Not even new team shirts could help HSPC beat Mon Soleil

A damp day on Saturday, and for our league campaign, as HSPC fell at home to front runners Mon Soleil 6-2, despite the arrival of new team shirts.

Congratulations to Hosoda san and her team and a big thanks to Big Bill for the new shirts and team cooler!

Full results can be seen on the Tokyo Petanque League site.

Bob the ... builder?

Thanks to brother Don for the pics and blog.

Brother Bob can be seen helping with the final tamping of the piste in San Diego.
He developed his own techniques, one move was termed the "starfish tamp" and another the "kangaroo tamp", at one point he tried to combine his two moves into the "kangaroo starfish" and ended up tamping his big toe. There's also a shot of Bob explaining to my wife, Maritza, the intricacies of his tamping moves (note the blister covering tape on Bob's thumb).

Don

HSPC beefs up security measures ...

... amid introduction of new leakproof team cooler! :)))





A fine long weekend of petanque to greet Bob on his return to Japan. New boulles, new cooler, but those memorable Myoshoji sunsets haven't changed.

Bob and Don show us how it's done!

A superb series of photos here from Bob "the Pointer" and brother Don with friend Keith on the new HSPC piste in San Diego.

Those mega wine goblets courtside need filling up with some California Chardonnay!!!

HSPC hangs on to beat OBA

HSPC narrowly defeated OBA in the Tokyo Petanque League on Sunday, Sept. 6.

Racing away to a 3-0 lead in the best of eight series, visiting HSPC appeared in control before OBA rallied well to level the series at 3-3.

As darkness set in, Raj and Bill combined to earn our fourth victory before Steve and Greg held on 13-11 in a nail-biter.

Some solid play by Steve, Raj, Bill and Chris to carry Captain Crumble. Thanks guys.

Thanks also to OBA for a fun day, a superb spread and some loaded G and Ts!

HSPC opens court in San Diego

A big hello to brother Don in San Diego, who has just completed building his own petanque piste in his backyard! Way to go mate!

Construction required Don to shovel about 8 tons of 3/8-inch playing surface material from his driveway in the front of the house into the backyard.

Good to see you building up those shoulder muscles to carry your brother on his upcoming return home! :)

Greg

A day of disappointments ...

HSPC could only manage a draw against Aoyama Petanque in the Tokyo Petanque League on Saturday July 11 at Myoshoji Park. After both clubs split the first two games, Bob and Raj won the third and Steve and Greg were leading 10-6 in the fourth but squandered the opportunity to take a 3-1 lead.

From there Bob and Vas lifted us to 3-2 but Steve and Raj couldn't hold on for the win against Ogawa and Yokoyama san. With the games tied 3-3, Vas and Bob came up large to beat the hot pairing of Adrian and Albert, but Greg and Raj fell to Bernard and Mochizuki san to see the day end at 4-4.

Both teams blew several opportunities to score big and, as hard as it is to say, a draw was probably the fairest result.

Big thanks to Vas who once again played great, winning both his games. Sorry we couldn't do the same.

More pics to come later.