HSPC has talent!

At the welcome party for Brother Don on Friday night, some artistic talent emerged in the ranks -- Layla wowed the guys with her miniature origami!

She's probably got a great eye for measuring boulles too!







Have a great trip Don, looking forward to next Saturday's comp.

A day of missed chances ...

HSPC stumbled to our first loss this year in the Tokyo Petanque League, falling 6 games to 4 to Aoyama at our new home ground on Saturday, May 15.

It was a good learning curve for many guys. The first game when Francis knocked Albert/Ogawa out to get six points to lift the score to 11-5 was immense and we looked set to see the game out and go 2-0 up, instead Albert and Ogawa crawled back and we lost.

After Raj and Bill surprisingly lost two games early, we were suddenly trailing 1-4 and we had to make some tough decisions. Hold some of the more experienced pairings back for a finale that might not eventuate or throw caution to the wind and try to get back into the game. We rallied well getting back to 4-5 but that last win proved elusive. Hey, those are the breaks.

Congratulations Aoyama.

Thanks to everyone for bringing down plenty of food and drinks on Saturday and to those who helped mark the courts. Next time we need a tent peg for that hard ground.

Previously, HSPC had defeated Hiratsuka Beach Petanque 7-3 on April 24.

Full league results can be seen here.

HSPC opens new TPL season with a win

HSPC began its 2010 Tokyo Petanque League (TPL) campaign with a comfortable win on March 21, defeating OBA 8-2 after electing to hold our home game at Aoyama due to restrictions on play at Myoshoji Park.

Both teams had solid turnouts and the captains agreed to play 10 games.

After the first two games were split, with rival captain Monty spearheading a strong shooting perfomance for OBA, several HSPC rookies entered the frey and performed well as our depth of squad showed through.

Well done team!

The team post-game party at Zest had plenty of zing!

Full match results on the TPL site.

Big Bill, little brother and getting hit for six!

A huge turnout at the park on Saturday with 13 of us present under sunny skies, including Big Bill and little brother Kevin visiting from Washington D.C. Kevin took to the game well and pointed his way to several wins.

In one of the highlights of the day, one lucky team, who shall remain totally anonymous, scored six points in the last frame to win 13-8!




Kevin, drop by again next time you're in Tokyo and this time please stick around for the post-match party!

V comes through with the B!

Barolo is an Italian wine, one of many to claim the title "Wine of kings, and king of wines". This Denominazione di Origine Controllata e Garantita (DOCG) wine is produced in the Cuneo province, south-west of Alba, within the region of Piemonte.

While most HSPC members are no strangers to the taste of fine wine, Vasili, the Baron of Belarus, was handed a harsh lesson in the value of this vino supremo when he drunkenly made a bet on a boulle measurement for FIVE bottles of the great grape during a late night game last year.

Thanks for the Barolo Vas, only three more bottles to go!

Pisted up at the HSPC end of year party!

HSPC would like to thank our management, sponsors, families and legions of fans worldwide for all their support in 2009! :)))

All the best for 2010!

Vas and Bob swim against the Sagamihara tide

HSPC's last game of the 2009 Tokyo Petanque League was away to Sagamihara Belle Equipe on Saturday, December 4. Knowing a win would give us a chance of finishing second, the boys started their warm-up routine on the train by shooting some Ebisu steel.

But our physical preparations proved inadequate for the rocky "car park" terrain, with Vas and Bob the only team that earned victories for the club under frigid conditions.

In the last game in particular they showed great spirit through torrential rain, earning HSPC our second win as we lost 6-2 on an inconsistent piste.

Congratulations to Sagamihara on their win, and to Mon Soleil for capturing the league again. Thanks Mizumoto san and crew for a fine spread.

A big thanks also to Adrian and Okawa san for all their work on the league admin side and to all the teams that participated.

We look forward to next year's competition.

Full results here.