Boule
På svenska
Boule or petanque is the name of a sport which I enjoy.
Some say boule is a social game, that's true but I like boule because of the competition,
the tactics and technic more then the social part.
I am a member of a club called NSSK, Norra Sundsvalls Sportklubb, we are also called Sundsvalls Boule.
My club arrange a few competitions every year, some exampels are Café au Lait cup and Sundsvall Halloween Open.
We also arrenge clubchampionship. Results during 1998, 1997,1996 och 1995.
Sometimes we travel to competitions, DC for example.
The rest of the results for my club 1999.
If you are interrested in boule I have some interresting links.
History
Boule is a groupname on a couple of different ballsports with different rules.
What I and every other bouleplayer in Sweden play is called petanque.
That name comes from the french words "pieds tanques" which means "feet together".
Boule is very popular in France and in northen Africa where the roots are.
The first rules for any "boulesport" came in 1894 and in 1910 the first petanque rules came by a man named Jules LeNoir.
Equipment
You need three balls of steel who is between 70,5 and 80 millimeters in diameter and weights between 650 and 800 grams.
The balls can be blank or have grooves.
You also need a small wooden ball called a cochonnet or a little pig.
Another equipment is a measuring-tape because it's sometimes hard to part the balls with just your eyes.
Teams
"Tète à Tète" (single):
When you play one against one and have three balls each.
"Doublette" (double):
Two in every team and three balls each.
"Triplette" (tripple):
The team includes three players with two balls each.
The world champion-competitions are only triplette.
Rules
You play boule on a gravelfield (bigger then for exampel 3 by 12 meters).
The game starts by deciding which team who will begin (by some kind of draw) throwing the little pig.
The team that starts draw a circle with a diameter between 35 and 50 centimeters and throw the little pig between 6 and 10 meters then they throw their first ball.
When both teams have thrown one ball is it the team who's not in the lead who throws. When one team have lost all their balls the other team can throw their balls.
You have to be as close to the cochonnet as possible, you get as many points as you have balls closer the cochonnet than your opponent, but you have to watch out, some people is very good at shooting, putting away the opponents balls.
The first team who reach 13 points win the game.
Links
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