Brilliant piece of marketing we can all use

Every Petanque website should link to this YouTube video. If you want to entice people to come along and give Petanque a go - this clip will do it. It is a brilliant piece of marketing we can all use!

All of NZ Under One Roof

For some time now I have been wondering about how Petanque players from overseas research our game here in NZ before they arrive. I believe it would help to have a simple page with all relevant details on it. It should help with getting players from other parts of the world to play some games with the locals (that's a "Win Win"). I have created such a page and would appreciate your feedback. If something does not work for you, let me know what browser, and or device you are using. You'll find the page here. Thanks in advance for your feedback. -Tom.

Let us know what you'd like

Some time ago I was surprised to see meat-packs and lots of alcohol as tournament prizes. Is this what people want? Why not ask them. Thanks for providing your input:

Trans Tasman 2013 Report by Dirk Winne

I have done a "copy and paste" of this excellent report, as some users have difficulties opening MS word documents. Some can't open documents with the .docx extension, but are ok with the .doc extension. As you can see Microsoft has created a bit of a minefield for us - no surprises there. When working in the digital space, we need to take all users into account - my job coming through ;-) -Tom.

PS. This report is also published as text on our Facebook page PATONKAZ, but not everyone has or wants a FB account - if you do not have an account, you can't see the report there. Computers are so much fun :-)

Trans Tasman 2013

Lake Macquarie NSW

Firstly an apology. I had been expecting official results from Australia that would confirm the final scores. As far as I know we have not received these so please be aware that any figures are unconfirmed.

Our annual match with our Australian neighbours is always an eagerly anticipated clash. Although New Zealand has had the wood on them over the past six years this could easily change.

This year for the first time we had an Open Team, a Seniors Team and a Junior Team. As many of you are aware it has not been easy enticing younger players into our game despite the efforts of many people over the years. We are hoping that the incentive of National Representation assists with this goal. While on this subject, I would like to thank the regional associations that supported our Juniors. Your demonstration of support was appreciated and repaid, if not by results, certainly by the attitude and effort that our young players took into the games.

Many players travelled independently and either arrived early or added on days to their weekend of petanque. The expectation was that players would be in Lake Macquarie for a Thursday afternoon practice.

Unfortunately some players in Wellington had obviously offended the weather gods and evening fog in the capital meant that the Thursday morning flight was cancelled. Fortunately all the affected players and supporters were able to rebook on flights to get them to the tournament on time. You can imagine the anxiety this caused for players, some of whom this was their first international event, and the coaches. This disrupted travel only really impacted on the Seniors and the Open Women, however a slight tweaking of combinations meant all was well.

We had been told that the Lake Macquarie pistes were rather benign, but we arrived to discover three distinct surfaces. Half of the pistes were covered with thickly covered with small stones requiring players to put some height into their pointing and shooters needed to hit boule to boule to make a difference.

The second surface was a hard base with a smattering of loose stone. Identifying and hitting your landing spot was the key to success on this surface and the third terrain was a hard, dry flat surface with no covering. The key to being successful on this terrain was being able judge the weight of your boule. Most players used low rolling pointing shots. This was arguably the most difficult terrain to play on.

The tournament was organised in such a way that the teams were drawn to play on different terrains throughout the weekend. This meant constantly having to adjust your style to suit the terrain.

The Tournament is run in three different sections; Open, Seniors and Juniors. Apart from the Juniors, the teams are six males and six females. We play single gender triples and doubles on the first day and single gender triples and mixed doubles on the second day.

From this point I will concentrate on the Open section as I have little information, and I cannot attest to the accuracy of the information I have gleaned.

After the first two rounds of triples the women were 4 – 0 and the men were 0 – 4.

Even scoring going into the doubles round. The Australians appeared to come out all firing in the doubles, however this was not matched on the scoreboard with the New Zealand team slightly shading the Australians by 10 games to 8. Both the Men’s and the women’s team had won 5 games to 4.

A slender 4 point lead was taken into day two of the competition by the NZ open team.

The competition was wide open as we started the second day with another two games of triples. We knew we had the Aussies a bit rattled as they changed their team combinations in an effort to peg us back. It worked to some extent in the women’s section but our men rose to the challenge and picked up a couple of the games.

The men split their games 2 -2 with the Aussies while the women still maintained a dominant position with a 3 – 1 outcome.

We entered the mixed doubles section of the tournament with a 10 point lead. With 36 points still in hand this could be a little like a lottery. While Andre and I had spent time working on the combinations to match player ability and temperament the reality was that only one of our combinations had played together before.

Call it a stroke of coaching and selection genius if you like but the Kiwi team won this section convincingly with a 14 - 4 game result. Our teams performed outstandingly. To quote Eric Doublet – the number one mens’ player for Australia after his mixed doubles team had just been beaten by Joanne and Dez 13 -12 “ Your team are too good”. I must add that Joanne and Dez turned around a 3 – 12 deficit to take this game.

The final result for the open section was a convincing 78 – 42 victory to make it six in a row for the Kiwis

All of the games were timed, 1 hour and two ends. This occasionally required us to thing differently in terms of strategy and tactics.

At times it came down to defending a lead. I recall one particular end of the women’s game the Kiwis were leading 9- 6, holding one and the Aussies were out of boule the position the Aussies defending boule were in meant that the Kiwis took 1 point even though they had five boule in hand. A 10 – 6 lead is easier to defend than a 9 – 7.

Conversely we had ends where we were required to score heavily and needed to attack. I recall one such end where Barbara and Sharon were attempting to score 4 to tie the game on a final end. Five shots were required, every boule connecting but unfortunately we were not always able to move the boule far enough to hold the point. Luckily we were in a dominant position as far as the match was concerned as it allowed us the freedom to attempt some very technical and difficult shots.

While all this was going on the Seniors were still battling away and in this epic struggle it was coming down to the result of the last game. A win to the Aussies would result in tied scores and a win to the Aussies on points differential a win to NZ would give us an outright, if somewhat slender victory. 62 - 58

The Australians had their opportunities to close this game out on the last end however a couple of loose boules handed us the victory.

The NZ Juniors were always going to be battling against a very talented, and experienced group of Juniors from Australia. From what I saw our Juniors never gave up even though their backs were to the wall. They were eventually defeated 29 – 9 but these kids performed creditably and stood up to the challenge. They deserved their Black Shirt and did NZ Petanque  proud. We need to do all we can to encourage and retain these juniors.

It may appear that this was a relatively easy victory but the scores alone do not convey the intense competition of this tournament. Many of the games were tight and the points were ground out, end after end.

As a coach and PNZ President I am incredibly proud of the way our Petanque community was represented in Australia, the players, coaches and officials, and our supporters. It was a victory for us all

Dirk Winne 

Trans Tasman Petanque

I will collect what I can from FB for those who do not use FB. Hopefully it will provide an interesting timeline of events and stories all on one page.

20/05/13 "Michael Peacock

The mighty Boule Blacks received glowing praise tonight on Seven Sharp. It was even suggested that Petanque should be our new national sport. How good is that ?"

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19/05/13 "Sarah Jane Wright

TT - we go into day 2 about even with the Aussies, it's anyone's game at this stage. The open are about even the seniors are up and the youth down. Just about to leave for day 2. Sorry for the brief report but I am not sure of all the scores cause I went shopping and hair my hair done during the games. Will report later today. LETS GET READY TO RUMBLE !"

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"Sarah Jane Wright

We are here! Well some of us, Claire and Christine r stuck in welly, fingers crossed they r on the flight tommorow! What a trip, plane, train, bus, walk and taxi all in 1 day. 5pm and ready 4 bed."
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Welcome PetanqueTube

We have a new Petanque website - PetanqueTube. This is an English language website dealing with petanque videos and sharing (contributing) of videos. What I like about this new website is that we no longer have to go to these ghastly French websites with all their garish and intrusive advertising flying in your face (cyber littering) - God knows we have suffered. 

I will retweet all their relevant Tweets whenever I can. I hope other sites will put their support behind this new initiative and provide a link to it. By sharing and linking we promote our sport.


"PetanqueTube.com is site born from the idea of creating a platform that connects players around the world. PetanqueTube is an non profite video community, run by passionate petanque players. You can share your petanque videos and watch others. Site has a YouTube integration what makes uploading really simple. If you have your video already uploaded to YouTube then you can simply submit your video with just one click http://www.petanquetube.com 

Kind regards from PetanqueTube team."

USE OF SINGLES AS A SELECTION TOOL

Selection Process 2013

USE OF SINGLES AS A SELECTION TOOL

Background

Singles games occupied almost the entire first day of the process in 2012. Feedback from the players was that this was overkill and of limited value. In a response to this feedback the Board stated that it would not use singles again.

Process

As the person in charge of selection I take responsibility for the use of singles again in 2013. I was remiss in not actually thoroughly checking the feedback.

Singles were not used as extensively as in the previous year. In 2013 they were only used as part of the Senior Men’s process and the Open Women. Neither group played more than 4 singles games over the weekend.

Singles were used to give the selectors more information, as well as giving players the opportunity to play each other head to head. In the Senior Men the games were not scored but the results were recorded. This enabled us to rank the players. It also gave  the selectors the opportunity to discuss aspects of players performance thoroughly.

In regard to the Open Women, the players played 3 marked games. The competition was extremely close and intense. The data gathered from the singles games contributed to the final selection decision.

The selectors role is to gather as much information as possible to make an informed decision. The use of singles was a valuable exercise in both the Seniors and the women. I believe it gave players another opportunity to press their case for selection. The data was considered alongside all the other information available to us.

I believe that my fellow selectors will endorse the organisation and structure of the selection camps as rigorous and fair on all participants. If any player thought that they were disadvantaged by the addition of the singles games I would be interested in hearing from them.

Dirk Winnie

PNZ Board Member with responsibility for Selection

A new NZ Petanque FB page

Nice to see another Facebook site: HBC Petanque Club. Please if you have a FB account, go and write something to welcome HBC to our online petanque community. 

I have to declare I am not a FB fan - I prefer Google+. I have however made a permanent link to the HBC Petanque Club Facebook page (see links column on right). I will also endeavour to promote this initiative via our popular Twitter page. Go well with this project!

Helping Hand

Some of you may have noticed that I have been using "Just Write" for some news items. It is a Web based (cloud) application which allows me to very quickly publish items that small groups or clubs find difficult to get out there. A good example is "Petanque terrain in Christchurch City". I also use it for repeating some PATONKAZ Facebook announcements. Again, this is to bring it to a wider group - those that do not have a FB account. Sharing information is the key to staying together as a Petanque family. 

If you have an announcement you find dificult to get published, email it to me and I will put it on "Just Write" and link to it from our popular Twitter page. 

One of the problems with "Just Write" is that pages do not render correctly on mobile devices such as tablets and smart phones. This is beyond my control, but I will bring it to the atention of the people providing this free service. 

Have a great 2013 and may you win all your games. - Tom.

It is critical that New Zealand attends

Text (by Sarah Jane Wright) taken from PATONKAZ FB page.

"As at the closing date for registrations (31st October), PNZ had 
received only 5 registrations for the Open Men's section.

This is not enough to make up a Men's team for the 2013 Trans Tasman
Challenge, or a full-strength team for the 2013 Oceania Championships.

It is critical that New Zealand attends the 2013 Oceania Championships,
as qualifying for the 2014 World Championships will be held there. We do 
not know the format for this qualifying yet, and we do not want to 
compromise our position in any way. If we don't go to Oceania, it is 
highly unlikely that we will get to the Worlds.

The 2014 Worlds will probably be held in Tahiti, so it would be doubly a
pity not to be sending a team to this event when it is being held almost 
in our "backyard".

PNZ therefore proposes to re-open registration for the national 
representation selection process, for the Open Men's section only, until 
30th November 2012.

We hope some players who may have been in two minds about joining the 
process may be encouraged to enter in light of the above circumstances, 
so that we are able to field full teams for the 2013 internationals. If 
you know of anyone in this position, please talk to them!

Eligible players can download a registration form from the website, or 
email"  secretary@petanquenz.com

A Salute To Our Team

A big congradulations to our 2012 World Petanque team. This was a truly fantastic performance at the highest level in the world.

This year was the first time in many years we've put up our strongest players instead of players with enough private funds to make the return trip. Combined, these four players have unmatched skill and tournament experience. It is one thing to play well at your local club (I do that sometimes), it is quite a different matter to play extremely well on the world stage. To the NZ team: I take my hat off to you!

I am also really impressed how together we brought this big event to everyone in New Zealand. Thanks to the people behind Facebook, Twitter, PNZ website and the WPA website.

World Petanque News from PATONKAZ

I will endeavour to keep you informed here, if you do not have a FB account.

uby Vakauta

5:10pm Oct 7

new zealand beat luxemburg 13-0 yesterday. this morning they wil play cambodia.

Ruby Vakauta

11:40am Oct 6

gr8day of petanque today. the boyz did abfabsaluudle. us supporterz threw n shot every boule with them. they were fantastic ta wotch. won 3out of 5. awsum. shall w8 n c how tomoro goez. GO KIWI'S!!

Tom here from CHCH:
New Zealand winning from the Netherlands is big,  really BIG.
Here is how it went on the Dutch petanque forum:

"nederland -nieuw zeeland 8-8"

"noel tom en joey spelen" reference to who are playing

"Nederland - nieuw zeeland 10. -8. Deze moet gewonnen worden."
Deze moet gewonnen worden means: We must win this one.

"k krijg net 8-12 door waarschijnlijk laatste mene"

"8 - 12 sorry"

"nederland- nieuw zeeland 8-13"

"K%# met peren!" I know what this means, but there is no way I am going to translate this for you.

"Nederland verloren 13 - 8."

Sarah Jane Wright

9:42am Oct 6

Taken from PNZ website

Today began well with a stunning 13 - 3 demolition of Laos in the first game. Everyone on fire and performing at their highest level. It wasn't that Laos were a poor team ( they later beat Australia 13 - 0 ), it was just that New Zealand dictated play from the get go and executed their pointing and shooting superbly.

Next up was Tunisia ( a country that has previously won the world championships ). They arrived 8 minutes late and were in line to be penalised by 4 points ( 1 for the first five minutes and 1 for each minute after that ). They claimed not to have heard the announcement and 'in the spirit of the game' they were 'excused' without penalty.

It was nip and tuck for the first two ends before Tunisia gained a 3 point advantage. However they pointed poorly on the next end and we pointed very well on a tough terrain to score 5 points ... it was now 6 - 4 to New Zealand. In contrast the next end was a shoot-out with 2 carreaus to both teams and Tunisia picking up 5 points to go into the lead 9 - 6 having substituted their shooter.

The Tunisians then pointed poorly on the next two ends and New Zealand made no mistake, taking 4 points and then 3 points to secure a great win at 13 - 9.

After two good wins, the games were only going to get tougher and we drew Italy on the number 1 piste, and playing next to France and Spain. We started well picking up 2 points but the Italians hit back with 3, and then another 3 to lead 6 - 2 having made 6 carreaus. With the Italians ahead at 9 - 3, David came on for Christian. On that end the Italians managed to hold with their last boule but left Georgio with an opportunity to shoot for 4 or carreau for 5. It was a beautifully delivered 10m shot striking the target boule but not clean enough to push it far enough and the Italians won the end. A missed opportunity by the narrowest of margins. Another carreau by the Italians on the next end won the game. A 13 - 3 victory that didn't really reflect the game.

At this point we went to lunch which had been split into two sittings with 24 teams eating while 24 played, and vice versa. Lunch over and a chance to get out of the stifling heat of the arena and into the fresh air. The team had a practice session while waiting to hear who their next opponents were.

It was Portugal. Here was a game we felt we could win but things didn't go to plan. It began with a lucky ( for the Portugese ) miss hit on the cochonnet by their shooter which moved it far back to their boules and resulted in a 5 point gain to them. We pulled back to be just 4 - 6 down but the Portugese had a knack of getting things just ( only just ) right at crucial moments, and they kept their score ticking over until New Zealand hit back with a 3 point end to go 7 - 10. On the next end Andre was desperately unlucky when he shot at the holding boule at the side of the cochonnet, and succeeded only in hitting it 'on the head' and it simply bounced up and down. Despite a wonderful covering point by Christian, the Portugese pointer got a fortunate bounce that bumped our boule out and gave them 2 holding boules. Their meilleur finished off the job and the kiwis went down 13 - 7.

The team was disappointed not to have been more effective in a game where all the luck went the other way. A game that got away. The team is resting and showering back at the hotel and return to the Palais de Sport for dinner at 8pm and their final qualifying game at 9.30pm. Despite the set-back against Portugal the team is confident they have the desire and ammunition to win a third game today.

Ruby Vakauta

4:55am Oct 5

WOW wot a day. We met up with charles n jean parley. As wel as paul oconnor n stella. We had lunch and then insyd ta wotch shooting. Boy were we loud wen dre came out. He got 29 pointz. Best score for nz thus far. YAAAY DRE!!.

Ruby Vakauta

6:31am Oct 4

The team registered today n met up with Lorraine. They got ta hav a look at the stadium. Dre was blown away. Tomorrow the team move to the hotel, us galz wil stay here. The boyz r excited, as r thier supporterz. The team got an awsome email fm Allan Fletcher. It was recieved with great inspiration and laughs. The boyz r now sending one bak in reply,ta wish him luk for the national singles. Thanx Al. The boyz r in gud spiritz and anxious ta get the show on the road. Xxx

Ruby Vakauta 3:59pm Sep 29 Itz 6.00am n christian gone to airport ta get David n John. Joanne already here but has not seen david in a week. We will go hav brekfast as team for first tym. Looking forward to it.

Ruby Vakauta

1:43pm Sep 27

Sat in a park 2day whilst it poured wiv rain. BUT ..... I look to my left n i can see the tip of the Eiffel Tower. Look to my ryt n therez the Louvre Museum n to my ryt peeple r playin petanque. Whoa....

26/09/12

Ruby Vakauta

4:11am Sep 26

boyz hav gone to throw a few boule, i on the other hand am tooo cold to go with them. brrrrrrrrrrrrr!!!. caught a glimpse of the eiffel tower on our way bak fm the airport, after piking up dre. wow.

25/09/12

Georgio Vakauta

9:02pm Sep 25

Hi there Pipp's

Well we both have just arrived in Paris with Ruby?? weather wise it's cold and grey sky in PAris....buggger that?

We both tired as you know it hours flight, Christian was there to pick us up on time, and now writting this to you at Christian mate dominique appartment having just relax and at 2.25pm today we going to go and pick Andre up at Airport.

Being a Webmaster is hard and difficult work.

As you can see from the quote at the end of this post, being a webmaster is hard and difficult work.

Looking at Goodbye and thanks to a Webmaster from 2007 we can see that things have not changed. On the plus side we now have "social media" such as Facebook with our own home grown PATONKAZ. The problem with FB is that one needs to have an account - it also seems to be largely an Auckland group. Nevertheless, this FB site is a great effort and I am flabbergasted that no NZ Website has made a link to it (not even the APA website!). By the way, I make links to all - I just like sharing. When we look at the link pages of any of the NZ petanque websites we see links to far flung petanque websites around the world, but not to our home grown PATONKAZ site - Why????

"....However like many of you I lead a busy life and I simply don't have time to 'seek out' news items from around the country. So 'please' do email me with your news and photographs so that the National Website is always interesting and relevant. If you are the Contact for your club, please share this with your members.

Many thanks. John Targett Website Manager"

Open Letter from Paul King

Taken from PATONKAZ

An 'open letter', some questions 'we' might like to consider in moving forward. I offer no opinions and would add that he (or she) whom is without sin should cast the first stone.

Is the big question what or whom is 'we'? Is it time for 'us' to live in the truth? Could it be that 'we' doesn't really exist? Can 'we', individually and collectively make an honest, searching inventory of what we have, where we are and who we are? Could it be that before we make more plans for tournaments, ladders, representation, prizes, kit etc. that 'we' need to take a good look at ourselves first?

Are 'we' the elephant in the room?

We promote ourselves as being "friendly"; are we? We say Petanque is "fun"; is it? Could it be that if an alien landed and followed our club days and tournaments for a year that what 'he' would see, hear and experience is not quite what we bill Petanque as being? Are there some overbaring egos at large that could put new and average players off? What makes 'us' think that out of (say) 1,000 players, any more than (say) 30 have the slightest interest in doing anything more than 'having a day out and having a cup of tea (or beers, wines etc.) and a feed'? How do such potential tournament players perceive the whole situation? Might they feel intimidated, embarrased, belittled? Maybe they're put off by the cliques? Perhaps they've got better things to do than listen to loud (non native French speaking) adults proclaiming how great they are in embarrasing 'French' accents? Could they look on at the better players 'practicing' and feel left out and/ or that they just can't imagine being able to do what they can do?

Do 'we' actually want players coming through? If so, could we all be a little less as we may appear to be and a little more genuinely interested in helping each other without ego?

Are 'we' our own worst enemies? Could 'we', each of us stop and think 'is what I'm about to do going to genuinely help another player or do I have a more selfish motive'.

We need the people who are prepared to put time into organising and communicating, every organised pass-time does. I'm not such a person but I know if I'm honest that I could do more in taking 'me' out of the equation and offering help and support where I can. Should we all be taking a look at ourselves and asking similar questions? If not, then individually it must follow that each of us is quite happy just the way things are...

First of all, what are we trying to acheive

The Crowd Goes Wild

The Crowd Goes Wild is a half-hour sports entertainment show broadcast on New Zealand nationwide television channel Prime TV. It has been fun watching The Crowd Goes Wild as part of our New Zealand Olympics TV coverage.

Just in case you've forgotten this show, here is a hilarious clip of an interview with the best petanque players in the world during their tour of New Zealand in 2008.

HAWKES BAY OPEN DOUBLES COMPETITION

The play of the H B OPEN CLASSIC DOUBLES COMPETITION: NELSON PARK, NAPIER : 8 & 9 of September, 8-00 am -8-30 start both days. $30 per team entry fee. Limited to 44 teams -cash prizes. Licenced: Liquor will be available (No bring your own thank you. Last day for entry 3rd September, 12.

Please adress your entry fee and names to:
DEREK WRIGHT 4 SEAPOINT ROAD NAPIER 4110