A few notes about the tournament:
On the first day, Saturday, each team plays five games against randomly selected teams including all the great French teams. Your team’s performance in those five games determines your ranking at the start of day two, Sunday.
The Plemons team (Terry and son) had three wins, two easy and one tough. The two losses were against a very good Vietnam team and against the French team of Messonnier & Leboursdicaud.
On Sunday morning four of the Austin teams were ranked 74, 77, 82, and 91, out of a total 0f 176 teams. The first three were in the Consolante A bracket. The best performance of the Austin teams was the Thierry/Jacques team who made it to the semifinals and lost 9-8 to a very good team (the same team that knocked out the Plemons team in the first round).
The Kathy/Gary Ragan team in the Consolante D bracket got to the finals and was beaten by an apparent “ringer” team with an outstanding shooter and excellent pointer who should have been in a much higher bracket. Suspicious? Yeah.
During the awards ceremony the Thierry/Jacques and the Kathy/Gary teams were recognized and each team member won $50.
Another proud moment for Texas: Michelle Healey (San Antonio), Jean Marie Browning (Dallas) and their third partner (?) on Friday won the Women’s National title game and will represent the United States next year.
We watched some really great quarter finals, semifinals and finals matches. Outstanding seats right next to the courts. Sometimes you are just a few feet from the cochonnet or the players themselves. Does not get any better. On Friday we saw an exhibition triplets match with the team that beat the Walt/Amine team in New York. You may remember that team included Jean Pierre and the father-son combo (13 year old kid).
Doublet Mélêe Tournament – Oct 28, 2017
In the words of Gary Ragan:
“Twas on a frosty morn…the faithful gathered (including the witch, a millennial, a pregnant man (wow!), Rosie the Riveter, a ninja, and other mysterious creatures of the night) to perform the ancient ritual of Pétanque.”
On Saturday morning, Oct 28th, LBC held our last tournament of 2017. The morning was cold but the spirits were high. We had more drama than usual which was by a costume contest. Since some of our regular tournament organizers were called to other duties, other folks willingly volunteered to help. A special thanks goes to Evelyn Woods and David Bintiff who worked at the scoring table, as well as to all who helped to set up and clean up!
We had a field of 24 vying to get their names engraved on our tournament trophy. Teams were formed by a draw matching pointers and shooters. We had two players enter from San Antonio: Michelle Healy and Stephen Johns. One from Montpelier, France: George Pons. And three young beautiful French women visitors who presented the medals: Cloé, Eléa, and Louna.
Our tournament winners were:
1st Place: Peter Gray and Tommy Woods
2nd Place: Michael and Terry Plemons
3rd Place: Joel Kenty and Lucas McClure
4th Place: Kelly Brown and Thierry Amisse.
Carousel Tournament – May 21, 2017
On Sunday May 21, LBC held its French Légation benefit tournament for 2017. Legation Boules raised and donated $600 to the Légation.
We had a field of 24 playing for the honor of having their names engraved on our tournament trophy. We even had Rudy’s two friends from California join us, and they were winners in the Consolante division.
The tournament was a Carousel tournament matching pointers and shooters each game, and everyone played with a different partner each game. All players played five games.
The top three pointers and the top three shooters were our Concurs winners. The next three pointers and shooters were our Consolante winners. Three players from Mueller placed in the winners brackets.
Fun was had by all. There was also a delicious pot luck lunch.
A special thanks goes out to Kathy and Gary Ragan for developing the playing brackets.
Concurs Winners:
1st - Alain Braux & Thierry Amisse
2nd - Mary Stratton and Rudy Vallee
3rd - Jovan Maksimovic and Hasu Patel
Consolante Winners:
1st - Susan Beckman and Jacques Richard
2nd - Jean Borno and Terry Plemons
3rd - Bernard Merland and Christophe Chambers
