Our hosting of the FPUSA National Triples over the weekend was a very successful event and a lot fun. One might venture that the winners had a little more fun than the rest of us, but all would agree it was fun and successful because of a great effort from our volunteers and a very congenial group of players. The beautiful weather helped, too.
We began on Friday afternoon by welcoming arriving players for casual games and a chance to learn our courts. Most of the teams in the event were on the courts then and joined us for a "apero and drawing to assign team numbers for the next day's match-ups. After a few snacks, Tim, our club president, fired up the grill and covered it with "brats" Wisconsin style, to accompany baked beans, potato salad, dessert items. Very delicious and so convenient to the players allowing them time to continue their casual games without having to leave to search out their evening meal.
Saturday morning began with a random series of games for the 13 teams, including one we were very pleased to see from the New York Petanque Club which served to make the tournament a true "national' one, since the rest of the teams were from West Coast clubs.
By about 4 pm we had all our games in and the results could be used to seed the pools for the concours and the consolante the next day. Eight teams were placed in two 4 team pools, and the other 5 teams formed the round robin consolante.
Sunday morning, while enjoying a really tasty continental breakfast of complimentary mini-pastries from La Petite Provence, announcements and welcome remarks were dispensed with and play began.
Teams in pools began their quest to win two games in row and assure their progression out of the pools and into the Semi's and Finals. But, as we know in this zero sum game, a winner also means a loser, so those teams who lost their first game struggled to win one more so they could also advance. But, teams losing twice were then spectators for the afternoon. Being a spectator was not an altogether unpleasant way to spend the afternoon watching the continuing games with such good teams competing.
In the Semi-Finals for the concours then, we had the local team of Pierre and Philippe Agnesse and Joe Cortright matched up with the New York Petanque Club team of Jean-Pierre Subrenat, Xavier Thibaud (both on the FPUSA team going to Turkey for the "worlds" in a couple of months, and Thierry Juillard.
The New York team uses the plombée very impressively to great effect and their flat shooting style yielded more than a few carreaux. However, the Portland Petanque club's team came out ahead 13-8, also very impressive.
The Final for 3rd and 4th place was therefore between the the New York players and the Seattle team. It was a close game but the New York players pulled off a 13-11 win to take 3rd place and win medals and prize money.
So our final for 1st and 2nd Place was between the Portland club and the Eugene/Fresno players. In a long game with many great plays, and to the surprise of many spectators, the Eugene/Fresno team emerged the victors (13-11) and National Triples champions for 2010!
The consolante meanwhile had been continuing on and was played to 11 points to help insure its finish before the Concours final. The top two teams in this tournament and who finished "in the money" were, in First Place, our own Tim Larson, Wally Peppel, and Shaughn McClurg (Congratulations!!) and taking second a Seattle/Lamorinda (Lafayette, CA) team of Jimmy Flour, John Chanthavisay, and Jean-Marie Letellier. Also, congratulations!
By now, delicious aromas from the buffet catered by La Provence had arrived and was ready for serving. Over tasty wines selected by our club sommelier Pierre Agnesse, we gathered around tables and enjoyed the chicken, and salmon entreés, and accompanying salads and wonderful mini-pastries. Such fun!
Awards and photos followed and while most player were ready to return home or to their motel rooms to "vege out", a dedicated group were out on the courts again while there was still light enough to see the cochonnet and play another game or two.
The combination of camaraderie and good food and drink is what draws us to the sport and keeps us coming back. Most of us would agree petanque is a wonderful addition to life.
To those of you who helped put on the event and those who played, the Portland Petanque Club thanks you sincerely for making the weekend a great one.
Joe Martin, President
Federation of Pétanque USA
Treasurer
Portland Pétanque Club
Federation of Pétanque USA
Treasurer
Portland Pétanque Club
No comments:
Post a Comment