"....Anybody can roll a boule on a smooth, flat terrain but it’s not so easy when the terrain has slopes and dips, stony areas, etc. The beginner invariable complains about a “bad bounce” whereas the expert will study the terrain, chose the best shot – rolling, half-lob or high-lob – and the correct landing spot, so as to minimise the risk of a “bad bounce”. "....Beginners usually think that pointing is easy, shooting is difficult. Experienced players often say the opposite. Why? Because the shooter usually only needs to learn and play one shot, au fer, a direct boule to boule hit. Shooters are untroubled by an irregularities of the terrain."
We (Masterton Petanque Club) would like to receive some feedback from you. We are considering adding stones initially to 1/4 or 1/2 of our terrain. The question on which we want your opinion is this: If you entered a tournament in Masterton how would you feel about not knowing whether you played games on the super smooth part, or the stony part of our MPC terrain? Before you provide your feedback, make sure you read the full article by following the link below. Thanks for taking the time to let us know what you think.
- Tom.
6 comments:
For new petanque players, I think a portion of the pistes should be relatively "clutter-free" so as to allow them to learn the basics. If you introduce "natural obstacles" too soon, you may scare away people who may eventually aquire the skill and zeal to attempt "reality petanque"
As for "reality petanque" - I think it's an excellent idea. For many players who have become "lazy" pointers/shooters - the added difficulty of having to read the terrain and heighten a technique (or learn some new ones) only ADDS to the fun.
When we began playing - we would rake the ground constantly - but now, we rarely use the rake (unless some bicycle rascals really rutted up the surface).
Jeff Widen
Detroit Petanque Club
Thanks for that Jeff. It is great to get valuable input from outside New Zealand. It looks like the game of Petanque in NZ is at a similar stage of development (underdevelopment) as in the USA.
Hi Tom,
Tis very topic has been a constant battle in our club over the past 10 years. We have people in our club who take great pride in raking all the terrains before every club afternoon, not a rough bit inside, it looks like a beautiful biljart table top. Okay, kids race their bicycles over the grounds and mess up the surface.
We have now one terrain with with course material and we intend to do more in the near future, the bulk of our members are 60+ and we try to cater for them mostly but to improve play one has to play this game on an uneven surface.
In NZ most people are familiar with the game of Lawnbowls and they translate petanque as a similar game, another pet hate of mine is using a pe-made hoop as a "circle" or set a time limit to the game or use the lawn bowls score board, I could go on and on.
I have just spoken to Murray and we hope to get at least 10 of our pistes loaded with gravel and little rocks to make them similar to what is found in Asia and the Northern Hemisphere, should make things a lot more challenging for players - no more bowling and half track "shooting"! -Maurice
a good player should be able to play any surface and adapt to any terrain
Great post thhankyou
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