Peugeot National Triples
Champions 2000 - Keeping it in
the family
In Auckland at
Easter weekend, father Seti
Mailei, teenage son Andrew and
daughter Leilani achieved a
notable first for the sport of
petanque when they won the
Peugeot National Triples
Championship. Family
combinations are not unusual
entrants in petanque doubles
tournaments, but they are rare
in triples tournaments, and it
is even rarer for such a
combination to achieve high
placings in the results table.
Mum Imelda was
also playing in the tournament.
Her team did not fare so well,
but Imelda was the only woman to
place in the ‘shooting’
competition run concurrently
with the Championships.
With the win
comes the right to represent New
Zealand at the World
Championships in Portugal in
September. Petanque officials
believe that it will be the
first time in the history of the
Championships that a family team
will be competing. Thirty-two
teams from around the country
were competing at the Victoria
Park terrain.
Weather
conditions weren’t the best.
Frequent heavy downpours made it
uncomfortable for players and
spectators alike, and tested
both the skill and tenacity of
the players.
The final was
played in steady rain. The
Mailei’s were down 8 - 0 to
their opponents, the highly
ranked Auckland team of Niau
Ruta, Tiki Ruta and David
Lippard, after the first few
ends. Determination and some
great pointing by Leilani and
accurate shooting from Andrew
saw them come back to eventually
win 15 - 8.
The play-off for
third and fourth places was
between yet another Auckland
team, Christian Fouquet, Alan
Fletcher and Ian Baker and last
year’s winners, Denise Bavidge,
Geoff Greer and
Murray Porter from
Hawkes Bay. A
closely contested match saw the
Aucklanders take the game and
completing a clean sweep of the
tournament for the Northern
region.
Barbara
Whittington
2000 Peugeot National Championships Results
Personality Profile - Georgio
Vakauta
One of the ‘nice
guys’ is how I would describe
Georgio Vakauta. A skilled
player with a relaxed style that
can only come from years of
perfecting his game. Georgio was
born in Vanuatu and began
playing petanque at the age of
6. I suppose most of the young
children of Port Villa spend
their leisure time throwing
boule, much as Kiwi kids
practice their cricket.
With such early
exposure to the game, young
players develop a relaxed and
confident style which can only
improve as they grow. The Mt
Albert Club in Auckland is
fortunate to now have a past
Vanuatu Champion in its ranks.
Georgio came to
this country in 1996 and is
married to New Zealand born
Ruby, a skilled player in her
own right. Readers may be
surprised to learn that Ruby who
won the Plate with Aussie Samuel
at Rotorua this year, has only
been playing petanque since the
end of 1998. Ruby confessed to
me last year she was more than a
little nervous when she competed
in her first national
competition. Georgio is
immensely proud of the
improvement in his wife’s game.
The Vakauta’s
have 2 girls, 8 and 2 years and
are expecting their third child
later in July.
I asked Georgio
of any difference in play he had
noticed between Vanuatu and New
Zealand. Not surprisingly was
the reply - in the islands
players prefer a shooting game
and will often take out any
holding boule without attempting
to point closer. What advice
does he have for players -
choose a speciality - shooting
or pointing, and concentrate on
improving that skill.
At this point in
the interview Ian Baker
suggested he would be eager to
enlist Georgio’s help with
coaching. This was greeted with
enthusiasm especially in the
area of Kiwi Petanque.
“Cam Calder has
done a wonderful job by pushing
to have petanque recognised as a
Kiwi Sport.”
So what are the
aims of this genuine and
friendly player – “To become
National Champion in 2001 and
gain permanent residency”.
I’m sure most
readers will wish him and Ruby
all the best with the new baby
and good luck with his residency
application. New Zealand can’t
afford to loose such a talented
player and a family who have so
much to give to the game.
Brenda Dykes
French Farm Social Tournament
The inaugural
social tournament at the
South Island’s newest petanque
terrain took place at
picturesque French Farm
Vineyard, Banks
Peninsula over the week end of
May 20 and 21
Saturday dawned
fine and clear even though the
air contained a distinct nippy
tinge. Christchurch Petanque
cajoled many a visitor and
tourist to French Farm that day
to try the challenging game of
petanque. They were amazed that
within five minutes of their
first and only lesson they were
also in their first petanque
tournament! They soon came to
appreciate the fine art of
balancing both a boule and a
glass of wine and a great time
was had by all.
Sunday’s weather
quite frankly was atrocious but
we southern petanquers are a
hardy breed - we have to be!
Many club members made the one
hour journey from Christchurch
to French Farm, little dreaming
they would be able to play
between showers. But play they
did and all gratefully adjourned
to the roaring fire in the
restaurant to thaw after their
games.
And who won -
well nobody actually - this was
a social tournament and all
entering received a small prize
which was duly cashed in at the
French Farm bar.
Diane Findlay
Not the ANZAC Tournament – From
an organisers point of view
The fourth ANZAC
tournament was changed from
ANZAC Weekend, which fell over
Easter, to March 11 & 12. With
daylight saving this gave an
extra hour to play our favourite
sport.
The quota of 60
teams, including players from
Hamilton, Taranaki and Wanganui
clubs making their first
appearance, was filled quicker
than prior tournaments with
three reserve teams. In the last
week one cancellation gave much
pleasure to the team of Harry
Grosselman and Peter Round, who
still had their motel booked 3
days out.
Great weather for
the weekend, definitely warmer
for Alan Fletcher. After all the
planning and organisation by the
committee, the clubs members on
the day were all allocated tasks
- tent pitching, sponsor signs
up, terrains raked and cups of
tea for the visitors. By 8.30am
everyone was focussed on
practising. Then the wait!!! The
expectancy for all the paper
bags to disappear from the
registration table - meaning
everyone turned up. One bag left
a - ‘Jafa’ who most probably
forgot which weekend. Organising
another team member to fill in,
found Brenda Dykes, who came for
a quiet weekend, paired with
Rolinka Fouquet.
In the paper bags
were the name badges, draw
sheets, a menu and gift of a
wooden pen for marking the
circles. I suspect these are
kept by many as mementos. With
announcements made and photos
taken (for the archives) play
begins.
The special
feeling that only the organisers
who are not playing, experience,
is sitting down as everybody
begins and see 120 people
involved, all content and eager
to play the marvellous game of
petanque.
The day
progresses, the scores roll in,
instant prize draws, the arbiter
measurers the real close calls
and makes decisions, the clock
doesn’t stop for lunch, it’s
full on. A team plays out of
turn and the pool disintegrates.
Slow players are harassed and
finally pool play finishes later
than expected. The pros use
psychology and eliminate another
team from the final 16. The
result for Christian and Chris
hangs on numbers as to whether
they go through. Yes, they just
made it.
The draw for the
plate is organised and one game
is played before the party at
the ‘Pig and Whistle’. The first
20 arrive and get a free beer.
The pub is buzzing by 7.00pm as
the finals draw sheets are
displayed. Food is offered,
spare ribs, hamburgers and
pigtail chips are amongst the
dishes.
By 10.00pm the
quiet ones have gone home and
the rowdy ones are on the dance
floor outside under the canvas
listening to one of Rotorua’s
top bands. The Napier and Bay
View girls give the likely lads
a ‘lambada ‘impression and the
place is hopping. Japanese girls
at their first NZ rave look on
wondering where the hell all
these ‘old buggers’ have come
from!
Next morning the
teams get back into action, the
jobs are done and the next round
is under way. Somebody drops a
clanger but play continues. The
calls get tighter and the
pressure starts to tell. Finally
we have the final four teams.
Graeme and Barbara improve from
the previous days ranking of
number eleven to top qualifiers.
They drew Seti and Andrew while
Chris and Christian play Georgio
and Charles.
Meanwhile the
plate is close to a result,
Putaruru eliminate a Rotorua
team - Andy and expat Carel from
Putaruru. Ruby (baby and all)
and Aussie beat Peter and Gerard
from Wellington, to meet Colin
and Alan in the final. The plate
final is over. Aussie and Ruby
take home the cash prize.
Back to the final
where Graeme and Barbara from
Masterton won through to battle
it out against Chris and
Christian, the beaten favourites
from the first ANZAC tournament.
Every one remembers how they
were fannied. Will they pull
this one off?
Chris shoots like
a demon and the nonchalant
Christian just keeps putting in
the winning plombet. Graeme and
Barbara can’t reproduce the form
that got them to the finals. The
strategies and faultless
pointing are not there. The
Aucklanders redeem themselves
and carry off the prize 15.-.5.
The presentations
are made. A magnum of champagne
goes to the top Rotorua team of
Jane and Clare, previous year’s
finalists. While the Rotorua
members clean up the grounds,
put the gear away and have a
celebrity beer in the clubrooms
they tell each other the
plaudits they have received for
hosting yet another successful
event.
Next year the
ANZAC will be held on the
weekend of March 10 & 11, 2001
as the Rotorua club will be
hosting the Peugeot National
Triples at Easter.
We hope you will
be there catching up with this
wonderful petanque family we all
belong to.
Trevor & Sue
Neilson
Masterton Magical Midwinter
Doubles
This was of
course
New Zealand’s
first indoor tournament, with
Masterton Petanque getting
permission and Mayoral help to
convert the A & P Showground’s
stock pavilion into playable
pistes. A small, enthusiastic
and very hard working group of
people man aged to clear and
level the area, then spread it
with lime and mark into pistes
ready for 49 teams from all over
the North Island.
Eleven of the top
16 nationally seeded players
were part of the group, making
it possible for everyone to play
at least one game with ‘the
best.’
Most teams had
given themselves a fun playing
name so we had the likes of the
Mafia Madams, The Mad Cats,
Relaxitives, Incorrigaboules
playing with Kapitis -
Hurricanes, Canonboules, Mad
Hatters and Even Stevens. With
names like these the tone was
set for the weekend and we could
tell it was going to be fun,
fun, fun. Don’t know if it was
much fun for the many players
who had to kiss the frog (Fanny
equivalent) but there did seem
to be a steady stream doing the
kissing, from top seeds down.
The weather was
just as the organisers would
have wanted, totally miserable -
wet and cold. What would be the
point of having an indoor
tournament if it wasn’t? One
slight draw back, the loo’s were
a 94 metre dash across a
paddock, making us all learn to
‘hang on,’ but not until it was
too late!! Dodging the pigeon
poos on the pistes wasn’t always
easy either, as the offending
feathery ones kept up a supply
of the fresh stuff falling
throughout!
The atmosphere
was absolutely positively
magical, with everyone seated
around blazing hot braziers
warming their boules, supping on
hot soup and eating freshly
cooked sausages (between games,
if time allowed). This was a
tremendous way of mixing with
the other clubs and catching up
on the gossip.
Don’t be fooled
however, there was a lot of hard
play going on as well, with
round one having to be completed
by early afternoon - 4 games -
and round two, almost completed
by the end of day one.
Completion of round two, third
round and finals were on the
Sunday, making it another full
and action packed day.
The winners in
the end were Dirk Winnie & Brian
Smith from Upper Hutt.
Helen Ball
Club Profile
-
Kapiti
Petanque Club
Started
in August 1996 under the
wing of the Kapiti Bowling
club. The club played on two
terrains, often divided into
two pistes to handle
membership demand. A further
two pistes were added and
still the numbers increased
with often 40 players
turning up. To enable
everyone present to have a
game meant the club was
restricted to almost always
playing triples.
In October
1998, with the restricted
playing area available,
members were becoming
frustrated with the
congestion. There was no
extra land available in the
vicinity and the need arose
to find another site. The
Kapiti Coast District
Council offered several
possibilities and the vacant
Croquet Greens at the
Paraparaumu Domain were
chosen.
The Council
developed the new terrain -
50 metres x 30 metres - at
their cost with financial
help from the Hillary
Commission and manpower from
club members. With the
membership at 70 the club
moved to the new terrain in
May 1999.
Currently the
membership stands at 120,
consisting mainly of retired
players. The women out
numbering the men by 4 to 1.
Many play up to four times a
week and the club enjoys a
good social programme; going
to shows, wineries and
dining out.
Kapiti
currently holds the
Wellington Interclub League
Trophy. The rapid growth of
petanque in the district
could not have happened
without the help of the
Kapiti Coast District
Council, Hillary Commission,
Community Trust and Dave at
the Paraparaumu Beach Bar &
Café.
Members have
put a great deal of time and
effort into the districts
two colleges, primary
schools, Kiwi Petanque and
retirement centres giving
many the opportunity to
learn and play petanque.
This all helps the clubs
applications for ‘grants’.If
you are staying or passing
through Kapiti, please bring
your boules and have a game.
All welcome.
Rex Hayes
Kiwi Petanque
-
Ian Baker
Following my
appointment as National Kiwi
Petanque Coordinator, I
would like to thank Cam
Calder for his work in
helping to establish the
network of regional
co-ordinators and helpers
which will enable us to
further the aims and
objectives of bringing the
sport of petanque to schools
throughout the country.
I also want
to thank South Island
coordinator, Diane Findlay,
for her work in producing a
more ‘user friendly’ set of
coaching notes to introduce
the game to teachers and
pupils - and for that
matter, any beginners. I
hope that these notes can be
made available to regional
co-ordinators in the near
future.
One key
objective for the coming
season is to encourage as
many schools as possible, to
enter teams in the NZ
Secondary schools National
Triples Petanque
Competition. This event is
part of the NZ Secondary
Schools Sports Festival
2000. A multi sports event
based on the principles of
the Olympics and supported
by the NZ Secondary Schools,
the Hillary Commission and
the NZ Olympic Committee.
Over 23 different sports
will be represented and the
tournament will be held in
Hamilton on 9 & 10 December,
2000.
As well as
continuing our work with
schools, I will be
encouraging petanque clubs
throughout the country to
approach their local
schools, with a view to
making their terrains
available for tournaments
and coaching as well as
considering special club
membership rates for
students.
I would also
welcome any ideas and
comments from readers.
-
South Island
Report
Kiwi Sport
has undergone a bit of a
rethink here in Canterbury.
Initially the Christchurch
Kiwi Sport team made
themselves available for
field days organised by
various schools, often all
day events which placed a
considerable strain on their
physical resources. A
meeting was arranged with
Sport Canterbury and a
decision made that during
the year 2000 a greater
emphasis would be placed on
teaching the teachers and
less on field days.
Sport
Canterbury has set up a
series of ‘in service’
teacher training sessions,
photocopying a petanque
handout which has been
especially prepared for this
type of group and
introducing the Kiwi Sport
team who will conduct the
training session. An
attendance schedule of names
is taken. The sessions being
around 1 – 1 1/2 hours
duration are held in the
late afternoon at various
schools. With an average of
10 teachers attending each
session.
The actual
training session consists of
a short introduction to the
game and sport of petanque
and then proceeds as quickly
as possible to playing.
During the play, various
shots, scoring and tactics
are demonstrated. At the end
of the playing session a
‘wrap up’ chat is held
usually in the staff room
where any questions
concerning the play and
equipment can be discussed.
The teachers are then given
the handout as a reference
tool.
Subsequent to
the in service session, the
Kiwi Sport team is supplied
with the attendance schedule
and prepares individual
Foundation level
Certificates. These are
posted to the school with a
congratulatory letter and an
invitation for the teachers
to bring their groups of
pupils to the club terrain
either for play or more
specific coaching. It is
made clear that the Kiwi
Sport team will go to
schools to take specific
coaching sessions for
petanque if required.
The
Christchurch Kiwi Sport team
recently conducted a series
of training sessions for a
group of young adults from
the NZ Institute of Sport.
This group consisted of
young men and women who
showed an aptitude for sport
but were not academically
successful. These sessions
were a definite challenge
but at the conclusion there
were another 20 young people
trained to ‘teach’ the game
of petanque.
During 1999
the Kiwi Sport team brought
petanque to over 800 school
children. During 2000 we
will bring petanque to
around 100 teachers who
would each have an average
class of 30 children. This
is why we have chosen to
redirect our efforts. The
long term aim is inter
school petanque tournaments
at all school levels.
Diane Findlay
New Zealand Petanque Association
News
Summary of
Committee Meetings 21 April and
24 April 2000
Overseas
representative teams
The selection of
teams to represent New Zealand
at upcoming international
tournaments was discussed. It
was agreed that the ‘replacement
policy’ (for attendance at World
Championships) should be:
-
if one player
pulls out, the remaining two
can choose a replacement,
but they must be a seeded
player, and be put forward
for the Committee’s
approval;
-
if two drop
out, the NZPA Committee will
select an other team, which
may or may not include the
remaining player
It was also
agreed that to qualify to
represent New Zealand, players
must be permanent NZ residents
(not necessarily citizens).
Clubs database
This is
progressing well, although there
is still some information
missing. On present information,
there are 46 clubs in New
Zealand, with a total active
membership of 1365.
Hillary
Commission Funding
Last year the
NZPA was allocated $3000 from
the Hillary Commission. An
application for further funding
for 2000/01 is being made.
Tournament
Sponsors
Letters are to be
sent to Peugeot, Coopers Creek,
Coca Cola and the City Council
Parks department, thanking them
for their contribution to the
Easter Triples tournament.
Peugeot in
particular made a significant
contribution to the NZPA in
1999/2000, for the running of
national tournaments - prizes,
expenses.
Kiwi Sport
Coordinator
Cam Calder is
relinquishing his role as
National Kiwi Sport Coordinator,
due to other commitments. Ian
Baker has agreed to take over
this role for the NZPA.
The Committee
noted the huge contribution Cam
has made in this area over the
last few years, and in promoting
the sport generally.
Correspondence
New Zealand seems
to be firmly regarded as part of
the international petanque
scene. This is shown by the
increasing amount of
correspondence from overseas,
including:
-
a letter from
a French newspaper asking
for details of upcoming m
tournaments for a
forthcoming article
-
an invitation
from the Singapore Petanque
Federation to send a team of
3 players and one official
to a tournament in August
-
an invitation
from the Japanese Petanque
Federation for two teams (1
mens triple and 1 womens
double) to go to a
tournament on 8/9 October
2000
-
advice of an
international tournament in
Czechoslovakia
Petanque as a
spectator sport
The issue of team
distinction, eg wearing same
colour shirts, was discussed.
This is important mainly for
media purposes, but also for
spectators in general, to be
able to distinguish which team
is which, and where from.
It was agreed
that we would not like to see
‘uniforms’ made compulsory, as
this would not be in keeping
with the game’s culture, but
that the Committee should
encourage competing teams to at
least wear the same shirts where
possible (Club shirts/colours if
appropriate).
It was also
agreed that scoreboards should
be used where possible,
especially for finals.
Arbiters
It was decided
that as well as having
‘technical’ arbites for rulings
on matters of play, 3 people
would be appointed as
‘administrative’ arbiters, (for
example for disputes over
results, invalid entries) for
each NZPA tournament. These
would be NZPA Committee members,
or if sufficient members not
available, appointed by NZPA.
Barbara
Whittington – Secretary
NZPA Committee Requests
In the Media
Spotlight
The NZPA
Committee would like to appoint
a public relations/media liaison
person. There is a real need to
generate and coordinate
publicity to raise the public
profile of petanque in New
Zealand. If you could assist
with this, or know of anyone who
would be able to, please contact
the Secretary.
Keeping in
Contact
Taking advantage
of 21st Century technology means
the NZPA can bring more
information to clubs much
quicker than in the past. While
many clubs have an email
address, it would be useful for
every club on the club data base
to nominate a member’s email
address for their clubs
electronic con tact. A reliable
person who is able to quickly
pass information on to club
members would be ideal. Please
pass the details on to Diane
Findlay.
This will help
with the distribution of entry
forms, member ship renewals,
updated club list, rules updates
etc., between magazine mailouts.
Summary of NZPA Committee
Meeting – June 2000
Items discussed
at the Masterton meeting are as
follows:
-
Discussed the
need to be better
co-ordinated regards
sponorship; many larger
firms/organisations have
‘close-off’ dates that we
need to be aware of, so bids
are not sent in too late.
Some possible contacts who
could help us will be
followed up.
-
Agreed on a
policy for selection of
teams for overseas
tournaments (details to
follow, but basically, the
winners of the Triples will
still go to the World
Champs. ‘Replacement’ policy
as agreed at
AGM);
representatives for other
tournaments will be selected
according to the seeding
list.
-
Selected
teams for the Oceania
Tournament, and Singapore.
-
Agreed that
teams will be required to
put up a monetary pledge to
ensure their commitment to
participate.
-
Decided not
to send teams to Japan, and
the Women’s World Champs
this year, mainly because of
the small base from which we
can raise funds, risking
spreading available
resources too thinly.
Letters will be sent to the
organisations concerned
stating that we are not in a
position to send teams this
year, but are definitely
interested in competing.
(Next year there will be no
Oceania to consider, so can
attend others instead.)
-
Discussed
ways in which the NZPA could
assist with fundraising
efforts for team going to
World Champs. Murray Porter
agreed to coordinate this,
building on his experience
from last year.
-
Discussed a
new style entry form for
National Tournaments which
will include conditions of
play.
-
Entry forms
for this year’s Labour
Weekend Singles in Welling
ton will be sent out to
clubs and posted on the
website.
-
Discussed a
draft tournament protocol
which is to be available to
organisers of national
tournaments, setting out
what they are required to
do, and what NZPA will do,
in regard to entry
processes, terrain
conditions, procurement and
presentation of trophies,
social functions,
sponsorship. This will be
finalised before the Singles
Tournament.
-
Noted that
petanque does not have a
very high public profile,
work needs to be done in
this area.
-
Agreed that
there should only be one
official ‘North Island
Championship’ and one ‘South
Island Champion ship’. Any
club or group wishing to
designate a particular
tournament as such should
apply to the NZPA for
permission to do so. The
NZPA does not want to be in
the position of having
several events all claiming
to be such a championship.
Barbara
Whittington - Secretary |
