Have a great Xmas and a fantastic 2011

Another year has gone and I think we all agree that 2010 has been a quiet and peaceful Petanque year. One highlight has been the good results posted by our world championship team.On a less positive note, I am hoping that the PNZ board keeps us a little better informed during 2011 about the things the board is working on and things still in the queue. A dedicated news page on the PNZ website would work well. I have been really surprised that we've heard so little from our PNZ board.

We will have to wait and see what the future holds for Petanque in NZ and life in general during 2011. When thinking of the future and things unknown, I am reminded of the words by one of our great world leaders, Donald Rumsfeld. With people of Donald’s calibre we can all rest assured in the sound knowledge that our world is in good and capable hands:

“I would not say that the future is necessarily less predictable than the past. I think the past was not predictable when it started.”
-Donald Rumsfeld
“There are known knowns. These are things we know that we know. There are known unknowns. That is to say, there are things that we know we don't know. But there are also unknown unknowns. There are things we don't know we don't know.”
-Donald Rumsfeld

Have a great Xmas and a fantastic 2011. –Tom.

PS. Make sure you put your sun-block on this summer. Remember the old saying “an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure”. Or as GW Bush has put it: “an ounce of being protectorive is heavier than a ton of feathers”.

Bill passed away

Napier City Petanque Club Inc. is sad to announce the passing away of Bill Billings. Bill passed away peacefully at home on th 9th December 2010. He had been a member of the club since its early days and was the first to be awarded Life Membership of the club. He was still playing the game of petanque that he loved right up until 10 days ago. He will be sadly missed.

-Barbara Lucas

Cockle Bay Petanque Club Open Tournament

SUNDAY 9th January 2011. 9.00am REGISTRATION 9.30am START.

ENTRY FEE $10.00 per player. LIMITED TO 26 TEAMS.

PRE ENTRY ESSENTIAL
Entries may be accepted on the day providing they do not create a bye and the 26 team limit has not been reached,

Five rounds of random draw followed by pool play,
Each complete pool to play off for three places.
Cash Prizes. PLUS PRIZES FOR:
TOP non prize winning WOMENS and SENIORS TEAMS

Entries to:

Warren Barrett, Phone (09) 273 3106 email warrenbarrett@xtra.co.nz
Withdrawal of an entry to be advised prior to the day of play.

NzPetanqueClub Twitter page survey

Ron up for next challenge

PERENNIAL CONTENDER: Ron Sandilands
is swapping his boules for bowls..

From the Howick and Pakuranga Times:

"JUST as the dust is settling on his career in one code, Ron Sandilands is proving he’s an unstoppable force.

After more than 60 years of sport, he’s retiring from petanque, the sixth sport he’s excelled at having represented New Zealand in open competition for the past six years.

The insatiable 76-year-old has previously played to national championship level in tennis, squash, badminton and table tennis, and reached a five handicap in golf. “I have decided to call it quits,” says Mr Sandilands, who has lived in East Auckland with wife Judi for 24 years...."

Read two page article here>>

45th World Petanque Championships Coach's Report

"It was my pleasure to provide support to the New Zealand team at this year’s World Championship in Izmir, Turkey. The team was made up of four successful and experienced players … Maurice Belz, David Lippard, Michael Rocks and Richard Swaney.

A month prior to the competition the players and coach got together for a training weekend at the Herne Bay Club. This assisted in the preparation of the team and enabled the players to discuss their individual aspirations and to set team goals for the tournament...."

Read report>>

1932 film has Petanque scene

"Marcel Pagnol often wrote about pétanque and his 1932 film, Fanny, includes a famous scene in which a tram is stopped in its tracks in order to allow the game to continue (the clip is unsubtitled but, as ever in Provence, the gestures speak volumes). Note that the players are following the "old" rules, and run before pitching, rather than the "anchored feet" version of pétanque generally favoured today." Text taken from this Page.

Computer Software in Izmir

The World Championships Petanque in Izmir was run using computer software by SPORT Software. Is this (or any other) software being looked at or evaluated for use in NZ?

"SPORT organises events, players, clubs, matches, referees and rankings in an easy to use manner.

The SPORT software enables you to generate all necessary printouts:
Standard letters to all clubs or players (with MS-Word),
Draws,
Referee forms,
Rankings, and
Entry fee summaries.

With SPORT, you have always a perfect overview on the tournament!"

World Championships in Izmir

Any info that comes my way from or about Izmir will be made available on our Twitter page over the next couple of days.

To Our Team

To the New Zealand World Championship Team,

All the best for Turkey, play your hearts out, represent New Zealand with dignity and have a great experience.

Also, best wishes for an enjoyable and smooth running trip to Lorraine Brock (manager), John Targett (coach) and Joanne Lippard (supporter) - hope you all have a wonderful time.

Liz Rocks

HAWKE’S BAY CLASSIC RESULTS

Trophy

1st Maurice Belz Bayview and Ron Sandilands Cockle Bay
2nd Denise Bavidge Bayview and Geoff Greer Bayview
3rd John de Gueldre Tauranga and David Bosley Napier Club
4th Lee Tafford Bayview and Ian Baker Herne Bay
5th Christine Strichen Wanganui East and Shirley Selwyn Wanganui East
6th Dean Norman Windy Hills and Claire Wilson Masterton
7th Barb Lucas Napier Club and Barb Johnston Masterton
8th Sharon Cannon Bayview and Murray Porter Bayview

From left to right. David Bosley President Napier City Petanque club presenting the HB Classic Trophy to Maurice Belz and Ron Sandilands.

Plate

9th Ian Hay Napier Club and Ralph Priddle Masterton
10th Richard Turfrey Wanganui East and Pete Hamilton Wanganui East
11th Robert and Sue Wilson HB Lawn Tennis
12th Gordon Ogden Napier Club and Philippa McNiven Napier Club
13th Susan Norman Windy Hills and Joan Miller Masterton
14th Gerard Flaschner Napier Club and Marie Fenton Napier Club
15th Eddy King HB Lawn Tennis and John Maxwell Bayview
16th Roberta Campbell Bayview and Arnold Lander Rotorua

Bowl

17th Yvonne Futcher Wanganui East and Dirk Winnie Wellington
18th Graham Morris Masterton and Beth Gardner Bayview
19th Dean Futcher Wanganui East and Sandra Carston Wanganui East
20th Annette and Jim Forrest Tauranga
21st John Hudson and Josie Parkin Tauranga
22nd Julie Chambers Napier Club and Vicky Cox HB Lawn Tennis

Bowl Consolation

23rd Peter Dennett Hataitai and Cliff Wood (Hataitai ?)
24th Brian Futcher Wanganui East and Krissy Dinnis Wanganui East
25th Peter Sutherland Napier Club and Olive Wright Napier Club
26th Val Nicholson Napier Club and Bill Billing Napier Club
27th Chryssa and Allan Munroe (both) Wanganui East
28th Pam Nicholson Napier Club and Pam Fuller Napier Club

National Championships

I am contacting you on behalf of the Horowhenua Petanque Club Committee (I am not a member) to try and get as wide a distribution as possible for the attached paper (see link at end of this post).

The paper is self-explanatory. It deals with a decision by the PNZ Board to only run National tournaments at the 3 main centres – Auckland, Wellington and Christchurch. The Board has even made a decision on the clubs in each region at which these tournaments will be run. In the case of the our region, the WPA, the clubs chosen are – Park Avenue and Kapiti. The criteria used to select these clubs are “Cost and Accessibility”. Even a cursory glance will tell you that there is little or no difference in cost of travel etc and accessibility between several clubs in the WPA, such as Manawatu, Horowhenua, Otaki and Kapiti/Park Avenue.

If you further look at facilities at the clubs you find that clubs such as Horowhenua and Manawatu win hands down in terms of clubhouse, toilets etc.

We are not asking for any special favours in this. All we are asking for is a level playing field in which we can bid for nationals (or even internationals) on our merits, and we dislike the draconian method of decision making by the Board which has not consulted us or our Regional Association.

Kind Regards,
Bryan Wells on behalf of the Horowhenua Petanque Club Committee.

Go to Paper

Oceania Championships Report

The Oceania Championships 2010 … a report from the Coach.
Six nations with one goal … to win the Oceania Championship.
Tahiti, Australia, New Zealand, Wallis & Fetuna, Vanuatu and hosts New Caledonia came together to compete for the title in Noumea on a terrain that was flat, hard and super quick like the Christchurch Petanque Club terrain in mid summer. Read more>>

New Zealand South Island Singles

Sat 2nd / Sun 3rd October.
At the St Kilda Petanque Club. 33 Royal Crescent Dunedin.
Download entry for here
St Kilda welcomes you and hopes you will have an enjoyable two days.

Oceania Championships

I am using twitter to provide any news that comes my way. Two items up already. Great stuff and well done. Go well New Zealand!

PNZ Selection Process

Please download the outline of the revised Representative Selection Process and Registration Form for 2010/11.

These documents will also be available on the website shortly.

Barbara Whittington
Secretary
Petanque New Zealand