PLAYERS from petanque clubs from throughout regional Victoria got together over the weekend for some friendly games and the conclusion of their winter competition.<\/p>\n
The event took place at the Ballarat East Bowls Club on Saturday, where the Ballarat Petanque Club hosted players from the Smythesdale, Mount Macedon and Maldon.<\/p>\n
Organiser and Mount Macedon Petanque Club member Lindsay Kinghorn said the day served as a great way to connect the groups while celebrating the results of their winter competition.<\/p>\n
\u201cToday is purely a social get-together and Ballarat have been great to offer their clubhouse for this,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s all about promoting the sport, and having people in the clubs playing in a competition format and improving their abilities.<\/p>\n
\u201cI know with Maldon, they have people in that club that now believe they can compete outside their club. That\u2019s a real improvement.\u201d<\/p>\n
Petanque is a boules sport that emerged from France, where unlike bowling, the boule is thrown rather than rolled.<\/p>\n
Following a barbecue lunch, results of this year\u2019s Golden Boule interclub winter comp were announced<\/p>\n
With Ballarat and Smythesdale joining Maldon and Mount Macedon for the tournament, this year\u2019s tournament consisted of a game a month from June to August between the four clubs.<\/p>\n
Maldon Petanque Club was this year\u2019s winner, followed by Mount Macedon, then Smythesdale and Ballarat.<\/p>\n
Although wet weather reduced the day from two games to one, Beverly Forsyth, vice-president of the Maldon Petanque Club, said it still provided a pleasant social atmosphere.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s really heart-warming to see the happy interactions. Very few of the people here are talking to just members of their own clubs, so as a social event this is fabulous,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
She also said the interclub tournament have been especially beneficial to players\u2019 development.<\/p>\n
\u201cGolden Boule allowed each club the opportunity to put players forward to give them the chance to learn how different a tournament is to a social game,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
\u201cPeople who were completely new to tournaments have had an opportunity to learn and find out they aren\u2019t so terrifying after all.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
PLAYERS from petanque clubs from throughout regional Victoria got together over the weekend for some friendly games and the conclusion of their winter competition. The event took place at the Ballarat East Bowls Club on Saturday, where the Ballarat Petanque Club hosted players from the Smythesdale, Mount Macedon and Maldon. Organiser and Mount Macedon Petanque […]<\/p>\n