Espoir is a French word meaning ‘hope’ or ‘hopeful’, and is used to describe young players aged 18 to 23.

Many of our top senior players honed their skills as Espoirs, which can be seen as a transition between youth and senior play.

Our England Espoirs Teams compete in separate-gender competitions annually at European level, in competitions organised by the Continental Confederation for the sport of pétanque in Europe (CEP).

Petanque England has a dedicated Lead Member for Espoirs who, with the help of coaches, holds training and assessment days to develop skills and select Espoir teams to represent England internationally.

If you are aged under 23 and would like to find out more, our Lead Member for Espoirs would love to hear from you.

Contact details can be found on the Officers page.