15th June
Tegan was selected to play in the Pétanque England Junior Girls squad to play at the London Pétanque Championships.
The girls were given a baptism of fire by being drawn against Sarah Huntley, Jack Blows and Vince Wills in the first game of the day. The girls made the opposition work for every point but in the end they lost 3-13 to the vastly more experienced team.
The girls lost the second game to 10, but then found their groove and beat Charles, Remi and Abdul 13-10 in the cadrage.
In their first knock out game after lunch the girls were drawn against Kent’s Alex Spillett, who was teamed up with Steve Slade and Matt Warren, with some precision pointing and some good shooting the girls ran out 13-7 winners.
The girls were then drawn against a team from Guernsey, in which saw the girls fall to a 6-13 loss and out of the competition.
21st June
Tegan was 1 of the 3 girls picked to represent the Pétanque England Junior Girls Squad in the Valence Invitational competition in France.
The day started with a 2-13 loss to the Swiss National team. The girls lost their second game against a combined squad of players from France and Switzerland.
The 3rd round saw the girls drawn against the French national team. At 10-11 down in the final end of the timed game, the girls scored 1, meaning that with the scores tied they needed to play an extra end. The England girls managed to secure 2 points taking the game 13-11!
The girls then played Dept 31 Toulouse in the semi-final of the plate; the Toulouse team put on a great display of pétanque, which saw them beat the England girls.
Having lost in the semi-final the girls faced the Swiss National team that had beaten them in the opening round. The girls dug deep and secured a 10-9 win to finish 3rd in the plate.
James is playing regularly for the Anchor Herons in the East Kent Coastal League. His team are unbeaten so far this season, and have a big lead at the top of their division. James who is playing with his Dad Steve, are yet to drop a game in either the league or the cup. They are due to play in the cup quarter final later this month, looking to continue their unbeaten run. James is working hard on all aspects of his game especially his shooting, the improvements he is making are clear to see if you get to see him play.
29th June
Zac and Tegan entered the Pétanque England Junior doubles competition held at Royal Wootton Bassett Pétanque Club. James was due to play in this competition but had to withdraw to participate in his Duke Of Edinburgh Award expedition, weekend hike and camp.
Zac teamed up with Megan from Leicester Pétanque Club, they were the youngest pairing in the competition with a combined age of just 22, it was the 1st time they had partnered each other. They both played some great pétanque against some older more experienced juniors, making their opposition work for all points. Due to Zac being the elder of the 2 he took on the shooting responsibilities for the day which put him slightly outside his usual comfort zone as he normally plays as a pointer.
The highlights of the day were Zac hitting several spot carreaux at just over 8.5m. Unfortunately, they lost all of their games, but both gained so much experience and self-confidence from the day. Zac is carrying on improving and is impressing the coaches within Pétanque England’s Junior set up, he is certainly going to be a player to watch in the future.
Tegan teamed up with Amy from Muscliff Park Pétanque Club. The girls have played together several times before and put on some strong displays of pétanque and showed great tactics during their games. They won 2 of their 4 group games, which resulted in them coming 2nd in the group and progressing to the semi-finals. This saw them playing Alex and Mathew, who were the winners of the other half of the draw. The girls dug deep but were beaten by the eventual competition winners, who finished the day unbeaten.
In the 3/4th place play off game, the girls played some great pétanque and came from 5-9 down to beat 17 year olds Tristram and Charlie!
7th July
Kent’s 3 juniors were reunited and playing together for the first time since our 2nd regional qualifier in April.
The junior squad started the day with a win as they were drawn with the bye.
In round 2 they were drawn against Tim, Becky and Richard. The juniors put on a good display of pétanque, but unfortunately couldn’t overcome the strong team.
Round 3 saw the juniors dominant from the 1st end, against Clive, Suzie and Mike to win their 2nd game of the day.
In round 4 meeting a team also on 2 wins the Juniors put on a good performance but fell short of 3 wins being beaten by Matt, Andy and Lisa.
The results on the day saw the juniors finish in 7th place out of the 13 teams present. The juniors finished the qualifying series in a very respectable 13th place, just outside of the top senior team who will be representing Kent at the inter-regionals.
8th July
Tegan’s Seal Pétanque Club held their club singles tournament with 19 entrants in the competition. Tegan saw off the best in the club, including last year’s winner Dave in the semi-final, to become Seal Pétanque Club Singles Champion 2024.