Croquet and Punting

Isn't it wonderful that the world is so full of obscure, intriguing things, many of which we have never heard about before? In my previous posts I have referred to Real Tennis, and more recently, Petanque. Well, now here are Croquet and Punting. I'd just about heard these words before I came to Oxford, but didn't quite know what they were about.

Last Saturday saw me learn about, and indulge in, both - courtesy the Mansfield College MCR. We played a bit of croquet on the college lawn. The game involves hitting balls through hoops using a big, wooden mallet, the objective being to pass your ball through a number of hoops in a particular sequence, and to end by hitting the ball onto a wooden post. It is not a game that requires a lot of skill, but tactics can play a big role in how you fare. Here are some pictures.

Why am I not in the pictures if I was playing, you ask? Well, as usual I am behind the camera!



Croquet was followed by punting on the river Cherwell. For those who are unaware of what punting is (like me, until a few months ago), it involves, well, punting a boat along a river - using a long metal pole (or a wooden one, if you are in Cambridge) to push yourself against the river bed. The pole is also used to steer the boat, along with a little paddle used at the front end of the boat.



The current on Saturday was strong, owing to a few weirs that had been opened upstream. And that meant that while we merrily punted our way downstream, turning around and making progress upstream was difficult. In fact, we went a little too far downstream, close to where the Cherwell joins the bigger (and faster) river Isis. Too close, one might say, for we found it difficult to turn around, and were being swept towards the Isis. At one point, I think, we were less than 10 ft. from the main Isis current!



So, heading back upstream proved to be a challenge. We often found ourselves at the same spot for over 10 mins, furiously trying to make progress. I was a passenger in the boat most of the time, and let more experienced punters (is that the right word?) do the job. When I did try, I realised how important it was to use the pole to steer the boat - to keep the front end of the boat pointing straight ahead. And, how difficult it is when the current is strong and skill levels are low.

Well, it turned out not to be the picnic we'd imagined it would be, and we got back to the boathouse a difficult two-and-a half hours later. What great fun, though! Would love to do it again, but after only after a quick check on the strength of the current!



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Petanque

I have mentioned Petanque, which I've never played before the Oxbridge a couple of weeks ago, in my previous post. I had never even heard of the game, and I expect most others never have, either. So, for those intrigued, here's how the game is played (taken from www.britishpetanque.org)

THE PLAY

You play with a metal ball called a “boule” and a jack made from wood. The boules have a diameter from 7.05 to 8.00 cm and a weight from 650 to 800 gram. At first sight they look identical but they differ greatly by being made from different metals with a wide range of markings or engravings

THE AIM OF THE GAME

To place your boules nearer to the jack than those of your opponents.

COMPOSITION OF TEAMS
Pétanque is a sport in which

	3 players play against 3 players (triples), each player uses 2 boules.
	2 players against 2 players (doubles), each player uses 3 boules
	1 player against 1 player (singles), each player uses 3 boules.

START OF THE GAME

To start a game the teams toss a coin to see which team will throw the jack (a small wooden ball of 25-35 mm in diameter). In the following example the Blue team has won the toss.

BEGINNING OF PLAY

A player of the Blue team draws a circle on the ground (35-50 cm diameters) from which the jack is thrown to a distance of 6-10 metres from the circle. When throwing the jack and boules both feet of the player must be within the circle and on the ground, until the played boule has touched the ground.

THE FIRST BALL

The Blue team now play their first ball by trying to get it as close to the jack as possible.

Then the first player of the Red team steps into the circle to play their first boule and it tries to beat the Blue team’s boule.

This can happen in one of two ways either by

POINTING

When the team pitches or rolls their boule, judging the distance so that it stops closer than the opponents boule

or by

SHOOTING

With a purposeful throw the thrown boule removes the opponent’s boule.

IF SUCCESSFUL

It is a player of the Blue team that must now play.

IF NOT SUCCESSFUL

The players of the Red team must continue to play, until either they place a boule closer to the jack than the opponent’s boule or they have no boules left to play.

If a team has no more boules, the other team now plays until they have played all their remaining boules.

THE POINTS

A team receives as many points as it has boules closest to the jack than those of their opponents (at least 1 point to a maximum of 6 points).

In our example Blue made 3 points.

The team winning the end draws the circle and throws the jack to start the next end.

THE END OF A PLAY

The team, which first reaches 13 points, is the winner.

SO VERY SIMPLE – SO WHY SHOULD IT BE SO FASCINATING?

The simple principle of this game leaves plenty of room for tactics and the imagination, with the result that every round looks different.

A tactical mistake is usually more serious than a badly played boule.

With every boule that is to be played, there are so many different ways of playing the game:

- shoot away your opponent’s boule

- obstruct the path to the jack

- change the position of the jack with the boule etc.

PLAYING TECHNIQUE AND TACTICS

In principle, there are two ways of playing a boule - in that you either point or shoot.

When pointing and when shooting, you should keep an eye on the correct hand position: you throw with the palm of the hand turned downwards.

This imparts a certain backspin to the boule, and when you get the hang of the idea, you can manipulate the boule as the nature of the ground and the situation of the game demands.

The tactics however are equally as important as mastering the technique, which is what makes the game so intriguing.

When playing with experienced players you will quickly learn the tactics, you have to make your mind up quickly to choose if a solution is too dangerous or maybe too late nd the only choice is to try and save the game by playing a defensive boule.



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Oxbridge 2008

The Oxbridge games, the annual sporting event between Oxford's Said Business School and Cambridge's Judge Business School, are hosted by the b-schools alternatively each year; this year they were held on 24 May, and were hosted by Judge. So that meant some 150 of packing into three buses and heading off, quite early in the morning, for Cambridge. Luckily, this was one of the better days of May, and we were set for a fantastic day of sporting events.

Cambridge did a great job of hosting us, and of organising the games. We won 8 of the 15 events, and the Oxbridge games for the fifth consecutive year. So I guess it did not matter that we had forgotten to take the Oxbridge cup with us from Oxford. It would have been rather embarrassing if Cambridge had won the games! I played ultimate frisbee and Petanque(a game I'd never even heard of until a few weeks ago - but more about that later). We won the frisbee, but I lost my game of Petanque (though we still won the team event).



The evening involved heading back to Judge for drinks, and then to St. John's College for dinner. Our hosts again did well by showing us around Cambridge and by generally taking good care of us. Well done, guys! Cambridge is very pretty. The colleges have great architecture, but unlike Oxford, they are visible and not hidden behind great big walls. The Judge Business School itself is very quirky - you'd love it or hate it.

Most of us were pretty worn out by the time we got back on the bus for Oxford - some of us after one drink too many (but hey what the heck, this is a once-in-a-year event for the schools, and a once-only event for us).


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