In a brand new initiative, a group of 18 PE Veterans have made the journey to the Channel Islands to compete in the 2019 Guernsey Open.
Organised by our Lead Member for Veterans, Clive De Silva, the travelling squad will compete in a doubles tournament on Saturday 28th September and a triples tournament on Sunday 29th September. There’s quite a bit of prize money up for grabs, and hopefully our players will be successful in winning some cash.
The Guernsey Pétanque Centre is located at St Andrew towards the middle of the island and boasts 28 outdoor and 16 indoor terrains and a large spectator area with a tremendous view over the West Coast. There is also a Clubroom which seats 50.
There’s what looks like a nice gala dinner at an attractive country house planned for the Saturday night as well at Les Cotils, and we’re sure our players will enjoy that.
Good luck to all our players and have a great time!
6 comments
Stone
30th September 2019 at 5:42 pm
Veterans celebrating their birthdays x 2, the delight of pulling on an England shirt for representative duty (off the scale) the hesitation of sitting on a plane that has spinny things on both wings have they never heard of Jet Engines(OH GOD) what could possibly go wrong, I will tell you what absolutely Nothing.
The amount of thought and logistical planning that went into this weekend by one man was way beyond excellent. He had an idea was left to run and coordinate the best way that he could by arranging a series of Veterans Qualifiers to gain our top team that would go to Bulgaria and the right team did go i cannot argue with that in any way shape or form but he did’t stop there, he organised further representation for those that had taken part in those Qualifiers dependent on where they finished and gave them the chance to proudly put on an England shirt and go do the best they could, they didn’t disappoint.
On arriving on the Friday at various intervals one by one we all got together in the bar the best place for discussing our tactics for the weekend which was basically well for me anyway take my medication on time and listen to what our Head of Delegation Clive De Silva had in store for us. We then proceeded off to the local Bouledrome of which we were all very impressed by its simplicity in construction and the enthusiasm of the Club Members making us very welcome. After a couple of hours of practice we had a Squad photo then retired back to our hotel the Collinette which if you ever venture out to Guernsey this is the place to stay trust me Cyrille our host was exactly that he was funny the ladies loved him his banter was second to none but he had all of our best interests at heart, he wanted us to just relax and enjoy ourselves which we duly did. Now the whole of the squad i already knew but for some reason this all seemed different as usually when we meet it’s a quick shake hands, say hello go throw some boule then off, that’s it. This time we all had time to sit down and interact with each other discussing our proudest moments in life which invariably ended up being our children and grandchildren, all these hardened veterans turned to mush when they started talking about their grandchildren, if you are not a grandparent you won’t realize the significance of that last statement. I won’t go into too much detail about the play etc because this can be obtained from Clive but we as an older squad really appreciated what Clive has done, what he is trying to do and the progress he has made so far. He has given us all some happy memories and this can be seen in the results gained by the players. Clive all I can say is thank you for the opportunity and the self passion you have injected into a Veteran Squad we all thoroughly enjoyed the experience and are keen to do it again, I hope you can feel that all your hard work has been rewarded.
Duncan Brown
30th September 2019 at 6:46 pm
I can only echo stones comments. The efforts of Clive for all the veterans events this year has meant that not only has every element run smoothly, but Petanque England at Veterans level has been represented at a wide range of competitions not just the Biannual European championships. I was a comparative newby to petanque compared to the experience that was in attendance at all the events. I regularly heard of the national squads when i started in this sport. But veteran level was mentioned now and again but it wouldnt be for me.
Well Clive has raised the awareness of this representative level and i have seen it is available to me and in fact all veterans have an opportunity. If that was the only benefit from Clives efforts it would be enough, but the events themselves have identified the right way to highlight the undoubted talents of the older player. This is the first year, I cant wait to be involved in the future.
Martin Hughes
30th September 2019 at 7:30 pm
All sounds very positive to me. Clive’s input has been very welcome and adds to the efforts of others working hard on our other age/gender categories. The real strength of our sport is that the young to the elderly can enjoy it and compete. I’ve had some of my best experiences playing with people in their 80’s and I get my biggest buzz from seeing our young players succeed. Our job is to have a setup that meets the needs of everybody, allowing them to have fun playing and socialising.
Kath Brooks
30th September 2019 at 8:06 pm
A great initiative by PE and particular thanks to Clive for all his hard work and enthusiasm. The weekend was superbly organised and thoroughly enjoyed by one and all. I agree with Martin that the strength is in the depth of the ages involved in this wonderful sport. Once members see what is on offer at all levels then the sport can only benefit and grow.
Hassi
1st October 2019 at 9:23 am
Absolutely agree with all the sentiments above. Three words sum up the entire Veterans series for me: Simply the Best!
From concept to execution, every detail was thought through. Clive worked tirelessly behind the scenes taking care of the logistics, and keeping the teams well informed and always at hand to answer any queries. We were motivated with exciting incentives at each stage with opportunities that included a team of 4 to represent England at the European Veterans Championship in Bulgaria; top two Vets teams had places at the Bath Open; a squad of top 12 were given the chance to go to play at the Guernsey Open (we actually ended up with 18 of us going); and at least two teams will be at Crystal Palace next year.
It has been an amazing experience to have been part of this new venture for the Veterans, an honour to represent England and an absolute delight to not only watch our top legends play and exhibit some superb Petanque skills but observe the decorum and the respect they have for each other and their opponents. We went to Guernsey not as a squad of 18 but as a family feeling an equal sense of pride and privilege to wear our England Veterans shirts. Thank you Clive, thank you Petanque England and thank you to all the Vets – it’s been a pleasure and I can’t wait to see the plans for the 2020 series unveiled!
Keith Vines
1st October 2019 at 6:18 pm
I do not do to much of this posting stuff, however I would like to add my thanks to Clive and the rest of the Vet’s. It truly was a fine bunch of players, who bonded over the weekend.
These trips can only be good for the sport, helping unite the regions across England.