Petanque shots in the toolbox

Phases and the Percentage shot

Petanque games can swing one way then the next, this makes the game fascinating but also frustrating as getting control of a game is crucial in getting to 13 points and the win. Focus is the key as just when things are going right, the opposition play a boule that messes up your plans for the end. The truth is, the opposition are trying to make it difficult for you to win. They are limiting the amount of points you get and trying to maximise their points when they get the chance. Some might think they are trying to beat you!

Individual shots are the main focus of the game but the ends have phases and it is important to get these right in order to win games. You have to accept the run of play is pushing you into positions, you are playing a lot of defending boule when you should be attacking. That is the game you love but sometimes you have to look at limiting the oppositions score. This can be done with a good positioned point or a shot on one of their boule that may well add to the score at the finish of the end.

Be difficult to beat and you will be amazed how many games you win. 

The Percentage shot.

You may have heard this expression when the opposition play a successful shot. They may even have a smile after they have played it and to you, it looked the luckiest shot in the world. How the boule ended up where it was or the damage it did seemed to be a total fluke. Well the truth is, there is an element of luck in this shot but the reason it is called the percentage shot it because the odds of success were on its side but it still needs a small element of chance. It can be played on a piste that is very tricky to point to length on. This can be due to the under structure of the piste, slopes or just a rock hard patch in the area of the head.

This play is never just a point to the jack or a shot at an open boule. It will always come late in the head when things are getting a bit complicated in the game. To the untrained eye there are boule all over the place. The fact the jack jumps back to one of the oppositions boule or your boule gets punched out of the head by an over thrown point can be missed but, this is where the good players of the game come into their own. In the time it takes for you to re-join your team the opposition have seen an alignment in the head. It does not happen very often but the percentage shot appears just like a double rainbow.

The shot requires the thrown boule to come into the head and generally move something. A percentage boule is never short. It is meant to be a hustle style shot. Pushing boule out of the way, promoting boule or moving the jack a few inches. The player throwing the boule needs to commit to it but this is not a super hard point crashing into the head. It’s percentage of success is high because if it does not rest on the holding boule it may well move the jack with it. This is why it can be seen by some as lucky. The result is not expected by the thrower or the opposition but the outcome has been as calculated as possible. If it does not push an opposition boule out of the way it will generally do the next anticipated result. It is an “either or” shot caused by the boule alignment in the head.  It can be played on a piste where the surface does not give a reliable route for the pointed boule to take. Lining up a boule to play against should be straight forward for most players but when the boule can deflect 3 to 4 inches off course after landing due to a rough piste it means the percentage boule can be played with a calculated degree of success. It will either move the boule or the jack or both.

The shot is a skilful one because it is generally thrown to perfect length but allows for kicks forward off an unpredictable piste to point on. This maybe one foot through the head pushing and knocking as it goes but the direction has been calculated to do some damage to the opposition. It may not be a boule that will put the opposition on but a defensive boule. It all depends on how the boule are placed. We have all seen the shot for five disappear after a lucky shot. Maybe not so lucky after all! If we look at the photo we can see an alignment revealing itself. You are the yellow boule and the circle is at the bottom of the photo. The shot to play here is to push in the yellow boule at the front of the head. If you miss to the left you can drag the jack back to the waiting yellow boule. If you are too far left you could stop on the holding blue boule. Who would love to have three chances of a successful shot?

It pays to keep looking at the head and how the boule are positioned. Discuss as a team the options and play with commitment to the throw. The shot comes with practice and does not appear all the time in games but when the boule are right this shot can be devastating.