Petanque beginners pages - an introduction

Welcome to our section "Pétanque for Beginners". I hope that the page will inspire many of you to go on to become both ardent players and supporters of this great game of Pétanque that we have come to love.

Some of you may not see the point of a Beginner's page, feeling that a beginner can learn all he or she wants to, actually on the terrain. I agree that it should be so, but unfortunately it isn?t. I would have loved and appreciated any help when I started, instead of trying to copy what other people were doing and learn from that alone. I'm convinced that there is a much better and more rewarding way for the enthusiastic learner of our great sport, who wants to learn and compete as quickly as possible to engage his or her skills, experience and enthusiasm.

If there are any questions, comments or suggestions that anyone would like to ask or make, you can use the link below to record them. But equally if there are things you want to discuss with other Petanque players why not use the existing Discussion Forum on Pétanque.org Web Site, I certainly will add my voice to it.

I would like the page to become something that will be a real help, not to Beginners alone but to all interested in the sport. I would also hope that Beginners will start more quickly to perform to a much higher standard in the quickest possible time because of the information and help the pages contain.

FOR THE BEGINNER
GENERAL
1.
Find a club that plays within the confines of an association. In England it would be "The British Pétanque Association", there are others of course. This is because you will always play according to a set of agreed competition rules, and where you will find the most enthusiastic players. Don't be afraid to visit other clubs before you settle into one. Each club will have its own attractiveness. Be sure that your club is going to be and do the best for you. On the other hand, if you aren't worried about rules and playing with excellence you will be happy enough in a leisure club, found in many pubs or recreation complexes where the rules are made up by the individual club.

2.
There will be a Joining fee to join a club and a further fee to be a member of the BPA (British Pétanque Association). This will allow you to play in regional and national competitions.

3.
The aim of the game of Pétanque is simple, quoting partly from the BPA Coaching Course . If playing football is kicking a ball into the opposite goal and keeping it out of your own, playing pétanque is placing your boule nearer to the cochonet (coche) and keeping your opponents boule away. In fact the first aim of the game ought to be PLACING YOUR BOULE where you want them, rather than knocking objects out of the way.

4.
The game is played between two teams, it can be two players, one against one (French "Tête-a-Tête" ) with three boule each, or four players, two against two ( "Doubletts" ) again with three boule each, or six players, three against three ( "Triplette" ) playing with two boule each.

5.
The team winning the toss starts by drawing a circle about 35 to 50 centimetres (14 to 19.5 inches) across, standing inside it and throwing the coche (pronounced cosh) forward, not less than 6 metres or more than 10 metres away. The team that throws the coche also throws the first boule. The opposing team throws the second boule. From then on, the team furthest away from the coche after each throw, throws the next boule. This continues until one team has thrown all its boule. After this, the other team throws all its remaining boule.

6.
Getting near to the coche can be achieved in various ways:
a) A boule can be thrown to it.
b) The coche can be moved closer to one of your own boule.
c) The opponent's boule nearest the coche can be moved further away by playing your own on to it.
A team claims as many points as they have boule nearer the coche than the opposing team. When both teams boule have been thrown and the points assessed, this constitutes an end (French "Mène" ).The team winning the end gets to start the next end.

7.
The team first to 13 points wins the game.