Vampire Rules

Shady corner

We've been playing petanque at Miller Park in Winston-Salem using what we jokingly refer to as 'Vampire Rules." When it's hot as Hades in the Carolinas in July, with August still to come, we allow the scoring team to move the circle into the shade after each end--regardless of where the jack might have ended up residing at the finish of the end. Just like vampires, we try to avoid the sun at all costs.

Saturday in Morganton

Saturday morning play in Morganton begins at 10:00 AM. As you can see from the series of pictures above, that allows us to begin play on the courts nearest the tree line in natural shade. That's the good news. The bad news--it gets REALLY hot as the day goes on and the shade disappears.

Back to the good news: Kirk, Bo, and Parker are back! After their European trip, we're happy to have them back in the USA.

Regular Thursday evening play in Morganton

With Thursday play in Morganton beginning at 5:00 PM, there is shade on the courts nearest the tree line. Though we still have high hopes that Parks and Rec will be able to come up with a shade system--sails or umbrellas or lean-to type structures--we are able to play in early morning or late afternoon hours without too much discomfort. Mid-day? That's another story!

French Culture Festival

Jeanne Morel (on the right)

Third- Maggie and Rick

Second- Bill and Michel

Winners- Khalid and Guillaume

Sunday, July 16, 2017, Carolina Petanque participated in the first Charlotte French Culture Festival at Nevin Park. One of our Charlotte members, Jeanne Morel, was instrumental in organizing the sponsorship of the French-American Chamber of Commerce of the Carolinas, Carolina Petanque, The International House, and the Arts and Science Council of Charlotte to make the idea a reality.

As part of the festival, we decided to hold a "mini-tournament" for petanque players consisting of eight select doubles teams in a single elimination knockout format. We were limited in the number of teams we could include by the number of courts we have at Nevin Park (five), and by the fact that we wanted to have instruction and demonstration for festival attendees throughout the day.

The tournament results:
3rd- Rick and Maggie
2nd- Michel and Bill
1st- Guillaume and Khalid

Our instructional courts were jammed from morning until late afternoon. The pictures above should give you some idea. Thanks to all the Carolina Petanque members who attended and helped. It was a lot of work, but a lot of fun.

Great job, Jeanne, and thanks for including us in your event.

--Gary