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It’s finally out! We’re delighted to be hosting our first FPUSA tournament at our wonderful Lay Park facility. We made it a 2-day tournament so that the travel is worth it because everyone will play plenty of games and enjoy lots of fun, food, friendship, and BOULES Y’ALL!

Sports Director’s Annual Report 2022

Prepared by Al Davison for the 2022 Annual Meeting of Classic City Petanque Club

Last revised: Sunday, October 23, 2022

2022 in Review

Sporting Committee:   A huge thank you to all who served on the Sporting Committee!

Members have included:  Chair – Gail, Current members – Tom, Allen, Rob, Dominique, Rickamer, and Bob.   Past members include Ray and KathyLynn.  Please thank them all for their service and feel free to discuss any ideas with them at any time.

Terrain:  Just look at this place!   After years of hoping and planning, CCPC now has once of the best facilities east of the Mississippi River!   Practically the entire club has contributed significantly to this on-going effort.  We can all be very proud!

CCPC has enjoyed an excellent relationship with the Athens-Clarke County government – especially the Leisure Service Division and particularly with Lay Park.   Beginning back in 2019, CCPC has worked to forge a strong “public-private” partnership resulting in the outstanding facility we all enjoy today.   CCPC has, and will continue to, provide funding and volunteer resources in this partnership.   To date, the club and individual members of CCPC have contributed over $3,000 to the building, rebuilding, equipping, and on-going maintenance of our terrain.   This kind of relationship building and partnering with ACC has drawn the notice of the elected officials of ACC and many other clubs who have reached out to us to ask “how did you do this?”  We are always happy to help!

Overall Club Play:  We can all be quite proud of our continuous improvement in the level of play from all our members.   We are all playing so very well!   Our skill levels, strategy applications, and rules awareness have progressed so very far from where we all started.  

In addition to our petanque abilities, our club remains harmonious, friendly, generous,  welcoming, and mutually supportive.   We are continuing to grow our membership and embrace our new players.   This is just a great club!   No club reaches this level without having everyone contribute and you all have gone above and beyond!

Tournament Participation:  Honor, Heidi, Debbie, Ray, Rob, Frank, Michelle, Marilyn, Charlie, Rickamer, Steve, Al, and Gail all played at least one tournament outside of Athens. Jessica and Lavon are registered for Amelia.

Honor has played in tournaments across the country and won money multiple times playing on a variety of teams with players from many different clubs.

Michelle won money in the Atlanta FPUSA National in Consolante both days!  Saturday with her partner Marilyn and again with Charlie the next day!

Heidi won Gold (and prize money) in Asheville with a team she assembled with some friends from Carolina Petanque.

Rob and Al finished second (with Dana from CP) in Consolante in the APL Open.

We had an AMAZING turn-out for our “Diane’s Spring Panache” here with members of Atlanta Petanque League!  Ralph was our only representative in the finals and won money.

We have made a concerted effort to use multiple members as Tournament Directors for our own CCPC tournaments.  Many clubs have only 1 or 2 members with any experience as Tournament Director and that has sometimes created issues for them when those members had to be absent.  So far, CCPC has had Al, Debbie, Heidi, and Gail serve as TD.   Rob was scheduled to be the TD for the recent tournament that was cancelled but may yet serve at the next.   We are determined to “build our bench”.

Al has served as an Assistant Umpire (of record) at 4 FPUSA National tournaments as well as a few Opens – all as a “playing umpire” this year.   CCPC players were named to tournament Juries as well – Heidi, Rob, and Frank.

Upcoming Amelia Open: We are sending 6 “pure” CCPC teams and 2 other players who are teaming with players outside our club.   We’ll be represented on 8 teams!

Noteworthy:

Michelle, Marilyn, Heidi, and Pat went to Austin, TX for a Women’s Petanque Retreat and trained with about 50 other women players from around the country under the tutelage of a French professional petanque coach. 

CCPC hosted the Athens Academy French Club.   While Michelle did most of the heavy lifting on this, the Sporting Committee and the aforementioned terrain crews did a fabulous job of getting the terrains in top shape and making sure that we had boules, rings, jacks, etc. for an outstanding event.  

Allen has built a reputation for generously providing study guides for umpire candidates around the country.   At least 3 new umpires have benefited from Allen’s outstanding study guides.   Expect more to come.

Rob’s spectacular videos shared on social media are getting notice from clubs and players all over the world!   Many of you are more famous than you ever realized!    But not only is this entertaining for thousands of viewers, it is expected to benefit other clubs by providing them with the same kind of photo/video references that we used ourselves in getting our public facilities built.  Rob is truly helping to promote and build the sport in more ways than any of us realize.

Relations with FPUSA and other clubs:

CCPC continues to build its brand and be recognized as a significant member of the “petanque world”.  We’ve built both working relationships and lasting friendships with other clubs and members across the USA.  CCPC and its members are known and respected.

A huge congratulations to Heidi for being selected to the National Sports Committee!  Heid has been nominated to fill a vacancy as a Regional Counselor for the Southeast Region – a position that makes up the Board of FPUSA, the national organization.

Our relationship with APL and Carolina Petanque grows stronger every year.   We work very well together and, even if it is not often noticeable at home, these relationships help us on so many levels! 

We have built a very good relationship with Amelia Island Boules Club (the largest club in the country).  After 5 of their members have now visited and played on our terrain, they all want to come here for a tournament!

Additionally, Heidi and Al visited and played with La Boule New Yorkaise at 2 of their terrains this summer.  While in NYC, we met informally with the current President of FPUSA.  On the way home, we stayed a couple of days with the VP of Les Boulesfrogs Pétanque Club of Virginia and played with their club.

Having such strong alliances helps us with influencing positive changes to the national organization that will benefit all petanque in the USA and lends gravitas to our positions when dealing with our local government agencies.

Looking forward to 2023:

CCPC has submitted a bid to host our first ever FPUSA Regional tournament on May 20-21^st.   While the (somewhat convoluted) bidding process is still on-going and we face competitive bids from several clubs in our region, we feel confident in securing a tournament.   We already know that a lot of players from both the Southeast and the Mid-America regions are anxious to come to Athens and our wonderful Lay Park facility.

Last year’s attempt to schedule a formal training session with some well-known players never quite worked out.   We will keep trying!   We have been invited to the training weekend in Asheville on the 29th and 30th – Heidi and Al will attend and we hope others will, as well.   Just to be invited is another benefit of our relationship building efforts.

After the worst of the winter weather is past, we plan to do scheduled maintenance on our courts.   This will include bringing in more sand and gravel to rejuvenate the entire surface on all 10 courts.   All the areas that either saw major repairs or will be about a year-old will need attention to make the playing surfaces more consistent and account for the expected settling.   Of course, we’ll replace all the string lines with new strings.   All members are invited to submit suggestions for further enhancements!

It is my honor to serve as Sports Director of such an amazing club!

Allez CCPC!

CCPC has made a great showing at two incredible tournaments! First, there was the FPUSA Nationals event at Milton, GA hosted by Atlanta Petanque League. In June, we traveled to Asheville to play in the Carolina Open hosted by Carolina Petanque.

FPUSA Nationals: Saturday’s event was actually 2 events concurrently – the Men’s Doubles and the Women’s Doubles. 22 teams were entered in each competition. CCPC was represented by Michelle and Marilyn – who took silver in Consolante! Heidi teamed up with CP player Denyse and Honor Woodard teamed with Lori Beth from Boules de Leon where they finished tied for 5th in Concours. In the Men’s Doubles, CCPC was represented by Steve and Al.

FPUSA Nationals: Sunday was the Mixed Doubles. CCPC team of Al and Marilyn qualified for Concours. Michelle and Charlie took 4th in Consolante. Honor teamed up with Bill Sabella to qualify well in Concours. Through a most unusal set of circumstances, Al found himself promoted to Head Umpire for the Finals!

In June, 8 members of CCPC traveled to Asheville to play in the Carolina Open – what a fantastic trip! Heidi teamed up with Preston and Tess from CP and won the Consolante! Honor brought along a new player, Keith, from Chatooga Boules and added Michel from APL. The team of Ray, Debbie, and Rob showed very well through qualifying – including defeating the eventual tournament winners! Michelle, Rickamer, and Al also represented CCPC well. We had a blast!

Not everything we’ve done lately has been about tournaments – even though members of the club have been very cooperative and supportive of our tournament teams. We have added several new members and we’ve had many regular guest players who are likely to become members. We are very near 50 members, now. I’ve no doubt that we’ll exceed that number in the next few months! The overall skill level of our club is really improving and our players continuously demonstrate a growing knowledge and respect for the game. Lay Park staff have been very helpful and supportive of our efforts to grow the sport. Great relations with other clubs in the Southeast and Mid-Atlantic help us with advice, referrals, training, and moral support. Boules y’all!

Allez CCPC!

CCPC Sports Director’s report for March-April 2022

We have had an AMAZING month!   Things have been incredibly busy for CCPC, and we can be so very proud of what we’ve accomplished!  Below is a synopsis of the major items that fall under the job description of the Sports Director – in other words, not everything we did as a club.

In more or less chronological order:

• First strings on our terrain – with the many, many volunteer hours to get us to that point
• March 26 – 1^st Annual Diane’s Spring Panache.   Gail did a spectacular job as Tournament Director in 20+ mph winds.  About half the club was able to participate.
• Michelle, Marilyn, Heidi, and Pat went to Austin, TX (same weekend as the panache) for a Women’s Petanque Retreat and trained with about 50 other women players from around the country under the tutelage of a French professional petanque coach.   They will soon schedule a time to share what they learned.
• April 10^th – FPUSA Regional Triples in Amelia.   Gail and Al teamed up with AIBC’s Frosty Sabo as a team.   They qualified 10^th in Concours.   Honor teamed up with the Loribeth and Larry Creasy to qualify 8^th in Concours.    Heidi accompanied us and spent the tournament day working with the Tournament Directors to learn the scoring system and other logistics associated with staging a successful FPUSA tournament.
• Heidi, in her role as a member of the FPUSA Sport Committee, compiled and published the FPUSA Umpire Registry – many, many hours spent “herding cats” around the entire country to get it all updated.
• Work continued in small and large groups on our terrain including additional grooming, putting down the final string lines, repairing damage done by vandals, experimenting, discussing, designing, building, and hanging the new scoreboards.   I don’t actually know how many people worked on completing the scoreboards and the strings, but I must thank Steve, Ray, Bob, Allen, and Rob for all their work!   (I don’t doubt that I missed somebody in that list.)  Our volunteers are just amazing!
• April 14^th – we hosted the Athens Academy French Club.   While Michelle did most of the heavy lifting on this, the Sporting Committee and the aforementioned terrain crews did a fabulous job of getting the terrains in top shape and making sure that we had boules, rings, jacks, etc. for an outstanding event.  
• April 30^th – the BIG DAY that we’ve been prepping for and working so hard to make happen – we hosted the Atlanta Petanque League for a great day of playing, eating, drinking, meeting, greeting, and all-round fun!    Heidi served as Tournament Director, but we had a great crew of volunteers!   Honestly, I don’t think anything could have gone any better – everybody had a blast!  The Lay Park staff was wonderful and very helpful.   We had about 45 players compete in the friendly panache tournament – proving that our “home-grown” and “simple-as-a-rock” formula is a great model for future panache tournaments.   We were able to add in players that only played part of the day with ease so that no one who wanted to participate was left out of the fun.   The whole club – even those who couldn’t be there – should be very proud of this event!
• Discussions about the upcoming change in times for club play days have begun.   As always, when the weather gets hot, we try to switch to times that have a bit cooler temperature.   There is also discussion about adding times that fit better for our folks who are working and possibly adding another play day opportunity.
• The FPUSA National Tournaments hosted by our friends at APL is coming up on  May 21 and 22^nd.    CCPC will be well-represented at least 8 of our club members.  This tournament sold out very quickly so we were fortunate to get a few of us entered.  Some of us will be working with our tournament partners in preparation so we ask for your support in assisting our teams as they get themselves ready to represent CCPC on a bigger stage.
• On-going other stuff that’s not all directly in the Sports Director’s wheelhouse:
  • Al continues to build and maintain communications and relationships with clubs in Georgia, North Carolina, Florida, and beyond.   Al regularly speaks with FPUSA officials, club presidents, sports directors, and tournament directors to share information about terrains, club play, local government relations, training opportunities, tournament opportunities, etc.
  • Allen has built a reputation for generously providing study guides for umpire candidates around the country.   At least 3 new umpires have benefited from Allen’s outstanding study guides.   Expect more to come.
  • Rob’s spectacular videos shared on social media are getting notice from clubs and players all over the world!   Many of you are more famous than you ever realized!    But not only is this entertaining for thousands of viewers, it is expected to benefit other clubs by providing them with the same kind of photo/video references that we used ourselves in getting our public facilities built.  Rob is truly helping to promote and build the sport in more ways than any of us realize.
  • Heidi and Steve attended the Boom! Expo at the country club to raise awareness and recruit members.
  • CCPC is going to have a booth and demonstration area at the Winterville Marigold Festival.
  • Several of us are involved in trying to help Winterville get a real petanque terrain built there.   We continue to build our relationships with Winterville.
  • We have added several new members – I have lost count how many but, our membership is now over 40 members.   I think we can get to 50+ by the end of this year.

Whew!   I told you that we had a lot going on and I’m sure I haven’t listed everything.

Bottom line:  This is a GREAT club!

Allez CCPC!

Al

Is this a great club or what?!

If I tried to name everyone who came out to help today, I would surely forget someone so, I won’t.   I don’t even know exactly how many came but, we got everything done that we set out to accomplish and had a great time doing it!

Debbie and Rob took a lot of photos and Rob worked his usual magic to produce this short video:

The lower courts are done!   We put down the string boundaries and divided the terrain into 2 courts – each one is quite generous and are almost the size recommended for international competition.   It may take a bit of getting used to but, we think you’ll like them.

The main terrain got a serious smoothing and patching.   We didn’t put any court boundary markers on them yet – that’s next.   We’ll have another workday soon.  

Allez CCPC!

Al