President's Report to the 2011 Annual General Meeting

I am pleased to present my President's Report, for the Wellington Pétanque Association’s AGM 2011.

Although the year was extended, to correlate with the Financial Year End, it has gone very quickly.

Thank you to all the Club delegates who gave up their time to attend and contribute to the Regional Meetings throughout the year.

I especially want to thank:

• Colleen Horton, who thankfully agreed to take up the role of Secretary part way through the year. Her hard work is greatly appreciated.
• Michael Rocks who has worked tirelessly to get the association finances back into good shape, and maintain and improve the web-site facility.
• Claire Bradburn, Graeme Morris, & Dirk Winnie (the Tournament Committee) for organizing and running the Association’s Tournaments
• Gwen Hill, for the good work she has done with our Umpires. Her efforts in recent times have culminated in the Association having an abundance of qualified Arbitres. Gwen is standing down as the Umpire Representative, and will be replaced by Jack Gazzard.

Regional Tournaments

The composition of the tournaments was changed slightly, with the introduction of a consulante on day 2. Both non qualifiers from day 1 and anyone who wanted to enjoy a days play, were invited to partake. The event had reasonable attendance.

Playing numbers for the main tournaments, were ok without being startling. However, National tournaments and other Competitions did not fair brilliantly either. Perhaps it was the bite of the recession, which led to people staying away (Good to see the Masterton mid winter buck the trend with 42 teams this year though).

The Women’s Singles Tournament and the Women’s Doubles & Triples Competitions continued to be well supported. I attribute this to Clare’s organization and in part to them being one day only events.

National and International Results

Regional Players performed well at the National Tournaments, including a victory in the National Women’s Triples (Yvonne Futcher, Barbara Johnston, & Christine Strichen), and finalists in the National Singles (Pete Hamilton) and National Triples (Michael Rocks).

Michael Rocks was selected for the New Zealand team to play at the world championships last year in Turkey. New Zealand was successful in the Trans Tasman again this year. The team included eleven players from our Region:

Seniors

Claire Bradburn, Joan Miller, Shirley Selwyn, Pete Hamilton, Graeme Morris, and Ralph Priddle

Open

Yvonne Futcher, Barbara Johnston, Chistine Strichen, Claire Wilson, and Michael Rocks.

Other Competitions

Wellington won the Chanticleer Cup (vrs Auckland), the Tri Star (vrs South Island), and the Haines Cup (vrs Hawkes Bay) and locked away the trophies for another year. Congratulations to the Regional Players and their Coach, Dirk Winnie.

The Jacques Cochonnet is moving around quite nicely, with several clubs getting their names on the trophy.

Inter club too continues to be well patronized.

Conclusion

Wellington players are proving to be competitive, when playing Pétanque as a sport. Clearly our regional tournaments are working well to develop and maintain skill levels.

The success of the Women’s competitions, and the involvement of players in the Jacque Cochonnet, and interclub suggest there is a place for one day tournaments. It also highlights an opportunity to develop the game of pétanque for the less skilled player. However, it is a case of the chicken and the egg. We need the more social player to support WPA competitions and initatives, as, without their involvement it is difficult to get constructive feedback.

Going forward, I’d like us all to work together in encouraging more people to play pétanque. Pétanque is so much more than a game, let’s be proud, let’s make it a celebration!!