Art of Pétanque

The Petanque Swing

noreply@blogger.com (Art) — Wed, 26 Aug 2009 08:52:00 +0000

The swing in petanque is like a recipe consisting of several ingredients which need to be combined in the right proportion for desired results. In order to become a master chef you must know your ingredients and have a vision of what you want to achieve. So let’s begin by defining the fundamental elements of the swing such as the arm extension, the pull back, the release, and the follow through. In the upcoming entries I will touch more on the speed of the arm and the tools necessary to develop the finesse of precision.

Arm Extension and the Line of the Shot

One of the fundamental aspects of a straight consistent swing in petanque is keeping the arm extended at all times. Think of reaching away from your shoulder throughout the shot while keeping your arm as relaxed as possible. In theory, your arm functions as a pendulum revolving around the axis of a stable shoulder. If you draw a line between your shoulder and your target spot, your arm and the boule should travel along that line at all times for a straight shot.

The best way to assure a solid swing is to first ground yourself by bending your knees. Then keep your arm extended throughout the back swing, the pull back, and the forward swing as you trace the line of your shot and reach towards the top of your imaginary arc during the release. Remember to keep the lower part of your body down and your head stable once you pull back.

Make sure that you have the necessary space on the side of your shooting arm for your hand to travel back and forth in a straight line without hitting your hips or having to go around your body. When you are developing your swing, or whenever you feel that your swing is off center, I suggest to actually look back as you swing back and forth to make sure that your arm is traveling in a straight line.

The Pull Back

The pull back is the pinnacle of your back swing prior to going forward. In order to eliminate strain from your shot and allow yourself the most energy to concentrate on precision (versus distance and force) you must develop a nice pull back that is in line with your shot. Once again bring up the image of the line between your shoulder and the target spot. As you take your arm back along this line see how far you can go without twisting your wrist or arm off center or straining yourself in any way. Remember, the more you bend you knees the further you can pull back your swing.

Once again I recommend to look back to see where your hand ends up and then to memorize and to feel this location. The difficulty here is that the location of a lined up pull back is not directly beside your body (meaning as far left as possible if you are right handed) and it is not to the side of your body (meaning far out to the right), instead it is in line with that imaginary line of your shot which is somewhere between the two extremes I just described. Many people have a tendency to pull back off center and then have to compensate for this during the forward swing causing them to often miss off center.

The Reach and the Follow Through

The last key part of the swing is the reach. A nice forward reach of an extended arm during the release completes and critically improves any shot. As you swing forward after the pull back, concentrate on tracing the same line of your shot all the way to the release and then reach forward while keeping yourself grounded. As you release, feel the extension of your arm deep in your shoulder.

A great tool to develop in your psychological arsenal is to begin to visualize the arc of your shot prior to the actual throw. When you visualize your arc you gain a sense of where and how fast you should release the ball. Then all you have to do is to reach forward and up in line with the imaginary line of your arc. I recommend to keep your arm extended forward in front of you even after you release the boule (think of Kobe Bryant in basketball when his hand remains above him after he shoots a three pointer). This is called the follow through. The follow through method will teach you what you are doing right and wrong because you will actually see exactly what caused your boule to go in a particular direction depending on where your hand ended up finishing.

As a side note, don’t fear to shoot and point using higher smoother arcs simply because you feel that you will miss off center. If you concentrate on proper positioning and grounding, and then align your body and trace your swing along the proper line then you will end up with a straight shot. If you don’t then one of the elements simply needs adjustment. Of course it will take some practice, but soon enough you will enjoy the benefits of the hard labor and the mental work behind the process.

Knowing What You Want

noreply@blogger.com (Art) — Wed, 05 Aug 2009 06:03:00 +0000

Before you enter the circle you should know exactly what you want to accomplish with your shot. It is as important in petanque as it is in life. Do not be afraid of the best outcome. If you are shooting and you ideally would like to carreau, then think about making a carreau, and plan to hit the boule just above the center.

In petanque it is fine to be idealistic because you are setting a subconscious roadmap for yourself. So be specific. When you are shooting, don’t just shoot at the general direction of the boule, walk up to it, pick a tiny little spot on that boule and aim for it. Even if you miss, so what, at least you knew exactly what you wanted to accomplish and you also know exactly how far you were from achieving your goal. You will see that your accuracy and percentage will increase more rapidly than if you simply continue to point and shoot in the general direction of your target.

So if you are pointing and you only have 4 inches between the opponent’s boule and the jack and the only option you have is to lean your boule against the opponent’s, then that’s what you should be thinking about. Once you know your ideal end result, then planning becomes much easier. Walk up and find the exact speckle on the ground that you would like to land on and imagine how the boule will behave after it lands on that spot. Visualize how high you will throw the boule, how fast, and what kind of spin you will apply. Don’t be embarrassed to walk up between each play to see the ground or look at the target boule, you will only gain respect. And remember imagination is an acquired skill, so if you have trouble visualizing, then keep practicing and it will come.

Once you have planned your play, then come back to the circle and attempt your shot. If the boule does something different from what you expected, then simply adjust, and keep adjusting. Keep planning the impossible, and soon enough you will see the results. That’s how magic begins to happen.

So be daring. Even if you do not believe you can do it, plan it specifically anyway, and you will be surprised by the outcome. It may not happen every time, or right away, but it will happen a lot more often than you think.

Grounding for Accuracy

noreply@blogger.com (Art) — Thu, 23 Jul 2009 07:46:00 +0000

Once you position your feet in the circle and are ready to begin your shot it tremendously helps your accuracy to ground your shot - to shift your weight from your upper to your lower body. One way to do this is to slightly bend the knees - enough to begin to feel your weight shifting from the upper body to the legs and especially to the feet.

This technique allows you to ‘nail down your shot’ and create greater balance and strength in your form so that you can begin to shoot and point using primarily your arm without moving the rest of the body. Eliminating unnecessary body movement increases precision, consistency, and forces you to lift the boule naturally.

If you look back to the earlier video with Foyot and Quintais, you will see that neither one of these world champions moves his lower body during the shot - the arm does the work while the legs provide the support. Observe their positioning and watch how the masters use the arm as their weapon.

I believe that this is one of the most challenging lessons in petanque and one that requires true athleticism. You will find that it is very difficult to keep your lower body from moving and allowing the arm to do the work. In the beginning your boules will likely land a bit short because you won't have that extra push provided by your legs (assuming that you were using your legs in the first place). The key to success with this technique is to practice a higher arc to eliminate the strain on your body. First try this at shorter distances and as you become more comfortable with using your arm and throwing with a higher arc you can then slowly increase your distance. But be careful not to strain your back because doing this at longer distances can be quite challenging.

Grounding and staying grounded throughout the shot is key to taking your accuracy to the next level.

Note: Many players are huge proponents of using your legs to shoot and point at longer distances, while this is true and you will gain more power, this power may come at the price of higher accuracy.

Centering Your Body

noreply@blogger.com (Art) — Sat, 18 Jul 2009 02:31:00 +0000

A huge part of playing consistently is following certain rituals - repeated actions - to ensure success time after time. Positioning your feet is one of them. Another ritual is centering yourself.

After you step in and firmly position your feet inside the circle, the next step is to center your body for the shot. I recommend to first stand up with your back straight, concentrate on your target and breathe steadily. It helps to spread your shoulders and arms a bit to get a sense of your space. And then position your torso, your upper body, so that it is perpendicular to the line of your shot - the imaginary line running from your eyes to the target boule or landing spot.

This is very important because if your body is not lined up correctly, then everything you do after this will likely have to compensate for the incorrect lining of your body causing you either to miss, or worse become used to playing with your body off center. (If you use the pivot foot forward stance, then your shooting shoulder may be slightly ahead of the other, that's fine as long as you are conscious of this).

Very often you will see players start out in the circle with their feet and knees facing completely off center. If this player is from the opposing team, you usually don't have to worry, just watch the results of their shot. The shot will likely be missed on the side towards which the feet are facing, or on the opposite side, because what ends up happening is the player is forced to twist their torso back towards the center to compensate for the misaligned positioning and he or she ends up over-twisting and missing on the left even if their feet were facing right.

Some players do this out of bad habit that was not addressed when they began playing petanque. And often you will see shooting and pointing styles made up of a web of misalignments that over the years have become a comfortable norm. These players may even play well, but they will likely not reach the level of consistency and accuracy that they would have had they started out playing with proper alignment. If you notice this trend in a player you care about, I suggest you mention this fact to them during a convenient time, or at least ask them if they are doing this on purpose, or simply out of habit. Remember that it takes a lot of courage to admit that what you are doing is not the best, and even more courage to work towards changing it.

Alternative Positioning

noreply@blogger.com (Art) — Thu, 16 Jul 2009 02:40:00 +0000

Have you ever had trouble with keeping your swing in a straight line because your body was getting in the way and you had to go around it? While this doesn’t happen to everybody, I think it is a pretty common problem that men and especially women with larger hips happen to face.

When I was teaching one lady from LAPC how to shoot I began the same way I began this blog, with foot positioning. Since I strongly believe in the stability provided by the classical position with feet side by side, I began to explain to her why this positioning was one of the best due to the balance and stability it offers. She listened and complied. However, as we began working on the shooting swing I realized that her hips were preventing her from swinging the arm in a straight line. Very quickly I realized that the classical positioning in this case was simply not the answer and we began working towards a solution.

The solution came by adapting the pivot foot forward position for her unique body type and shooting style. By putting her pivot foot forward (in her case it was the right foot since she is right-handed), she was able to slightly step back her other foot and shift her hips slightly to the left allowing space for the swing. She was happy and I learned something new.

Sometime ago I was reading an article and I ran into a picture of a sculpture of an Indian goddess of prosperity by the name of Lakshmi. While I doubt the Indian goddess played boule, she perfectly personifies the foot and body positioning I just described. Take a look on the left.

So in petanque it is very important to be realistic and recognize that you are an individual with a unique body type and you are the only one who is you. So instead of simply trying to copy someone else, try to find what really works for you and practice it. Remember that nothing comes easy at first, but after some time you will begin to feel at home.

Foot Positioning

noreply@blogger.com (Art) — Thu, 09 Jul 2009 07:21:00 +0000

As many of you know petanque derived its name from the french pieds tanques, which means 'feet fixed'. So while there are various styles of foot positioning, the ultimate goal is to keep your feet stable on the ground in order to maximize your sense of balance and accuracy. One thing to keep in mind is that one style does not fit all, so find what works and stick with it.

Watch the following montage and pay attention to the foot positioning of some of the world’s best players:

(Click here to see a larger version of this video)

In the above video if you recognize the faces of Marco Foyot and Philippe Quintais, two of the world’s top players, you will see that they chose the classic position of feet side by side with a gap in between. Other shooters chose to have their pivot foot - the foot on the side of the shooting hand - slightly forward and aimed at the target.

While I tried all kinds of ways of positioning my feet I eventually came to the conclusion that I achieve the greatest sense of balance and stability when I position my feet side by side with about a width of a fist in between - in Zen Buddhism this precise position is considered optimal for balance and stability while standing. In petanque this position not only provides excellent balance and stability for the standing shots, but it also allows you to fit your feet inside of the smallest legal sized circle - 35 cm in diameter.

When I made the switch to this position a couple of years ago, it felt unnatural after being used to having my pivot foot forward for many years. At first, my shot felt very awkward - I would often force the shot or shift my knees in the process. It was almost difficult to see the benefit in the beginning, but as I continued to adapt the rest of my shot to this new position I became fully aware of its power and stability.

The Struggle for Consistency

noreply@blogger.com (Art) — Thu, 09 Jul 2009 07:15:00 +0000

One thing that we all try to achieve in our game is consistency. We want to be able to do exactly what we want at any given time. I think that this is a very legitimate goal and more than that I will tell you that it is fully achievable for any player.

Please take a moment to consider the following: “In order to be consistent I must fully understand and be aware of what I am doing at all moments of my game.” Consistency in gameplay is knowing exactly what makes up your shot from the time you position your feet in the circle to the time you let go of the ball. Ultimately this process becomes second nature, but before that happens you have to practice your sense of awareness.

The whole process of learning and becoming more consistent in petanque has to do with increasing your awareness and understanding of the game. When you become more and more aware of the little things that tie together the big concepts in petanque you begin to have a more informed understanding of how you play. You begin to consciously eliminate mistakes and take full responsibility for how you choose to play the game.

The good thing is that there are only so many aspects to cover. As we break down and discuss the concepts of petanque in the Art of Petanque rubric, you will develop new ideas, reflect on old ones, and ultimately continue to move closer to mastering your game.

Welcome to Art of Pétanque!

noreply@blogger.com (Art) — Mon, 22 Jun 2009 03:51:00 +0000

The Art of Pétanque blog is your resource for learning and reflecting on the game of petanque whether you are a pro or new to the game.

My goal is to help you improve your game, increase the overall playing level in the United States, and spread the knowledge and love of this sport to as many people as possible. We all gain from this by having a greater following, better games, bigger competitions, more terrains, and a lot more fun!

This blog will cover fundamentals, advanced techniques, strategy, tournament play, preparation tactics, mental tricks and many other nuances that this game has to offer. I hope you will come to appreciate and love this game the way I do, but in your own way of course.

Remember that what I will be talking about in this blog is what I have learned and continue to learn about the game. It is only my opinion and should, like anything else in life, be taken with a grain of salt. So if you like what you see, great, leave a comment, and if you disagree or if you feel that I am missing something then, you know, never return again and quit playing. Just kidding, I am always happy to hear another perspective. So please feel free to critique anything you see by leaving a comment.

If you need to reach me personally you may email at artofpetanque@gmail.com. I am open to teaching seminars, lessons, and discussing any other creative endeavors you may have in mind.

Long live petanque!

Sincerely Yours,

Art