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
