LBC Spring Tournament
News from Nelson Ranch Pétanque Club
A Message from Christophe at Nelson Ranch:
Howdy members—
This year, we are at 42 members plus 3 associate members. This keeps our numbers the same as last year. We lost 5 members, but gained 5 new members. Such is life… So let’s give a big welcome to new members: Ron Weiss, Adelaida Caldas, Ron Ragsdale, Theo Sicard & welcome back to Jan Wilson. Thanks for supporting petanque & NRPC. We should all be receiving our licenses from the federation in a month or so. We’ll distribute them when we receive them… The FPUSA held its elections this past Nov. leading to a new Vice President: Kirk Edwards from Carolina Petanque. Kirk is a really good choice for the job, as he is very dedicated to our sport. His son Parker has played with our member Amadeus Alejandro in the Junior World Championships held in Cambodia in 2019. I noticed during the election that our region (Central) has a vacant seat for regional councilor. If anyone is interested in getting more involved with the FPUSA, this board member position is a good way to start. Let me know if you wanna volunteer!
La Chandeleur is a French holiday in February that is traditionally celebrated by eating crepes. Each year, the Austin petanque clubs & the Alliance Francais of Austin celebrate by gathering for crepes, cider & petanque. Usually, it is earlier in the month, (Feb. 2 to be exact), however, this year’s ice storm postponed the planned festivities while the city cleaned up the mess. It has now been rescheduled for Feb. 26 at the Nelson Ranch petanque courts & pavilion. The address is 905 Nelson Ranch Road. Open petanque play starting at 11 AM. Crepes served at 2:30 PM. You should receive a separate email announcement with further details. Hope to see a big turnout for the year’s first event! If the weather turns for the worse, we will reschedule…again.
The first tournament of the year will be The NRPC Spring Select Doubles on Sunday March 19 2023. For this tournament, you need to find your own partner to team up. For new players, finding a teammate can be challenging, however, the best way I have found to approach this is to start asking around the courts now & see who’s interested or available. Usually, someone will fit the bill… I will send out an official sign up announcement via email in a couple of weeks. Once you have your teammate, follow the instructions in that email to register. Details of the event will be in that email as well. The tournament will be limited to 20 teams, which should accommodate most of our interested club members. NRPC members get priority, with any remaining slots open to non club members. Our goal is to have a fun, competitive event. Hope to see you all there!
And in other tournament news, there are several national events coming up in the spring including the Men’s Singles/Doubles World Championship Qualifier on March 4, The Women’s Singles/Doubles World Championship Qualifier on May 6, and the Men’s Triples World Championship Qualifier on May 20. More info on these events at the FPUSA website.
There are also many open tournaments coming up this spring: Sonoma Wine Country Open April 22, Atlanta Spring Doubles on May 6, Las Vegas Openon May 13, & a 5 event Memorial Day weekend from Zanesfield Petanque Club. You can find more info about these events on their club websites. In addition to these, FPUSA Vice President Kirk Edwards is organizing a group visit to La Ciotat, France, birthplace of petanque July 8th. This can also include playing in the world famous La Marseillaise tournament! Former Austin petanque player Jim Schwobel helped get this event started several years back, and now Kirk is helping to keep the tradition going. If you are interested in this event, contact Kirk directly: edwards.kirk@gmail.com.
Well, that’s all the news for now. I will attach a few of the event flyers we have received recently. Stay tuned for more petanque news and info as we get the 2023 season underway. If you have any questions, feel free to contact me.
Cheers—
Christophe Chambers
Welcome to the 2023 season of Nelson Ranch Petanque Club. As winter starts to wind down (we hope), the club has completed the FPUSA renewals process and all club members are now registered. NRPC has also started to plan its events for 2023, starting with hosting La Chandeleur & holding its first competition of the year in mid March. More on those events later.
First, a little club news:
This year, we are at 42 members plus 3 associate members. This keeps our numbers the same as last year. We lost 5 members, but gained 5 new members. Such is life… So let’s give a big welcome to new members: Ron Weiss, Adelaida Caldas, Ron Ragsdale, Theo Sicard & welcome back to Jan Wilson. Thanks for supporting petanque & NRPC. We should all be receiving our licenses from the federation in a month or so. We’ll distribute them when we receive them… The FPUSA held its elections this past Nov. leading to a new Vice President: Kirk Edwards from Carolina Petanque. Kirk is a really good choice for the job, as he is very dedicated to our sport. His son Parker has played with our member Amadeus Alejandro in the Junior World Championships held in Cambodia in 2019. I noticed during the election that our region (Central) has a vacant seat for regional councilor. If anyone is interested in getting more involved with the FPUSA, this board member position is a good way to start. Let me know if you wanna volunteer!
La Chandeleur is a French holiday in February that is traditionally celebrated by eating crepes. Each year, the Austin petanque clubs & the Alliance Francais of Austin celebrate by gathering for crepes, cider & petanque. Usually, it is earlier in the month, (Feb. 2 to be exact), however, this year’s ice storm postponed the planned festivities while the city cleaned up the mess. It has now been rescheduled for Feb. 26 at the Nelson Ranch petanque courts & pavilion. The address is 905 Nelson Ranch Road. Open petanque play starting at 11 AM. Crepes served at 2:30 PM. You should receive a separate email announcement with further details. Hope to see a big turnout for the year’s first event! If the weather turns for the worse, we will reschedule…again.
The first tournament of the year will be The NRPC Spring Select Doubles on Sunday March 19 2023. For this tournament, you need to find your own partner to team up. For new players, finding a teammate can be challenging, however, the best way I have found to approach this is to start asking around the courts now & see who’s interested or available. Usually, someone will fit the bill… I will send out an official sign up announcement via email in a couple of weeks. Once you have your teammate, follow the instructions in that email to register. Details of the event will be in that email as well. The tournament will be limited to 20 teams, which should accommodate most of our interested club members. NRPC members get priority, with any remaining slots open to non club members. Our goal is to have a fun, competitive event. Hope to see you all there!
And in other tournament news, there are several national events coming up in the spring including the Men’s Singles/Doubles World Championship Qualifier on March 4, The Women’s Singles/Doubles World Championship Qualifier on May 6, and the Men’s Triples World Championship Qualifier on May 20. More info on these events at the FPUSA website.
There are also many open tournaments coming up this spring: Sonoma Wine Country Open April 22, Atlanta Spring Doubles on May 6, Las Vegas Openon May 13, & a 5 event Memorial Day weekend from Zanesfield Petanque Club. You can find more info about these events on their club websites. In addition to these, FPUSA Vice President Kirk Edwards is organizing a group visit to La Ciotat, France, birthplace of petanque July 8th. This can also include playing in the world famous La Marseillaise tournament! Former Austin petanque player Jim Schwobel helped get this event started several years back, and now Kirk is helping to keep the tradition going. If you are interested in this event, contact Kirk directly: edwards.kirk@gmail.com.
Well, that’s all the news for now. I will attach a few of the event flyers we have received recently. Stay tuned for more petanque news and info as we get the 2023 season underway. If you have any questions, feel free to contact me.
Cheers—
Christophe Chambers
Secretary NRPC
Thank You for the Update Christophe!
La Chandeleur – February 26, 2023
Message from Gary at the NRPC
La Chandeleur at NRPC pavilion.
Date changed to February 26!
This is a jointly hosted event with LBC and the Alliance Française of Austin.
The original plan was to hold this at the French Legation, but because of other conflicts, we will hold the event at NRPC which is fine.
We plan to break for crepes around 2:30 PM, with open pétanque play before and after.
Attendees are asked to bring a filling for the crepes (either sweet or savory).
If you can help out by making some crepes, please email me or Kathy.
Thanks.
And you are welcome to bring some wine or cidre to accompany the crepes.
This has been well attended and a good time for all, and we expect the same this year.
Hope to see y’all there.
LBC Annual Meeting 2022
The LBC annual meeting was held at outdoors Central Market (North) this year. The weather was perfect, we had yummy food and the meeting was productive!Holiday Party 2022
The current number of members is 51 and the club is in good shape financially. (Don't forget to pay your dues if you haven't already. Only $20 bucks. Just give it to any club officer you see on the terrain.)
2022 Elections
The new officers, who ran uncontested and will begin their terms in January 2023, are:
President – ED Priest
Vice President – Peter Gray
Treasurer – Patti Shook
Go Team!
Holiday Party 2022
Kathy and Gary Ragan announced that they would be hosting the LBC Holiday Party again this year for LBC members. Thank you!
Click the button below below for details.
Looking forward to another great year of pétanque!
Tournament Results!
On October 23, 2022 the LBC finally held another tournament on the grounds of the French Legation!
Construction associated with the renovation of the facilities at the Legation and the COVID-19 pandemic had kept us away for years.
The last tournament held there was on October 28, 2018.
We had wonderful weather for our Dia de los Muertos tournament. It was a "carousel" tournament matching pointers with shooters. All players played with a new partner each game.
Terry Plemons
This is our Terry Plemons Benefit Tournament and all proceeds from the tournament will be donated to the Friends of the French Legation.
We had a field of 32 players. This year we had three players coming from Dallas and San Antonio, and even one from Driftwood.
We had perfect weather and a wonderful potluck.
Special Note!
Thank you to all the organizers and everyone who helped put on the event. Everything was managed so well, and the weather was so delightful, it was one of the best days of pétanque ever!
Tournament Results
1st Place
Karim Moumouni
Mary Stratton
2nd Place
Don Jansky
Kathy Ragan
3rd Place
Jeffery Locke
Leigh Newsom
Click for Large Image
Fun Was Had By All!
Memorial Tournament Sunday, October 23, 2022
Terry Plemons Memorial Tournament
benefiting the French Legation
Sunday, October 23, 2022
at the French Legation
802 San Marcos St.
Austin, TX
Dia de Los Muertos Tournament
Potluck Lunch
There will be a break around noon for a potluck lunch where everyone can contribute. We will continue our new tradition of following the principles of Pétanque for the Planet to minimize the amout of waste we generate.
How to Enter
Click the button below to send your name and if you want a pointed or a shooter
How to Pay
You can pay at the French Legation on the day of the tournament
or
you can send a check to in the name of the "Legation Boules Club"
to
Patti Shook
4304 Scales
Austin, TX 78723
Pictures from Bastille Day 2022
Bastille Day – July 16, 2022
Come celebrate French culture and heritage at this year’s Bastille Day celebration at the French Legation State Historic Site!
Important Update from the French Legation:
Due to extreme temperatures this Saturday, we've adjusted the times for our Bastille Day celebration.
The grounds will now open to the public at 9:00am and organized activities outside will run between 10:00am - 2:00pm.
The historic structures will remain open until 4:00pm and visitors are welcome to enjoy the Café, and grounds, and continue playing lawn games throughout the afternoon.
The Café Legation will be open throughout the day for visitors to cool off and purchase refreshments.
If you plan on joining us this Saturday, keep an eye out on the weather - it's predicted to be a hot weekend! Make sure to dress accordingly and stay hydrated throughout your visit.
We will continue the program despite the heat, with paper fans available for visitors and nearby water station to keep us cool.
Volunteers Requested!
From 8:00 to 9:00 AM, LBC members can get into the grounds early and help set up the Bastille Day decorations on the gates and the exterior walls.
Saturday July 16, 2022
The French Legation has been the historic home of Austin’s largest Bastille Day festivities for nearly twenty-five years.
Join us for an afternoon of music, lawn games, face painting, stories, pétanque and more!
Bring a picnic and claim your spot on the grounds of Austin’s oldest recorded residence or stop by the Café Legation for all of your picnic needs.
Parking onsite is limited.
Parking along the east side of San Marcos Street, 8th and 9th streets is free before 6:00pm.
Pétanque
The Legation Boules Club will once again be the main feature of the day’s festivities. They will take over the walkways in front of the Legation house to play and offer lessons to interested visitors.
Face Painting and Story Time
Alliance Française has hired a face painter for the morning.
The Youth Engagement and World Languages Librarian from the main Austin Library Branch will be onsite to host a French-language story time in the Café that morning at 11:00am for kids.
We now have a sizeable collection of yard games that we will set up on the grassy areas between the walkways.
Café Legation Will Be Open
The Café Legation will be open for food or drinks, but we also encourage visitors to bring their own picnic and lawn furniture to relax and enjoy the grounds!
Cool French Cars
A former member of the LBC has agreed to display a few classic French Citroën and Renault cars at the site for everyone to see.
Magic Show! – July 8, 2022
A Message from Magical Mystical Michael:
Hello. The last two years during the pandemic, I had lots of time off, so I worked on lots of new magical effects.
After lots of thought and even more thought and even lots of rehearsal and even more rehearsal and finally, I put together a brand new Magic Show.
Over the past two years I’ve performed these bits at private parties, around friends, little gathering, in my head, enough to where I am now feeling more confident and ready to perform these all in one show.
This show will be about 80 to 90 minutes approximately, due to the fact I haven’t performed this show yet. However there will be a few “older favorite effects” for my own personal confidence.
This is a house show so seating is limited to about 35 - 40 people.
I am in process of looking for a venue for my monthly show to resume again.
I do hope all is doing well and hopefully I will see several of you at my show.
$10 donation requested
Lots & lots of brand new material!
Magic of the mind-hands-&-sight
Olivier Simondet Rides to Alaska
Former LBC club member Olivier is biking to Alaska.
He stopped by Nelson Ranch on May 26th to say hello to Alain & Mitzi who were visiting from Florida.
This was his first leg of his journey to Alaska from Houston.
If you are interested in keeping up with him on his adventure he created a blog so you follow his adventature.
| https://indigoride.blogspot.com |
Happy trails Olivier, we will be keeping up with you!
