BROOKLYN BOULE: August 2009

Saturday, August 8, 2009

Welcome to the 'New' Brooklyn Boys.....

Here is a very nice slide show of the birth of Brooklyn's new Pétanque piste. As you can see in the video, NYPC all worked very hard and hands on to create a beautiful space, reminiscent of the communal spaces found all over France. A big round of applause and a 'cheers' to all that made it possible.....and a big thanks to Thierry Julliard for putting the images together.

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Pétanque

The sublime game, of French/Belgian decent, played world wide has now found it's way to North Brooklyn under the shade of three oak trees in McCarren Park williamsburg/Greenpoint. As in resent years the popularity, good press and not to mention the Bastille Day Bar Tabac Petanque tournament has opened a lot of eyes to the joy of Petanque. There are of course places to play in Manhattan and clubs to join, but time has come for some Brooklyn Boule. In McCarren park there are Bocce courts next to the running track but alas it's surface is not suited (in my opinion) to Petanque, as well as feeling like your playing in a coal bunker. So to the trees we go, three beautiful American Oak trees ( now more, thanks to the all the groups and support for the park), are nestled in the mid-south east of the park. The trees cover an area large enough for one game and there is a another, that is in the light at night, shade by day and lit in the eve. They are NOT perfect "pistes" or man-made courts, but challenging patches of playable surface, so hard to find in our beautifully manicured urban city parks. To share the surrounding areas with such activities as Baseball, Kickball, Frisbees, kites and boomerangs; and on the odd occasion Medieval Sword Fighting. Only enhances the communal aspect of park life and the people around us.
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I have started this blog to create some interest and hope that players of all levels can embrace the idea of playing in Brooklyn, maybe leading to having our own "Washington Square like Petanque Piste".

Please feel free to sign our "GUESTBOOK"
BROOKLYN BOULE