Welsh Petanque Association

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South Wales Echo - 28/10/09 - Petanque: sport Aims to raise its profile. To see a copy of the article please follow this link.
South Wales Argus - 31/10/2009 - Pub boules team to take on the world.

The WPA has today received a formal invitation to send two juniors to the EPA Junior Weekend of Excellence held annually. The event will take place on Saturday 28th and Sunday 29th November 2008 at the Whittlesey Bowls & Pétanque Complex, 194-198, Station Rd, Whittlesey, Peterborough, Cambridgeshire. PE7 2HA.

As in previous years, the weekend is open to juniors who have not attended the event before and will begin at 10:00 on the Saturday and should finish by about 17:30 on the Sunday.

If you are interested in attending, please contact Tony Smith as soon as possible.

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After his first international competition Jesse Lepitz-Robic found himself being invited on S4C children's program Mosgito. Which was aired on Thursday 8th October. By following the adjacent link to can see the interview, by the way it's in Welsh.

The link expired on 13th November 2009.

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The annual Wenvoe Open Doubles took place on Sunday 30th August, although it was damp, 14 teams took part in the annual event. After the preliminary round 12 of the 14 teams were split into three competitions, unfortunately, for two teams it was time to dry their boule and wind their way home.

In the main competition the semi-finals were between:

• Kevin Mildon, Cyril Royer and Neil Dobbins play Jill Brace, Tony Jellings and Steve Brace
• Laurent Mirbelle, Tony Smith and Kevin Hughes play Derek Jones, Ian Bailey and Peter Westall.

After the two semi-finals, the final was between Kevin Mildon, Cyril Royer and Neil Dobbins and Derek Jones, Ian Bailey and Peter Westall. The final started with an onslaught by the team captained by Neil Dobbins who took 5 points in the first end. The score line continued towards 13 but at 12 - 0 the team captained by Peter Westall started a counter attack and slowly cut into the oppositions lead. After 1 hour and 20 minutes Peter Westall's team won 13 - 12.

In the Plate Competition saw the team of Mike Jacques and Jeff Ball beat Julie Bailey, Tansy Mayfield and Christine Hughes 13 - 2.

In the final competition saw the team of Barbara Vaughan, Gemma Foster and Gay Evans beat John Barnes, Roger Griffin and Glyn Attley 13 - 0.

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As part of our fundraising efforts to help send us to the Ladies World Championships in November, we are organising a doubles competition this Sunday 9th August at Panteg.
 
We aim to start playing by 10am so you need to be there for 9:30am to pick your lucky team number!! We are asking for £5 per player for a whole days play and some of this will be put back in to give prizes for the Main and Plate competitions. If the weather is nice, we might even get the BBQ going at lunch time!!
 
So to sum up - Doubles Competition @ Panteg House, Sunday 9th August, 9:30am registration, £5 per player.
 
If you fancy playing, email me or send a text to 07742263403 and let me know so I can book you in.
 
Thanks
 
Gemma
 
Wheatsheaf Boules Club Secretary

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On Sunday 26th July the annual Wales v The marches took place, this year for the first time it took place at the Swan Inn, Letton the home of the Hereford Open.

The results are as follows:

Men's competition - Wales 20 games: Marches 16
Top Wales Men's team - Jake Caston, Stewart Spencer & Gareth Spencer with 5 wins.
 
Mixed competition - Wales 25 games: Marches 11
Top Wales Mixed team - Linda Hutchinson, Jim Hutchinson and Berengere Demay with 6 wins, but only by out pointing the team of Paul Gregory, Alison Gregory and Richard Harris who also had 6 wins.
 
Jim Page (Brecon RFC PC) said that "this event was now to alternate between Brecon and Hereford, and next years event would be held at Brecon".

Graham Attfield
WPA Secretary

It was good to see a good Welsh contingent at the recent Hereford Open held at the Swan Inn, Letton. Teams from Abergavenny, Brecon, Caerleon, Penarth, Wheatsheaf and Wenvoe were represented.

Welsh teams were represented in the finals of the main and plate competitions. In the final of the main saw Ian Bailey (Abergavenny PC), Peter Westall and Neil Dobbins (Monkstone PC) play against Jeff Ball, Dave Cannan and Mike Jacques (Wenvoe PC). Ian, Peter & Neil won to take the Hereford Open Title, congratulations to the both teams.

Pictured to the left is the winning team of Ian Bailey, Neil Dobbins and Peter Westall, with the team they beat in the Semi-finals. Pictured right are the runners-up Jeff Ball, Di Cannan and Mike Jacques receiving their trophy from one of the organisers of the Hereford Open.

In the Plate competition saw the Team of Jake Caston (Wheatsheaf PC) and Stewart and Gareth Spencer (Abergavenny PC) win the Plate Competition, pictured left.

It was also the first outing of the Junior team in a competitive arena, Katy Gregory (Caerleon PC), Jesse and Sam Lepitz-Robic (Penarth PC) found out what it was like to play all day against adult teams.  They performed well under the extremely hot conditions and ended up winning a medal for their efforts.

On Saturday 11th July from 5pm onwards at the Wheatsheaf Inn, the Wheatsheaf Petanque Club is hosting their annual Summer BBQ Fundraiser.

The aim is to make as much money as possible, whilst having some fun, and we usually split the total between two local charities. This year, the money raised will be split between one charity and the WPA Ladies Grand Prix Winners to support them in their trip to Thailand to represent Wales in the World Championships.

The qualifying team to represent Wales are Gemma Foster (Wheatsheaf PC), Jill Brace (Wheatsheaf PC) and Berengere Demay (Abergavenny PC).

During the day, there will be a few games - bingo, carreau for a tenner - a raffle, a bottle prize stall, a cake stall, not to mention some live music from Luke and his partner Rhiannon (The Barn PC) to entertain you all. Don't forget there will be the BBQ to keep you fed!

Please support this event in aid of the local charity and the girls!!

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On the weekend of 24th to 26th July, Wales 1, comprising Matthew Franks, Phil Bradshaw, Neil Dobbins and Cyril Royer, all members of the Monkstone Petanque Club will be representing Wales in Nice to qualify Wales for the 2010 World Championships.

This is the first time that the European Championships have been used as a qualifying event to the World Championships and has overnight become a very important competition.

Neil Dobbins will have an extra duty during the competition as he will also represent Wales in the qualifying rounds of the Shooting Competition, which will be held prior to the main triples competition on the Friday morning, the finals will be held on the Sunday.

During the competition the CEP Congress is also held and Tony Smith will be attending the Congress to involve Wales in the decision making process and continue to create links with other Federations.

We wish them every success in the European Championships.

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29 wins - 28 wins - 27 wins

For the third successive year Wales has won the Celtic Challenge Trophy, this year the competition was extremely close, as any one of the three countries could of won.

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The WPA has formally received an invitation from the President of the EPA, Mike Pegg to play in the Inter-Regional Championship and Challenge Tournament on the weekend of 19th and 20th September 2009.

As with previous years their tournament is being held at Pontins Holiday Centre, Brean Sands, Burnham on Sea, Somerset. Accommodation is available from Friday the 18th to Monday the 21st as required.

Please be aware that year all participants must be registered with Pontins and resident on the site.

The Teams that will be representing Wales in the Challenge Tournament have been decided after the round 4 of the 2009 Grand Prix Series. The Teams that have qualified to play in the Championship have also been identified, but their final positions will be decided after the Top 8 play off's, which are to be held on 10th May.

To download a copy of the poster, either double left click on the image to the left or follow this link.

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The 9th Home Nations is being hosted by the WPA, initially, the competition was set for the weekend of the 8th/9th August, however, due to the clash with the first leg of the European Cup for Clubs and at the request of both the SPA and EPA, we have had to move the competition to the following weekend of 15th/16th August.

The Executive have reviewed three potential venues, Tredegar House, Newport, Caerleon University Campus and The Premier Inn, Swansea.

After careful consideration of the cost and the facilities on offer, the Executive have decided upon Swansea as this years venue.

More details about the competition and venue can be found on the WPA Competition Page of this website, which can be accessed by following this link.

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Just to let members know that if you are in the hunt for white trousers, Marks & Spencer's are currently selling them at £25.00, together with three quarter length shorts at £18.00.

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Information from the recent FIPJP meeting has been passed on to the WPA by Mike Pegg, the following information concerning the this years programmed World Championships and future events are as follows:

• The 2009 Women's World Championship will now be held in Supanburi, Thailand from the 13th to the 15th November 2009.
• The Open World Championship, this will now be called the 'World Triples Championship', dropping the term Open.
• We have been informed that from 2010 nations will need to qualify through the continents for the World Triples Championship, in our case this is through the CEP European Championship.
• The list of qualified nations is to be with the FIPJP in March 2010 for the World Triples Championship later that year.
• There will not be any need for qualification for the Women or Junior World Championships because of the current number of nations competing.
• The allocation of 48 qualifying nations for the World Triples Championship are:
  • Europe - 24 nations
  • Africa - 10 nations
  • Americas - 2 nations (Canada/USA)
  • Asia - 7 nations
  • Oceanic - 3 nations
• The Men's European Championship is to be used to decide the top 24 European Nations, which will include Israel. How the top 24 European Teams is to be decided, is by taking the ranking order after the qualifying rounds, that is before the nations are split into the Nations Cup and Championship.
  
• As it is the Nation that qualifies for the World Triples Championship, it will be up to each CEP Nation to decide how they select or qualify their teams.
  
• The FIPJP are making plans to introduce an Espoirs World Championship - this is why the CEP is making it an "every other" year European Championship.

Future FIPJP Dates:

2009 - Women: Thailand
2009 - Juniors: Tunisia
2010 - Triples: Taipei

Tony Smith
National President

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The WPA Executive contacted the EPA Management Committee via Mike Pegg to ask if our Juniors could take part in their Junior qualifiers, I am pleased to say that we were informed on 10th March that our juniors could take part in the three qualifiers which are due to take place in April, June and July.

The three qualifiers are going to be held at the following venues:

Adur PC, West Sussex on Sunday 19th April.
Lordswood PC, Chatham, Medway on Sunday 14th June and
British Sugar PC, Bury St Edmunds on Sunday 12th July

The following format will used for a team of 4 players:.

The main format is a triple (3 players) will play the first round and at the same time the 4th player will play a singles game. The second round will be 2 doubles games.

It is understood that each team should have six matches to play during the day each comprising triples/singles and doubles. This will result in a very busy day of petanque but the EPA are keen to adopt this format to encourage the team (4 players) to work and support each other.

The parents/guardians of all our Juniors have already been informed of the generous invitation from the EPA.

I am sure that many of the adults who play regularly would find this a challenge!

Follow this link to download the entry form for the 1st Junior Qualifier.

Tony Smith
National President

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A one day web design course will be held on Monday 30th March, there are three places remaining. If any WPA member is interested in attending to learn the basics of web page design/maintenance then please contact me before Friday 27th March. The course will start at 10:00 and finish around 15:00, other details will be given upon registration.

Tony Smith
National President

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A potential venue for the 2009 Home Nations has been identified adjacent to the Premier Inn, Upper Forest Way, Morriston, Swansea, SA6 8WB, members of the executive will be visiting the potential venue on Sunday 15th at 10:00, any member wishing to look at the venue and offer their views are also welcome to attend.

The executive are considering venues outside the normal venue area to endeavour to expand the sport to other areas.

Tony Smith
National President

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Hi all

We will be commencing the weekly Monkstone melee evening from Thursday 12th March from 7pm. I think it's a great way to see the players you are striving to beat this coming season ( I will be there...), and hopefully the juniors can turn out for some valuable game time.

Regards

Matt Franks
Club Secretary

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Couple of items reported as lost and found:

Gay Evans reported her blue tape had gone 'walk about' any one who picked it up accidentally or found it orphaned and is waiting to reunite it with it's owner, please let Gay know.

I also have a cardigan in my procession, again anybody missing one, please let me know.

Tony Smith
National President

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The WPA has received information from Flemming Jensin the President of the CEP concerning the European and World Championships from 2009.

World Championships:

• Senior World Championship, the next competition will be in 2010, 2012, 2014 etc.
• Senior Female World Championship, the next competition will be in 2009, 2011, 2013 etc.
• Junior World Championship. the next competition will be in 2009, 2011, 2013 etc.

European Championships:

• Male European Championship, next competition will be in 2009, 2011, 2013 etc.
• Espoirs Championship, next competition is due to be held in 2009, thereafter upon clarification from the CEP. This competition is divided in to two categories Male/Female.
• Senior Female European Championship, next competition will be in 2010, 2012, 2014 etc.
• Junior European Championship, next competition will be in 2010, 2012, 2014 etc.

Members between the age of 18 to 22 years (under 23 years of age) qualify as Espoirs, anybody wishing to create espoirs teams please contact myself or John Legge as soon as possible to clarify if you are eligible.

Tony Smith
National President

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In readiness for the 2008 Presentation Evening the Executive would like to receive nominations for the Senior Player of the Year and Most Improved Player of the Year. This process worked very well year so we have decided to repeat the same format, therefore all you have to do is down load the appropriate forms and send them back to Graham Attfield as soon as possible.

The Executive will review the nominations and add their votes to obtain an overall winner.

Follow this link to down load the Senior Player of the Year form.

Follow this link to down load the Most Improved Player of the Year form.

We look forward in reading your nominations.

The 2008 Presentation Evening will be held at the Monkstone Inn on Saturday 24th January starting at 07:30 pm. The cost per ticket is £6.50 which will include a "Curry Supper", this will be two types of curry (meat and vegetable) and a chille.

The venue will hold 70 people, so get your tickets quickly.

Any club wish to donate a raffle prize, please contact me.

Tony Smith

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2009 membership renewal forms have now been produced and will be sent out by Graham Attfield to each Club Secretary for dispersal to their members.

Please could all members check the details printed on the membership forms, especially the email address and contact telephone numbers. If we have the correct information then when can ensure that you receive the circulated information.

Don't forget that your membership renewal date is 1st March 2009.

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During the EPA Inter-Regional and the recent World Championships I undertook an analysis of play on all the matches that took place during each event. I have analysed the results and produced two reports which are available for downloading in pdf format.

Anybody wishing details on how these reports were derived, then please contact me for further information.

Analysis Report - Junior Play, EPA Inter-Regional Competition.
Analysis Report - Senior Play, World Championship, Dakar, Senegal.

Tony Smith
National President

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