Jo Sanchez

We met Jo last year when we were in Austin, Texas, for the 2012 Heart of Texas Petanque Club Open.  Though in his mid-seventies, he hasn't slowed down much.  Our friend Arsene Dupin, president of the Heart of Texas Club, recently featured Jo on the H.O.T. blog.  Here's a link to the story:

http://heartoftexas.wordpress.com/2013/04/10/hot-news-everyone-has-a-story=this-is-jos-story/

Caricature of Gary and Shirley Jones-- by Jo Sanchez

Jo, Gary, Rudy, Sandy, Juan, and Shirley

Petanque America

http://petanqueamerica.com/

Our friend Philippe Boets at Petanque America http://petanqueamerica.com/ has begun using a new advertising slogan that reinforces his core business purpose: to provide quality petanque boules (balls) in his primary market of the United States.  Order all your petanque needs from Philippe and you'll never be caught without the balls to play!

Afternoon Panache Tournament on May 5th at Miller Park in Winston-Salem

Bob Moyer

Bob Moyer, past-president of CarolinaPetanque, is promoting an afternoon panache tournament on May 5th, 2013 for CarolinaPetanque members and guests.  He has a fellow artist friend, Guntram Porps, visiting the United States from Germany who just happens to be an avid petanque player as well.

The tournament will be a fun-first type affair where you switch partners after each round of games.  There will be two players per team (doubles) unless the number of teams turns out to be an odd number.  In that event, there will be one game of three players per team (triples) in each round of games as well.  Your partner(s) in the first round will be determined by a random draw.  Afterwards, the pairings will be determined by consulting a posted, fixed listing of pairings.

Each individual player will accumulate one major point for winning a game.  In addition, win or lose, your point deviation will accrue as plus or minus minor points.  For example, if your team wins by a score of 13 to 7, each player on your team will receive one major point and 6 minor points (thirteen minus seven equals six).  Conversely, each player on the losing team will receive zero major points and [negative 6] minor points.

At the end of four rounds of qualifying games, the four individual players with the most major points (or the most minor points in case of ties), will advance directly to the Championship Finals.  The top two ranked individuals will play as a team against a team made up of the third and fourth ranked individuals.

Games will be timed so as not to exceed 55 minutes per game.  This should allow us to complete four rounds of games between 1:30 and 5:30.  The Championship will then start around 5:45 and be played to 13 points without a time limit.

There will be prizes awarded for the Champions and Runners-up.

After the tournament, somewhere around 7:00, Bob is inviting the entire group to join him and Guntram at the Inter_Section Gallery and Art Space at:

629 N Trade Street
Winston-Salem, NC

for pizza and sake (or non-alcoholic beverage).  Attendees will be able to view the exhibit, consisting of the poetry of Bob Moyer, the art of Guntram Porps, and the art of Mona Wu.

This should be a really fun event and provide everyone with a good chance to be a winner.  Please mark you calendars and join us.  We will have to start promptly at 1:30 to finish on a timely basis, so try to be a few minutes early if you can.

Gary

Third Sunday in April

Augustin, Fred, and Kirk

Bo and Gary

Parker showing great form

Gail found a new friend in Bo's dog

Concentrate!

Uijin, Lauren, and Kirk

James was back for a second week

Bob studying the situation (Rom relaxing in the background)

James. Gail, and Rom

Bo and Fred

Bo and Joe H.

Sunday found us again at Miller Park in Winston-Salem, NC.  The afternoon began with cool-ish temperatures but got better and better as it wore on.  By three o'clock many were looking for a little shade.

Kirk, Bo, and Parker swung back our way after spending the weekend in Raleigh with family.  Kirk just finished his busiest season of work (tax season!) and is hoping to have a little more free time to polish his game with nice weather finally making an arrival.  

As often happens when the Edwards family shows up, Uijin and Lauren managed to make it by as well.  They surprised the group with an announcement of the expectation of their first child sometime in Novemeber.  Congratulations and best wishes to the two (three?) of them!

It was good to see Kirk's mom, Kaye, and her husband, Ron, for the first time in a while too.  Ron advised that it's Kaye's work schedule that keeps them from making it by more often.  We hope she can find the time to join us more often.

Bob Moyer got to the park a little later than usual (due to a poetry event).  He reminded everyone of the upcoming CarolinaPetanque panache tournament in just two weeks.  We hope to have a decent attendance for Bob's visiting freind from Germany.

Shirley and I will not be playing in the Carolinas next weekend.  We're making a quick trip to Texas to visit the grandchildren.  There WILL be petanque at Miller Park on Sunday though.  Fred and Bob volunteered to host, so be sure to make it by and give them a little competition.

Kirk, Bo, and Parker visit The Inn at Bingham School

The Edwards Family:  Parker, Kirk, and Bo

CarolinaPetanque member Francois Deprez, owner of The Inn at Bingham School http://chapel-hill-inn.com/, welcomed the Edwards family to the courts at the inn for a Saturday afternoon of petanque.  Kirk, Bo, and Parker were on their way to visit family in the Raleigh, NC, area and dropped in to meet Francois for the first time.

They were duly impressed with the inn, the hospitality, and the petanque.  Kirk wants the group to meet at the inn sometime this year for a petanque and social outing.  Hope we can make it happen!

New Players

James pointing

Harold and Shirley look on as Sue points

James, Razz, and Rom

Joseph shows James how it's done

Danny wowed the newcomers with his shooting

Joseph Kilpatrick brought his friend and neighbor, James Stevens, to try his hand at petanque.  Joseph warned us that James was a good pool player and would likely have a knack for our game too-- and he was right.  James experimented with all three basic styles of pointing (rolling-in, semi-lob, and lob) and caught on fast.  At the end of the day, he promised to be back next Sunday.

We also had a walk-up player who just saw the group and came over to check out the activity.  Harold Lane tried his hand at petanque (he had played bocce before) and said he would come back again.

We were happy to have our two new players and look forward to their return.  Meanwhile, we're always glad to see the "regulars" too.  Rom, Barb, Joe Harrington, Fred, Bob, Terry, Sue Wien, and Gail joined Shirley and me in making the most of a b-e-a-u-t-i-f-u-l spring Carolina afternoon outdoors. 

Cearley Clan

Tom, Robert, and Tim

Long-time CarolinaPetanque member Tom Cearley was able to bring his dad, Robert, and his twin brother, Tim, over to our place in Lincolnton on Saturday.  They had played with our group before in Winston-Salem and we were very happy to have them back again.

Danny and Sue were down from the NC mountains to rejoin the group for the first time in a while.  We hope we'll see a lot more of them in weeks to come now that the weather in the Carolinas is approaching perfect.

Marc and Juan took the afternoon off from work and joined us as well.  (Augustin and Susanne were a little under the weather from recent flu-like symptoms.)  Marc and Juan played until nearly 8:00 PM when darkness began to settle.

Shirley and I hope to be able to host in Lincolnton more frequently now that the days are longer and the weather is so nice.  It's closer for some of our players than the drive to Miller Park, but we hope to see them at both places as their schedules allow.

CarolinaPetanque at the Amelia Island Spring Tournament

Uijin with his back to the camera             

Parker and Bo Edwards along with Uijin Park and Lauren Gioscio Park represented CarolinaPetanque at the Amelia Island Boules Club Spring Tournament in Fernandina Beach, Florida, this past Saturday.  The weather was beautiful and the tournament was a lot of fun according to Bo.

Parker and Bo had a rough draw and were unable to win any games in the qualifying rounds, though they came close, and one of their losses was to Uijin and Lauren at a score of 5-6! (The games were shortened due to time constraints.)

Uijin and Lauren were just short of making it to the Championship flight after qualifying rounds, but they went on to win the Consolante.  Great job, guys!

CarolinaPetanque at the National Singles and Mixed Triples

Augustin, Jo Ella, and Khalid

Cynthia Stroud, Joe Cortright, Khalid Mesbah, and Augustin Quilici

Khalid and Augustin made the trip down to Boca Raton, Florida, to play in the National Singles Championship on Saturday and the National Mixed Triples Championship on Sunday.

They had Jo Ella Manalan from South Florida Petanque as the female member of the triples team, so they were definitely a strong team.  Unfortunately, Sunday was not their day, so it was not meant to be for Carolina this year.  Wait until next year!

Beautiful Sunday in Mebane Too

Barefoot kind of day

Young crowd at the Inn

Nice point!

Pictures from Francois at The Inn at Bingham School.  It looks as though the spring weather is bringing out the players all over the Carolinas.  Check out the Inn if you're ever in the Mebane/Chapel Hill area.

Nice Sunday in NC

Joe, Gail, and Barb

Barb

Joe, Gail, and Fred

Rom and Terry discussing new boules

Sue Wien and Joe

We had a good turnout for the nicest weather of the year so far.  Temperatures in the low 70s and plenty of sunshine.  It was good to see Terry and Sue for the first time in a while.  The two of them are into the bass fishing season now and have tournaments (fishing-- not petanque!) for the next six Saturdays in a row.  Hope they'll still find the energy to join us on Sunday afternoons.

Barb tried her new La Franc SS boules and played great.  Rom and Joe both ordered new boules which should be here for next Sunday's play.  It's good to see people beginning to get more serious about improving their play.  Should be a challenge to win games this summer!