - Germany 13
Germany had lost to France so we
were now in a straight
elimination for a place in the
last 16 (something no other team
from New Zealand had done
before). We had a team
conference and discussed how we
should approach this game having
played Germany earlier in this
round. Whatever happened now we
had at worst secured 17th =
spot. The team was aware of this
and was running on pure
adrenalin.
The German pointer once again
had a very strong game and we
struggled to find our form and
after 4 ends we were 8 - 1 down.
We gained a few more points but
in the last end the Germans shot
4 times and that was that we had
finished our remarkable run in
the main event.
Germany went on to qualify for the last 8; we had been beaten by a
much better team.
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Coup de Nations
Having qualified to the last 32
of the main competition the team
got automatic entry into the 2nd
Round of this new tournament.
Again the tournament format was
barrage and we found ourselves
in a pool with India (their
first world championships and a
team with a combined age lower
than the average age of our
team!), Singapore (who we met in
the Singapore tournament and
with a team total age lower than
the age of one of our senior
players) and Monaco.
New Zealand 13 - India 3
This was a definite opportunity
for us as the Indian team looked
very nervous and started the
game without their 4th player.
Going into the 6th end the score
was 6 - 3 to us. The Indians had
used all their boule to our 1
boule.
We discussed the decision
and elected to shoot the jack
which Simon did in emphatic
style giving us 4 points and a
lead of 10 - 3. The Indians
didn't know what had happened
and queried the rules. In the
next end we took the required 3
points with a boule in hand. Our
3rd win at these championships
and another reason to celebrate.
New Zealand 2 - Monaco 13
We now faced Monaco who had
beaten Singapore. Whilst we
played reasonably well in this
game it was very clear that our
team was tired. We battled away
and after 5 ends we were 2 - 7
down, then after a disastrous
6th end losing 6 points we had
lost the game.
New Zealand 12 -
Singapore 13
This was an important game; win
and we go through to the next
round; loose and we are out. We
knew the team well having played
against them in Singapore and on
that occasion our team
lost 12 -
13.
They have a very good female
shooter and two teenage school
children who are also
accomplished players. This was
our best game of the competition
and it was played in good spirit
with both teams appreciative of
the others good play.
Their shooter started badly but
found form at the critical stage
of the game. After eight ends
the score was 7 - 7. We then had
four good ends and crept ahead
to 12 - 7. It looked like we had
done enough but Singapore never
gave up and seemed to find the
last boule each time to deny us
victory and a chance to play
another game.
End 15 was the most exciting of
all. The score was locked at 12
- 12. Great Britain and
Australia had finished and were
watching our game. The Singapore
shooter missed the first shot
then carreaued next to the jack.
Simon missed the shot twice then
Ron carreaued next to the jack.
Singapore's middle player then
carreaued our boule next to the
jack. We had 2 boule left and no
chance of pointing closer. We
discussed the shot and Ron
stepped up and "Bang” he
carreaued the boule next to the
jack.
The crowd went wild and we
thought that was it. But
Singapore then pointed closer
than our boule and we had one
more shot but narrowly missed
and that was it, the end of our
tournament.
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Summary
Overall, our team performed as I
had expected them to and close
to their potential. There were
times when we had moments of one
player struggling but this is to
be expected in a long
competition. I was very proud of
how our team performed and
conducted themselves. They made
many friends and can hold their
heads high. It was an absolute
pleasure to be part of this team
and a memory I will cherish.
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Thank you
Firstly I would like to thank
Rolinka for assisting me
throughout the tournament and
ensuring our team always had
water. This was critical given
the 40 degree temperatures; to
Christian for his tireless
enthusiasm, translation and
general support.
A big thanks to
the familiar faces of our New
Zealand supporters in the crowd;
this was very special for all of
us and to Terry our team mascot
who popped up everywhere and
even on occasions assisted
Victor Nataf with analysis of
how the French team performed!
Our supporters took away the
memory of the event and
witnessed petanque at its very
best. They were fortunate to
have witnessed the final where
the French shooter, Philippe
Suchaud made 13 of 18 hits a
carreau, which is truly world
class.
My sincere thanks and
appreciation to the team who
worked tirelessly at being a
team and supported each other
throughout. These gentlemen were
mature and professional
ambassadors for PNZ and truly
basked in the experience. And
finally to every one in New
Zealand who followed the teams
progress and results, and
genuinely supported the team and
for all your efforts with fund
raising.
David Lippard
Delegate's Report
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Wednesday 12.9.07
Contacted the secretary of the organising
committee, Mrs Orapan, to check that all NZ team
photos, arrival times and any other details had
been received.
She assured me that everything was in order, and
she was looking forward to meeting the team. She
informed me that the team was to be based at the
A1 Hotel which happened to be next door to my
rented apartment. Pure luck!
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Sunday 16.9.07
Met with the Tahitian team and the Swiss team at
the A1 Hotel. Also met the Dutch team playing
petanque on the beach next to the hotel. The
Dutch coach and president offered their best
regards to Graeme Morris who had formed a good
relationship with them during his years in
office.
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Monday 17.9.07
Went to the stadium with the Dutch delegation to
check the pitch and layout. Pitch looks and
feels like an unfinished road in NZ.
Concrete-like base with huge stones on top, and
very uneven. I saw some plastic circles which
meant that the Thais had practiced on the
terrain since it was built.
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Tuesday 18.9.07
NZ team arrived at 2.30pm at the A1 Hotel.
Before their arrival I organised all the bags,
badges, meal and gala dinner tickets. When the
team arrived they were welcomed by Terry
Lambert, my wife Rolinka and me.
After unpacking their bags in their respective
rooms we went for a stroll looking for a
practice terrain, shopping centre and Internet
cafe, and finished with a cold beer on the
waterfront cafe. At 7.00pm we all went to the
welcoming dinner in the A1 Hotel. No other NZ
teams to the World Championships have done this
before.
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Wednesday 19.9.07
Practice at the stadium. We tried to have the
team throw a few boules in the stadium, but the
security guards promptly sent us outside to
practice on a terrain which was completely
different to the actual stadium.
The temperature was close to 37° in the sun in
the morning. After 2 games everyone had had
enough, and it was back inside to watch the
rehearsal for the opening ceremony.
The Opening Ceremony
This was a very colourful ceremony with young
kids in marching band outfits, and local schools
entertaining us for a good two hours.
The Shooting Competition
Ron shot 17 points and Ian from Tahiti had the
highest score of all the nations (52).
Congratulations to both of them, and thanks to
the 5 supporters from NZ, 4 from Hibiscus Club –
Rosie and Nick, Bill and Lyn and terry Lambert
from Herne Bay.
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Thursday 20.9.07
I attended the International Congress. A full
English version of the minutes of this meeting
will be sent to the PNZ, so I will cover only
the highlights here:
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8.45am Start
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Presidents
Report
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Budget 2006
verified by Holland and Tunisia
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Budget 2007
(from 1 January to 31 August)
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Speech by
African representative on executive
committee who talked mostly about the
struggle of the African countries with the
financial burden to commit to the FIPJP
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2008 Worlds at
Dakar (Senagal) in November 2008 was
confirmed
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2006 & 2007
results from all international tournaments.
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Michel Signaire
talked about the 12 countries who have not
paid their fees, and are not taking part in
these games as a result.
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Dr Cervetti
talked about the anti doping policy. He is
on the Olympic Committee and advised all the
countries to learn the rules. The maximum
alcohol level permitted was 0.50 g per
litre. Any athlete who is taking medication
must notify the organisers before playing
games or risks elimination if found out
during random tests
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Break at
10.15am
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FBT (petanque
sponsor in Thailand) offered all delegations
a chance to purchase boules and shirts
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President’s
dinner on Friday at 8pm at the botanical
gardens. Each country to send two persons
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2009 World
Championships will be in Maastricht
(Holland) in September 2009 ( confirmed by
the President)
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Presentation of
Swiss System of competition. I have a copy
and will pass it to the PNZ
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Open Forum –
Australia President requested a meeting with
the FIPJP regarding the Oceania situation
I will not elaborate on all the games played by
the NZ team as these will be covered in the
Manager's report, except to congratulate the
team for achieving the results they did under
very difficult playing conditions.
Congratulations to Madagascar for becoming World
Champions in the shooting competition, and to
France for winning the triple world championship
once again.
Over the week in Pattaya I made good contacts
with a lot of countries such as Holland,
Singapore, England, France, Belgium, Taiwan, the
Czech Republic, Thailand, Switzerland, Tahiti,
Vietnam, Italy, Mauritius, Germany, Monaco,
Tunisia, and of course, Mr Victor Nataf the
French selector who is keen to send a French
team to NZ in January 2008, which I believe
would be great for NZ petanque.
Australia’s president and I had discussions
regarding Asia/Pacific tournament invitations,
coaching and refereeing, and everyone is
positive about the relationship with NZ. Mr
Andre Deramond, President of APA is opening a
school for petanque in the near future under the
umbrella of the CIEP (Mr Claude Ralui) and is
encouraging NZ to do the same for the future of
petanque in both countries.
His program targets young players using a tried
and successful format in France. I personally
believe he is right.
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Presidents Dinner
My wife Rolinka and I attended the President’s
Dinner with the hosting nation. We were welcomed
at the Botanic Gardens, and the welcoming
committee consisted of two baby elephants
dancing to Thai music. The food and decor was
fantastic and everyone enjoyed the evening of
entertainment. I will hand over the gift from
Thailand to the PNZ representative at the
national singles in Auckland.
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Gala Dinner
This was the last occasion to meet all our
favourite players, exchange shirt, take photos
and enjoy the good food and dancing if so
inclined. The evening finished fairly early as
a lot of the players were exhausted from the
competition.
Departure Day for the Team – After shaking hands
with all the countries who were getting on the
buses, the NZ team left Pattaya. Suddenly
Pattaya became quiet after 50 countries left at
once. For me it was a time for a good rest
before going back to work
Christian Fouquet
Coaching Corner
In the last publication we
looked at mental skills training
to get your season off to a good
start. Remember, mental skills
training must be rehearsed
regularly for them to become a
habit in a tense situation and
to set the foundation for
improving your performance.
This article looks at analysing
the techniques of petanque so as
to improve your consistency.
Unlike mental skills training
which is continuous, technique
training is done only when there
is a dip in your performance or
you have lost consistency. It is
no different from an experienced
golfer having to analyse his/her
swing following a dip in form
which has been attributed to
poor technique.
Skills Analysis
The observation of you throwing
a boule must be undertaken by a
competent coach. You can work
with your club coach your
regional coach or even speak to
a senior player after a
tournament that is willing to
help.
Choose carefully and
always give feedback to your
observer when you have improved.
By doing this you are more
likely to retain his/her
interest in helping you in the
future.
The observation will be divided
into three stages:
-
Watching the player throw the boule, this will be repeated
many times
-
Analysis of the motion and
comparing this to a reference
(good technique)
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Setting a programme to
improve poor technique
Your observer will be dividing
the mechanics of your motion
into three phases. These are
typically as follows:
The set up phase
This involves the body position
and alignment to the target; it
also involves the grip, position
of the hand at commencement of
the motion and the motion of the
backswing.
The execution phase
This phase is divided into two
parts:
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The forward motion of the
swing. Timing and direction are
the key components to an
efficient forward motion. Your
observer will be looking at the
straightness of your arm and
alignment to the target along
with the force applied and the
speed of motion
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The release of the boule.
This is the critical moment of
the skill and will determine how
successful the motion has been.
The arm position on release in
terms of alignment to target and
height relative to body position
and position of the hand on
release are all factors that
will be considered and observed
The execution of the skill will
be observed from both sides of
the player front and rear to
consider each of these factors.
The follow through phase
This is the phase that considers
the body position and arm and
hand position after the
execution phase and looks at the
deceleration of the movement. It
is typical that poor technique
in this phase can be a cause of
the effects of a poor technique
in the execution phase.
It is always advisable to record
the observation. A simple way of
doing this is to first determine
the throw to be observed. A
basic template matrix with phase
headings followed by the
observational points for
consideration and a box for
comment on each observational
point is enough.
For more advanced skills
analysis and in addition to
recording the observation on a
template matrix I recommend
recording your technique on
video. Both player and coach can
later observe and discuss the
skills motion. The player is
likely to better understand the
comments made by the coach on
the template matrix having
observed their action on video.
Working with your coach you can
plan a training programme to
correct poor technique, but
remember it is now down to you,
practice makes perfect as long
as you don't practice your
mistakes!
If you have any questions on the
above article or wish to receive
further advice on skills
analysis, please email:
david(at)integratedpm.co.nz.
David Lippard
Arbiting With Andy
I'm quite amazed at the smooth
transition where most of the
tournaments now have integrated
an umpire into the organisation
structure. My thanks go to the
tournament organisers, the
umpires, and to you the players.
New Zealand is to the forefront
in its tournament structures and
the umpires are just another
step in keeping us up to the
mark.
In looking at the umpire reports
from each of the tournaments
there are the still comments of
players not having adequate
measuring devices. For most of
the measures in a game all you
need is a tape measure. It only
costs a couple of dollars from
Bunning's or Mitre 10 so please
get yourself equipped.
Using the magazine as a forum,
I'd like to cover one issue per
edition and in this edition I
would like to cover the issue of
using a wet rag.
Putting it simply, it is not
allowed!
See Rule 15 of the Rules of
Petanque ( below).
Article 15 - Throwing of the
first and following boules
The first boule of an end is
thrown by a player belonging to
the team that has won the toss
or was the last to score. (There
is no predetermined order of
play between members of the same
team. The team members may
choose who is to play the next
boule when it is their turn).
After that, it is the team that
does not hold the point that
plays.
The player must not use any
object or draw a line on the
ground to help him/her in
playing a boule or mark its
landing point. (This does not
refer to feet ie. a team mate of
the player about to throw may
stand on the terrain for
guidance purposes) Whilst
playing his or her last boule,
it is forbidden to carry a boule
in the other hand.
The boules must be played one at
a time.
Once thrown, a boule must not be
replayed, except:
-
if it has been stopped or
deviated accidentally from its
course between the circle and
the jack by a boule or jack
coming from another game, or by
an animal or any other moving
object (football, etc); and
-
in the case defined in Article
8, second paragraph (thrown jack
invalid).
It is forbidden to moisten the
boules or jack.
At an international umpiring
level it has been decided that
deliberately moistening a cloth
or rag will lead to a breach of
the Rule 15 and will not be
permitted. Our local rule
interpretations are all taken
from guidelines set down at an
international playing level so
New Zealand umpires will be policing this issue.
At a recent tourney, one player
was pulled up for using a wet
rag. As it was the fourth time I
have pulled up this particular
player for using a wet rag, I
had a word with him at the
completion of his game.
His
attitude was that it's not
policed at international levels/
it's a stupid rule/ he will
continue to moisten his cloth
etc and if he gets caught, so
what.
That attitude puts the umpires
in a tricky situation. Up to
this point his only disciplinary
action is that he loses the wet
rag. I referred the matter back
to the umpire panel and the
player has since received a
letter from PNZ advising him
that the next time he
deliberately flouts this rule he
will lose a boule. Subsequent
offences will see him
disqualified for the remainder
of that game.
I have consistently policed the
rule since becoming an umpire
and I have heard a number of
arguments as to why it is a
stupid rule. So let's go through
one or two of the more commonly
heard.
It's a stupid rule - Hmm.
Umpires and players don't have
the luxury of deciding which
rules are stupid. We play to the
rules and that includes all of
the rules laid down by FIPJP.
What if it's raining, all the
cloths are wet - Good point, but
if all of the cloths are wet
then no individual receives an
unfair advantage from wetting
their cloth.
It's not policed at
international competition - Well actually it is. It has been
policed at all international
competitions held in New
Zealand. It was policed at the
recent Trans Tasman and the Oceanias (here and in New
Caledonia and Australia) and in
a recent international Open
match in Europe a player was
warned and subsequently did lose
a boule for repeating the
transgression.
It doesn't give us an advantage
- Well the experts say it can
give you an extra degree of
backspin by moistening the boule
on a dry terrain.
In summary Using a moistened rag
on the boules or jack is against
the spirit and common
interpretation of the rules so
it will be policed. First
offenders will be given a verbal
warning. Subsequent and repeat
breaches will be dealt with
using all of the remedies
permitted under Rule 34.
Back to the positives. The vast
majority of players are now
showing they have a better
understanding of the playing
rules and that makes our jobs
much easier as umpires. However
if you are unsure of a rule
interpretation, please don't
hesitate to call in the umpire.
For future issues of the
magazine, please feel free to
make suggestions for any rule
interpretations that we can
cover on this page.
Alternatively, if you have a
query on a rule Interpretation,
email me at info(at)aboe.co.nz.
That's it from me. We are
heading into the petanque busy
season so I look forward to
seeing you on the terrain
Andy Gilbert
PNZ Director of umpiring
A "Coup de Coer" in South West
France!
I have always appreciated
France and “la vie Francaise”. Indeed the purchase by my wife Jenny, of a set
of petanque boules , during one
of many visits to France during
the 1980's whilst I was working
and studying in England, lead me
to import the game into New
Zealand in the early 90's.
The love affair continued as I
travelled to
France as a member of the New Zealand Petanque Team and
later whilst serving on the
committee of the FIPJP
(Federation International de
Petanque et Jeu Provencal ). It
was perhaps inevitable that my
family and I should end up
living in
France.
In 2001 we rented a "maison de
campagne ", an old stone farm
house in the commune of
Castillon Massas in the Gers,
South West France . Daughters
Carla and Leisha joined 14
French children for lessons in
the single roomed village
school.
The day started at 0845
and finished at 1630 - a long
stretch, but the girls soon got
to enjoy it as they had all of
Wednesday off as well as the
weekend.
We enjoyed exploring the myriad
of beautiful little villages
scattered throughout the wooded
rolling countryside of the Gers
as well as taking the
opportunity, afforded by school
holidays, to venture further
afield within France and also
check out parts of Spain and
Italy.
Gradually a dream grew to find a
house of our own. We must have
seen 30 - 40 within a radius of
25km of our rented property. Two
took our eye - one turned out to
have been sold already whilst
the owner of the other raised
his price by 1,000,000 francs (this was pre Euro days) after
receiving a written offer at his
original asking price! He was
obviously still deeply attached
to the old family home. C'est la
vie!
Some years later, out of the
blue, I received an email from
friends in St Lary a hill-top
hamlet, 3km from our old
village. For
Sale, “Maison de Gardes” - the old stone guard house of a
fortified hamlet, dating back to
1188 and partly restored.
Stone
walls 2 metres thick, stone
staircase and fireplace and of
all things an arrow slit in the
kitchen! Were we interested?
Bien sur! We took the plunge!
In 2004, my daughter Carla and
I, armed with a huge list from
Jenny and Leisha, returned to
France and set about furnishing
the "Maison de Gardes” from
scratch . A whole day spent
buying necessities at IKEA
outside of
Toulouse meant a van had to be hired that evening, loaded, driven 100km to St
Lary and returned the same
evening to IKEA.
Carla and I
drove back to our new house
feeling we had truly earned our
meal when we finally had it much
later that evening.
Since then we have made a number
of trips to the “Maison de
Gardes”. The "St Laryoises" have
become very good friends. In
September we all enjoyed a
hamlet lunch. This started at
midday - we finished eating
drinking and playing petanque as
darkness fell.
The "Coup de Coeur " has become
a comfortable home away from
home!
Footnote: When not required by
the family the "stone bach" is
available for rental. For
further details please contact
Cam Calder. Email:
camcalder(at)paradise.net.nz or
Tel: 09 445 4328
Cam Calder
The New South Wales Open
Debbie's 50th birthday visit to
family in
Australia just happened to coincide with the timing of the NSW Open
held at the Jets Pac Club in
Tempe, Sydney. The petanque club is situated next to the international
airport in
Sydney.
Prior to the Open we took the
train up to
Newcastle, the best way to travel in NSW, to see our petanque friends
whom we meet through the Trans
Tasman masters in 2005 and 2006.
The Wednesday prior saw a lot of
rekindling of friendships,
reminders of old victories, and
for that matter, defeats and
generally some good petanque at
the New Castle Petanque Club.
About 20 - 30 players turn up
for " very competitive" social petanque, with a mix of Italian,
German, Mauritian, French, one
Kiwi and Aussie's you can bet
there is always a conflict of
some nature, not that different
from New Zealand really.
Thursday saw a visit to the
Valley Petanque Club in
Beresfield, where the Australian
Open will be held next Easter.
Friday saw a one on one practice
between Mario and me whilst
Debbie did a little shopping
with Rosa, Mario's Partner.
Saturday is club day at
Newcastle. With about 60 others
we played drawn doubles. I was
fortunate to firstly draw Mario
Emer. Those that know this
feisty Italian, will be saddened
to know that he has cancer and
although very competitive, I
feel that may be the last time
we do battle together, a win was
good medicine.
Next up I paired with Dallas.
Her last name is not known. I
did not perform that well so
suffered a loss. Then I drew
Mario Wende for the last game.
Mario loves the high lob and on
the Newcastle bottom terrain, it
is an advantage. We fanned our
opponents, and with the weather
being quite cold, most people
headed home.
Not all left, with the old
rivalries continuing, I got
caught in the battles again. The
last game was to play Grant
Threadgate's team, Grant being
President of Newcastle Petanque.
They were also playing in the
Open the next day.
Saying goodbye at 5.00pm to head
for
Sydney was hard but leaving Grant to reflect on the next days play
coming off a fanny made the 2
1/2 hour trip easier.
Sunday saw an early start ready
for the Open. My team of
Clement, didn't get to find out
the rest of his name, Mario and
myself, started with a 7 - 13
loss in qualifying. Next up 13 -
0 to a team that never got
started. The next game was
against a trio from
Wollongong who have played together for 7 odd years, and fancied themselves pretty
much, 13 - 0.
As I was the shooter in the team
I was pretty happy as their
first point on the cochonnet I
blasted out the back and they
never seemed to recover. The
custom is to buy a beer for the
losers after a fanny so in idle
chit chat found out that
Wollongong held a big triples
tournament at the same weekend
we hold the New Zealand Open,
with over $5,000 in prices. No
wonder we don't see many Aussies
here for the Open.
Lost the last qualifier 13 - 9
to three gentleman whose
combined age was over 215 years
which they took pride in
mentioning. At this point it
reminded me of Pappy, Ron, and
Murray, as Pierre Boudan had
informed me that they, as had
the Australian team, been
knocked out of the Worlds. Still
it was well done team.
We then prepared ourselves for
the consolation having only two
wins but surprise of the day, we
qualified 8th on count back, A
couple of fannies sure can help!
We were to play the top placed
team in the competition and
currently NSW champions, and the
team I wanted to play. My friend
Pierre, his brother Robert, and
son Mathew Boudan.
It was a great battle, on a very
rough undulating terrain, the
game close, right up to us
leading 10 - 9 then one error,
13 - 10. I was disappointed and
felt we could have gone all the
way. They went on to the final
to play poorly and lose, but,
that's petanque.
Debbie was in a team with
Genevieve Boudan, and Sherry
from Queensland, again I didn't
get the last name. Genevieve and
Sherry had won the Australian
Woman's Doubles so Deb was in
good company.
The woman's section played four
games like the men. With only
nine teams, it was really
surprising as to the time they
took: 8:30 start men qualifying
finished by 1:30pm, women
4:30pm.
I spoke with umpire Monique,
again not privileged to learn
the last name, who was concerned
and monitored slow play. It
appeared that the Australian
women don't attack as much,
hence point by point play. This
showed in the scoring as every
woman's game was 13 - 10 or
better. I was informed that most
tournaments in the Sydney area
only play to 11 to try to
prevent this delay occurring.
Unfortunately Debbie and her
team only won one game and then
got knocked out of the
consolation round, I think from
Debbie's point of view it was
more a battle of attrition than
any thing else. I got to see a
bit of the girls play and with
Debbie being their shooter; she
made some pretty good shots, but
frustration in their lack of
attack, made things at times
difficult.
In the early evening we bid
farewell to all the friends,
caught the train back to see
family. Fine weather, an
excellent venue, great friends
and competitors and another day
of petanque, made the visit one
to consider again in the future.
John Greig
The Australian Masters, Adelaide
"Kamate! Kamate!" These
inspiring words of the Maori
challenge echoed around the vast
concourse of
Adelaide Airport.
They brought smiles and joy to
our hearts as we were greeted by
our petanque whanau (Keith &
Malcolm).
After booking into our apartment
we headed to the Prospect
Petanque Club for some sneaky
practice. Great surroundings but
a dog of a terrain. The back
half was hard, uneven and as
fast as a rocket.
Our boules
just rolled and rolled and
rolled. Malcolm wore out his
Rockford shoes, stamping down in front of the cochonnet to signal
where we should stop and kept
repeating "En front! En front!".
One quarter of the front half
was a shingle pit from Hell and
no matter which style of
pointing we tried, the boule
could stop dead, roll on or spin
right or left, depending on your
stars.
The remaining quarter was
rock hard sand, smooth as a
billiard table and lightning
fast. We felt we could drop our boule behind us and it would
still run a metre past the
cochonnet.
Slightly discouraged on the
petanque front, we headed to the
local supermarket for our
supplies. Malcolm (as Treasurer)
was given the kitty but in view
of the arguments over selection,
we soon became the entertainment
capital of the supermarket.
Malcolm did not help by telling
everybody we had been kicked out
of our home and this was our
first shopping trip for our new
flat.
When we arrived back at Prospect
for the Masters Mixed Triples
Competition, the first
difference we noticed was that
only a few people were
practicing - obviously practice
wasn't going to help on those
terrains!
We set up camp with
our big New Zealand Silver Fern
flag and after the official
welcome, we started our first
international game. Our first
opponents were from the Hanging
Rock Club in Victoria and after
a slow start, we won our first
international point and then our
first international game.
We then played the top seeds who
selected the rock hard sand and
played our first game of
international skittles. After
being down 10 - 1, we clawed our
way back to eventually lose 13 -
11.
Interestingly, when socialising after the game, this
team was most helpful in
providing coaching tips and
background information regarding
petanque in
Adelaide and Australia.
We finished top of our pool and
played off for gold and silver
the following day. This was
another game against our friends
from Hanging Rock and after a
slow start we finally managed to
win
gold 13 - 10.
Keith Dixon
and Christine Taylor and their
adopted third player Phil
Pollard had to play best of
three and played against a local
team who insisted on playing on
the skittle track. They finally
mastered the difficult surface
and it was Kiwi gold again in
the younger age group.
Monday was a rest day, so we
checked out the other two
terrains for the forthcoming
singles and doubles. The singles
were held at the Club de
Petanque de Adelaide grounds
situated in a park on the edge
of the city. The terrains nestle
among blue gum trees, again with
a fine, undulating surface.
They were very fast, about as
fast as the six lanes of the
arterial highway running
alongside. The doubles were to
be held at Unley Park which was
a large, shared complex with a
bowling green, two petanque
terrains, tennis courts and
croquet greens.
The petanque
surface was interesting and was
crushed, recycled brick.
Satisfied that we did not have
to contend with further skittle
tracks or shingle pits, we
headed to McLaren Vale Wine area
for R & R.
We enjoyed morning coffees at
Cafe Christie, overlooking Ocean
Grove. 20 degrees, no wind, blue
sky, clear water, well worth a
paddle. Back in the car, we
arrived at Victor Harbour and
felt sorry for the horse drawing
a tram load of people along the
jetty. Then we noticed the
horse-less trams being
manouvered into position, so
obviously there was an electric
motor helping the horse.
We also saw our first camels and
then headed back to McLaren
Vale. We cashed some of our
Masters Wine vouchers, enjoyed a
photo opportunity on the Red
Baron's bi-plane, arrived at
Woodstock and spotted our first kangaroo.
Andrew also forgot rule No1 in Oz,
which is never walk in the long
grass in jandals and he had a
close encounter with a bull ant!
Stingos really does work on ant
bites. A highlight was meeting
another kangaroo on the road but
this time it was viewed from the
safety of the car.
Tuesday was Singles Day and you
guessed it, first game, random
draw, Andrew plays Malcolm.
Malcolm went on to qualify
fourth and played the top seeded
Jean Phillipe. They battled to
12 all and mighty Malcolm
prevailed. He then played Brett
Williams, an Australian Seniors
Representative. Malcolm's battle
with Jean Phillipe was really
his final and he lost 13 - 5 to
Brett.
The Masters Games had funded a
BBQ (T-bone steaks) which we
enjoyed with some (ok many)
local Reds. We headed home with
the windows open, to accommodate
Malcolm's silver medal grin.
Another day, another wine area,
this time the
Barossa Valley before playing in the doubles at
Unley Park. So many wineries -
so little time! Diane and Susan
Williams won their first two
games and only had to win one of
the next two for gold.
However,
the over long delays and cold
destroyed their momentum and
concentration and they lost to
both of the teams they had
beaten before and finished with
bronze.
Andrew and Malcolm were also
playing for bronze, this time
against a team from Gawlor.
Chris and Keith were playing for
gold or silver and brought home
silver.
We enjoyed our time in Adelaide
and found that our overall
standard was very similar to our
Australian counterparts. They
have a very fiercely competitive
inter-club league which has
improved the standard of their
competitive players. Some of
these players played in the
Masters and others came along to
watch after work and we joined
them in social games.
Our better players would be
competitive in their leagues.
The standard of our women's play
would be the same, if not higher
than the players we observed in
Adelaide. All the players
appreciated the effort we made
in attending the games and we
have invitations to return to
Gawlor and Hanging Rock if we
ever win Lotto.
Diane Findlay
2007 Peugeot National Doubles
Championship, Horowhenua
Petanque Club, Levin
2007
Peugeot National Championships Results
Horowhenua
hosts players from New Caledonia
As part of the
'New Caledonia - New Zealand Season 2007' a
group of New Caledonian petanque
players toured the North Island for 10 days. The
tour included stops in Auckland, Tauranga,
Napier and Wellington.
On the weekend of 27 &
28 October as well as hosting the WPA Regional
Doubles Championships, the Horowhenua Petanque
Club also hosted the New Caledonian petanque
players. A number of local players took the
opportunity to play a few social games with the
visitors.
Photographs: Brian Smith
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