Have a ball (or two) and other Paris, France Sports Travel Tips

Theme: Other

I found these pétanque (or ‘boules’, your choice) players along the covered section of the Canal St Martin at République, in Bde J. Ferry. Chances are though, that you will find other players wherever there is a park with an area of smooth fine gravel – not just in Paris, but throughout France. Forget soccer, this probably comes closest to being France’s national game.

Players have two steel balls (no humour intended) and there are usually two players a side, giving four balls a side. The idea is to throw your balls (boules in French) so that they finish up closer to a jack than those of the opposing team – yes, knocking their balls out of the way is very much part of the game, so tactics become important. The thrower stands with feet together and lobs the ball with an underarm backhand toss. Sometimes, to sight better, the toss is done from a squatting position (as in the main photo). Scoring is done by counting the nearest balls from the jack until the next nearest belongs to an opponent. This continues until the set is won by the first side to reach 13. It’s all a very serious business, which attracts keen onlookers (second photo).

Equipment: I think that, if there was a car sticker, it would read "Pétanque players have balls of steel".

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