OK, it wasn’t the finals at the 2013 Petanque World Championship in Montauban,
France - but it was France and it was a petanque tournament...and I played in
it.
Today, the Sainte-Genevieve-des-Bois Petanque Club held the second
tournament during my stay with Jo Sanchez here in France, just south of Paris.
It was a “doublettes a la melee” competition which I understood to mean that
there would be a drawing for partners and you would change your partner every
game – but in fact, you kept the same partner throughout the tournament. I
really don’t like that format, not because my partner and I were eliminated (we
won 1 and lost 2), but because as you can imagine, it really is the
luck-of-the-draw that determines the best teams and ultimate finalists. Plus,
this was an open (and free) tournament so all levels, novices to former
champions, participated.
It was a random drawing among 60+ players and my partner was one of the 2
children participating in the tournament. Gaetan was a 12-year-old boy and his
younger sister was the other child in the tournament. Their parents were also
participating in the tournament and since we were eliminated earlier, I got to
watch his mother play into the quarter-finals and his father play into the
semi-finals. Gaetan was relatively new to the sport, however, he was a good
tactician and we worked well as a team because we discussed tactics throughout
the games. Our one win was against one of the best shooters in the club but
alas, he was unlucky and drew a weak partner.
After the tournament, I visited with the entire family and had a very nice
time with them. It was a pleasant afternoon filled with clacking boules,
sunshine, perfect temperature and lots of French people laughing and talking
while playing petanque.
Regards,
Jim Schwobel
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