Cooler Weather is Coming

Sue and Fred had an undefeated day on Sunday!

Terry shoots on one court while Joseph points on another

Father and son walk-ups practicing (as Fred plays on another court)

Walt Elder

Terry explaining the game to new players

With winter weather coming soon, Shirley and I will only be playing for a couple of more weekends in the Carolinas before heading off to visit the grandkids in Texas for the holiday season.

The Wiens (Terry and Sue) are having a Grand Opening of their home terrain (in Lexington, NC) on Saturday, December 1st.  It's open to all members, family, and friends of CarolinaPetanque.  You can get in touch at CarolinaPetanque@yahoo.com if you'd like to come.

There will be afternoon play at Miller Park in Winston-Salem on Sunday, Dec. 2nd, and again on Sunday, Dec. 9th.  After that, Shirley and I will be gone until around the end of January.  Other members may choose to play in our absence, and I'll send out e-mails advising of any Carolina play that's made known to me.

Remember, send me your e-mail address at CarolinaPetanque@yahoo.com if you'd like to be added to the weekly e-mail.
 

Thanksgiving week

Shirley brought cake!

First-time players, John (Canada) and Tim (Winston-Salem)

Small crowd.  Big fun!  We enjoyed meeting local resident Tim and his friend John, visiting from Canada, on Sunday afternoon.  Tim promised to return with his wife for a future session, and John promised to come back the next time he visits.  Good for them!

CarolinaPetanque Member Places Third at Amelia Island!

(from left:)  Khalid, Claudy, Jean-Pierre, Joseph

CarolinaPetanque's own Khalid Mesbah finished in a tie for third place overall at the 2012 Petanque America Open.  The annual event draws teams from all over the United States, Canada, Mexico, Africa, and Europe.  It is an open format tournament limited to the first 128 teams that register.

Khalid and his partner, Joseph Hassoune from New York, won all five of their qualifying matches on Saturday.  They then proceeded to win three straight on Sunday morning before finally losing in the semi-finals to former petanque world champion and world shooting champion Claudy Weibel from Belgium and his partner from the New York Petanque Club, Jean-Pierre Subrenat.

Weibel and Subrenat went on to defeat Marco Foyot, also a former world champion, from France and his partner Bernard Martin from Florida in the championship match.

The other third place team consisted of Roger Arpaia from Florida and Peter Mathis from California.  They lost to Foyot and Martin in their semi-final match.

Congratulations!

Sunday's Pictures

Best-Dressed Winners

Rich and Billy

(San Antonio) Texas vs. Carolina

Kirk with eventual winners Weibel and Subrenat

Lauren and Uijin were runners-up in Concours Bb!

Fred and Juan

Cruz and Kristi

Josh and Bo (from Ohio)

Juan pointing

Fred's wife Faye shielding her eyes from FL sun

Juan & Fred

Khalid & Joseph tied for 3rd overall!

Cruz

Wrights from GA

Ricard sponsors

Marco Foyot measuring

USA team member Juan Garcia (4th from left)

No whining

Subrenat and Weibel

Joseph

Khalid, Claudy, Jean-Pierre, and Joseph

Arpaia, Mathis, Martin, and Foyot

Cynthia and Andre (Maine Boules Club)

Canada's women

Teri Sirico

Mike Owen's daughter Misty

Finalists Claudy Weibel & J.P. Subrenat vs. Foyot & Martin

Teri with Roger and Bernard

FPUSA President Ed Porto

Ricard's representative with Philippe

First in their bracket-- Marie and Stan (Virginia Boulefrogs)

First place winners Claudy and J.P.

Congratulations to Claudy Weibel and Jean-Pierre Subrenat on winning the 2012 Petanque America Open.

CarolinaPetanque had it's best finish ever this year.  Khalid Mesbah (with his partner Joseph Hassoune from New York) finished in a tie for 3rd place out of 128 teams!  They won five straight on Saturday, then three straight on Sunday, before finally losing in the semi-finals to the eventual winners-- Weibel & Subrenat.

Uijin and Lauren Park also had an excellent tournament showing.  They were 4 and 1 on Saturday and finished as runners-up in Concours Bb!  Great job.

Kirk and Bo were also 4 and 1 on Saturday.  They were ranked 32nd of 128 teams after Saturday's play.  Unfortunately (depending upon your point of view) for them, that meant their first game on Sunday was against ultimate winners Weibel and Subrenat!  Their second game was against the final winners of Concours Aa, so they were eliminated in two games on Sunday.  Still, a great achievement and they should be very proud.
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Danny and Sue made a good showing this year as well.  3 and 2 on Saturday got them into the Concours brackets.  They also lost both games on Sunday.

Augustin and Marc, Juan and Fred, Kristi and Cruz, Angela and Heather, & Shirley and I made up the rest of the Carolinas' teams.  I'll try to get specifics on their results, but I think that  Augustin and Marc, Juan and Fred, & Kristi and Cruz all had winning records on Saturday.  Angela and Heather are new players-- first time at Amelia-- but still managed to win a game on Saturday.  Nice job!

Shirley and I were 2&3 on Saturday.  We lost two of our games by one point each.  Oh well, there's always next year!

Those of you who weren't there missed a great time.  Maybe next year?

Saturday's Petanque America Pictures