Thursday, November 04, 2004

November Newsletter

I was looking for something different to start off this newsletter, so decided to look up the word November on the internet, to see what it’s origin was. There were 80,800,000 references to November, so I gave up!
The health and fitness inclusions are something that was emailed to me a while ago and I thought they were quite funny, although absolutely nothing to do with Petanque.
You can download a PDF version of this newsletter here. (4 pages - 76Kb).
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HEALTH and FITNESS
Question 1
Is it true that cardiovascular exercise can prolong life?
Answer:
Your heart is only good for so many beats and that’s it… don’t waste them on exercise. Everything wears out eventually. Speeding up your heart will not make you live any longer; that’s like saying you can extend the life of your car by driving it faster. Want to love longer? – take a nap
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PNZ NATIONAL DOUBLES:

I briefly touched on the national doubles last Wednesday night but for those who were not there, here is a short summary.
The National doubles were held at Kapiti over Labour weekend. Masterton had a number of teams entered. The 1st day was qualifying day with 6 games and Joan and Claire scraped into the plate with a win in their last game. The rest of us were relegated to the bowl.
Sunday saw rain all day and by 11.30 the piste was so flooded, play had to be suspended. By 1.00pm there was only enough room for a few games, so a decision was made to cancel the bowl and the plate and just concentrate on the trophy.
At 1.30pm they started the quarter finals and the final finally finished at 9.00pm. The winners were Ian Baker and Richard Swaney who were both in this years world cup team.
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HEALTH and FITNESS
Question 2
Should I cut down on meat and eat more fruit and vegetables?
Answer:
You must grasp logical efficiencies. What does a cow eat? Grass, corn, turnips, and what are these? Vegetables! So, a steak is nothing more than an efficient mechanism of delivering vegetables to your system.
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NO SMOKING RULE:

I personally do not agree with the WPA and the PNZ no smoking rule. We were originally told that smoking on the piste was banned to try and improve the image of the game.
Now the excuse is, that because we get funding from SPARC, we can not be seen to be in conflict with their principles of “health in sport”. Although I do not agree with it, I respect it as a rule and abided by it when I was a smoker. However, throughout the national doubles, people continued to smoke during games. One person who had been warned 3 times at the national Triples in Putaruru earlier this year was one of the worst offenders.
I played on a piste following one of their games and there were 5 butts stubbed out on the edge of the piste. (Smokers had been given designated areas to smoke and had been asked to use the tins provided for their butts. The umpire has the power to penalise points or disqualify a game if the offending continues. I think it is time PNZ either cancels the rule or starts to enforce it.
That’s got that off my chest!!
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HEALTH and FITNESS
Question 3
Should I reduce my alcohol intake?
Answer:
No, not at all. Wine is mad from fruit, Brandy is distilled wine, that means they take the water out of the fruity bit so you get even more goodness that way. Beer is also made from grain.
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CONGRATULATIONS:
To Lorraine, Joan , Liz and Barb who have been invited to the Oceania selection trials in Rotorua 13 & 14 November. Those selected from that weekend will represent New Zealand at next years Oceania Competition to be held in Rotorua early next year.
Remember Barb is the current Oceania singles champion!!
Good luck to all of you
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HEALTH and FITNESS
Question 4:
How can I calculate my body/fat ratio?
Answer:
Well, if you have a body and you have body fat, your ration is one to one. If you have two bodies, your ratio is two to one, etc, etc,……………….
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CLUB CALENDAR:

Ralph has very kindly updated our club calendar. I brought a pile of them to club night last Wednesday and they have all gone. If you do NOT have one, please let e know and I will make sure you get one.

PLEASE NOTE THE FOLLOWING DATE CHANGES:

Interclub round 6 is 19 Feb, not 12 Feb
Interclub round 8 is 09 Apr not 02 Apr
Interclub round 9 is 23 Apr not 16 Apr
PLEASE NOTE THE FOLLOWING ADDITION TO THE CALENDAR:

The Hawkes Bay Summer doubles are being held 12/13 February. This is the same weekend as the mission concert, so anyone planning on entering this tournament and does not have accommodation arranged, will struggle to find anything. If this applies to you, please contact Graeme B who might be able to point you in the right direction.
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HEALTH and FITNESS
Question 5
Aren’t fried foods bad for you?
Answer:
YOUR’E NOT LISTENING!!
Foods are fried these days in vegetable oil. In fact, they’re permeated in it. How could getting more vegetables be bad for you.
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NOVEMBER EVENTS:
November is a busy month on the calendar

06 Nov – Interclub league
07 Nov – Khandallah 3 boule triples
14 Nov – Upper Hutt Swiss doubles
20/21 Nov – WPA open triples
27 Nov – club melee

Graeme B, Sue and Janet have entered the Khandallah 3 boule triples tournament under the team name “ The Ting family”
Poin, Shoo and Far. I’ll let you work out who is who.
Graeme B and Janet have also entered the Upper Hutt Swiss doubles.
The Khandallah tournament has closed off now but I understand there is still places available in the Upper Hutt Tournament

There are also a number of teams entered into the WPA open triples. We have had good results in this tournament in the past.
Good luck to everyone who has entered tournaments this month.
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HEALTH and FITNESS
Question 6
Will sit-ups help prevent me from getting a little soft around the middle?
Answer:
Definitely not! When you exercise a muscle, it gets bigger. You should only do sit-ups if you want a bigger stomach.
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INTERCLUB LEAGUE:
If you KNOW you are available to play interclub on Saturday the 4th December (away to Kapiti) please let me know. It is rather discouraging trying to scratch a team together at the last minute. Our challenge against Otaki last month was only saved at the last minute – we were very close to defaulting and that is something we have not done in the 10 years the club has been going.
November’s challenge is against Horowhenua, Saturday the 6th of November, 10.30am at our club. The team is Graeme M, Graeme B, Ralph, Joan, Barb and Ken. If you are free, we would love to see you down there for some support.
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HEALTH and FITNESS
Question 7
Is chocolate bad for me?
Answer:
Are you crazy? Hello …..Cocoa Beans……… another vegetable!!!
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PNZ RULE:
(from the PNZ rule book)
If a cochonnet breaks, the largest piece counts to mark the position. If there are still boule to play, it is immediately replaced by a cochonnet of identical or similar diameter
to the broken one.
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HEALTH and FITNESS
Question 8
Is swimming good for your figure
Answer
If swimming is good for you, explain whales to me!
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OCTOBER MELEE and DINNER
Although the weather was very miserable throughout the morning, and despite numerous calls to the club captain, it was decided to forge ahead with the melee and weren’t we lucky we did. It turned out to be a super afternoon. We had 15 turn up, so we had 3 triples and 3 doubles teams. Four games were played and the winners were Graeme M, Joan with Roger and Ken, Mark and Tina coming in a strong second.
A superb pot luck dinner was enjoyed by everyone and the evening was finished off with some coaching lessons from Graeme M. I also have to pay tribute to Roger who came dressed in his JC costume, despite us having cancelled that part of the proceeding.
Roger was dressed as a chef with the word GYM on his hat. On his back were the words, GYM, WHITBY, YORKS. You could hear the brains ticking over and the shouts of glee as people got the clues. The answer was James Cook, who was born in Whitby, Yorkshire. The GYM (Jim) was the hardest clue. Well done Roger. It takes a scientist to think of something so clever. It made my Julius Ceaser seem quite ordinary really!!
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PNZ RULE:

The team that throws the cochonet must wipe out all other circles located nearby the one it will use.
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HEALTH and FITNESS
Question 9
Is getting “in shape” important for my lifestyle .
Answer:
Hey! “Round” is a shape!

I hope these questions and answers have cleared up any misconceptions you may have had about food and diets, and remember…….

Life should NOT be a journey to the
grave with the intention of arriving safely in an attractive and well preserved body, but rather to skid in sideways – Chardonnay in one hand – strawberries in the other – body thoroughly used up, totally worn out, and screaming – WOO HOO !!
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Cheers for now
Graeme B
Club Captain