A sprightly team of single ladies from Club Southland Petanque are proving that the sport is more feisty than sedate and is not restricted to Gold Card users.
"Petanque is a lot of fun and it can get quite competitive.
"It's not just for older people. More and more young people are playing too," club secretary Jill Morton said.
Petanque veterans Shona Birch and Maureen Archer returned from the National Mixed Doubles Championship in Dunedin this month clutching a well-earned (bowl) trophy.
"We were a bit shattered when we saw the first people we would start having to play, because they were the top of the heap.
"But we managed to give them a fright, we got eight points off them.
"So then they had to get devious, didn't they."
But anyway, it was fun, Archer said.
The club will be host the Clubs New Zealand South Island Petanque Tournament at the piste at the back of their clubrooms next week.
The lively ladies will not let their hosting duties stop them from getting in valuable practice time before the big contest.
"We've got teams coming from the North Island to play.
"It's quite a big thing. and there is a lot of camaraderie between the clubs, Morton said."
All 15 financial members from Southland’s only petanque club will be perfecting their petanque skills for the three-day tournament.
A combination of novices and experts from the mini Southland team will participate in triples, doubles and singles.
The Southland club’s most senior petanque athlete only took up the boules bowling game in her 60s.
Now she’s an octogenarian petanque professional who regularly slays her much younger opposition on the piste.
"I started it around the age of 65. I found it great for exercise.
"It's really good and we go away on trips,’ Nanette Seear said.
Petanque is an "all-abilities, multigenerational game where players can use magnetised equipment" to assist with their play.
■Clubs New Zealand 2024 South Island Petanque Tournament
Club Southland. October 26-28.
