England in the Junior World Petanque Championships

Thanks to your support, by buying a raffle ticket, entering a competition, or making a donation to our fund, we were able to travel out to Tunisia to represent England in the Junior World Petanque Championships recently.

 The Amount raised was in the area of £1600.

Any excess money raised will be handed to the regional committee to be held in a fund for the use of chiltern juniors in the future.

Before the competition started we played friendly games against Australia, The Netherlands, Switzerland, and Morocco – and we really felt we were playing well as we won 2 of the games – although the other 2 were abandoned due to heavy rain.

The first day of the real thing started with the shooting competition – and much better weather. Samuel was our shooter, and he fought against the obvious nerves to produce a score of 18 in the first round. Sadly he missed going through to the next round (repercharge) by 1 point !

Then the triples started with our first game against Tunisia 1. We lost the game 13-8 but again we think we played well against a very good team.

In our next game, against Poland, we really started to get it together and won 13-3. We were delighted with the result.

Strangely enough the next day started with the Opening Ceremony. We were led through the streets of Monastir by a Marching Band and Majorettes ! Max proudly carried the England banner and it felt really good to be representing our country. A memorable moment for us all.

Our next game was against Canada – we won 13-2. We played really well as a team, our confidence was building and we began to realise that all our hard work in preparation and coaching was paying off.

But we came back down to earth quite quickly in our fourth game. We lost 13-0 to Germany, and although the German team are extremely good it was a real body blow. It meant that we would be playing in the Coupe des Nations (knockout) the next day, so we tried to put it behind us and focus on that.

Our first round draw in the Coupe des Nations was Tunisia 1. It felt like “deja – vu” but we were determined to play our very best. Sadly we lost 13-7 after a long and fairly tense game. We were knocked out and very disappointed. But after a while we realised that we had not disgraced ourselves and had performed better than perhaps expected.

We were then able to watch some fantastic boule – the final between Italy and France was something special. Italy won and became 2009 Junior World Champions. And Poland won the Coupe des Nations – remember that we beat them in our second game !

We all had a great time, made some new friends from other countries and enjoyed the experience very much. We all hope that we learned a lot and that our games have improved as a result. Without your generosity we would not have been able to have that experience – so once again, THANK YOU.

Max, Ross, Reece, Samuel.

 

 

EPA Over 50's Doubles

An early start on Sunday morning, for the Chiltern region Over 50’s contingency.

Three teams consisting  of Alan Newland and Adrian Emson, Fred Jones and Keith Beattie, Paolo and Sue Infantino,

descended on Lordswood.  

The Swiss system was used with five rounds and a final to be played.  

29 teams entered the competition.

All three Chiltern Region teams narrowly lost in the first round to 12, 10, and 11.

In the second round all three teams won.

Alan and Adrian encountered Paolo and Sue In the third round.

On a very sloping piste, Sue mastered the pointing and with the shooting skills of Paolo they secured the win.

Fred and Keith unfortunately were defeated in their match.

Paolo and Sue went on  to carry the flag for the Chiltern Region and secured two more wins in the fourth & fifth rounds.

At the end of play, Paolo and Sue were in the final against Angie and Lee Jamieson.

Sue delivered some brilliant pointing, and with the support of the other Chiltern Region players, the Chiltern pair took a good lead, and looked like making the final hurdle.

However a couple of loose ends  let the Jamieson’s back in the match. With the score at 12-10,  Lee delivered a good shot, and Angie

pointed the required 3 to snatch victory for a 13-12 win.

An enjoyable day.  Thanks to Adrian, Myra, Alan, Fred and Keith for staying behind to watch the final and give their support.

Paolo

QUEEN’S HEAD OPEN TRIPLES 2009

Last Sunday, 26-07-09, the Queen’s Head PC in Sandy hosted their annual open triples.  As a club open this is designed to attract novice players as well as the more experienced.  We take entries on the day and try to encourage people to turn up, even if they do not have a team or are short of a player, as we can normally mix and match with floating players.  Despite the uncertain weather, we were able to host the 27 teams who were there to play on a terrain with only 8 pistes!

The format of play was leagues in the morning going on to a Main and Plate knock-out in the afternoon.  With teams ranging from totally new to the game to those that have played internationally, the rapport was great.  My thanks to all the more experienced players who helped the newer players during their games – in particular to Sue and Paolo Infantino who were praised by the teachers from Cambridge for their help.

The afternoon knock-out session started at about 3pm and they were hard fought as you might expect.  The Plate final was between Jo Gallimore, Geoff Grey and Gary Gould (a team made up on the day) and Cottered ( the usual suspects of Maggie, Kevin and Ian).  Close but Cottered won the day.  The Main final was between Skinny Latte – aka – Sue and Paolo Infantino and Martin Hughes – and the Outlaws (Toni Gates, Miles and Matt).  Close though it was, the trophy went back to the Outlaws who have now won it 5 times out of the last six years.  Congratulations to them and Cottered.

I would like to say thank you to all those that turned up on the day and made it so special – I know that some others would have liked to be there but were previously booked.  Special thanks to our Landlady – Claire Norman – without whose help we would not be the Club we are, even though she was unwell on the day.  Also Andy, the chef, and all the bar staff.  How can I forget Lynn who can extract blood from a stone in a good cause!

Each year, having taken out the prize money and a small amount for the running expenses, we give the remaining money from the entry fees and the raffle to charity.  As our Chiltern Juniors have qualified to represent England at the Junior World Championships in Tunisia later this year, we decided to donate this extra money to their expense fund – they need to raise £1000 for the privilege of having got there.  With an astounding one off contribution from Rosina and Alan Huntley of £100 – we were able to contribute £300 towards their costs.  Many thanks to all.

The last, and to me, the biggest winner is that we still have a few – very few – Club competitions where new players and experienced players can come together and share the social and playing side of this lovely game.  Only from there can we generate new players – young or old.

Thank you all for making our Open so enjoyable.

John Luke