Practice shots Part Two

Practice shots Part two

Generally this series is to get you looking for and executing game winning shots. If you practice these shots away from competitive situations they will be part of your armoury for winning petanque.

This time we are looking at the loneliness of the long distance petanque player.

Games to play on your own to improve your game.

The main aim during down time is to keep your eye in. Some shots will not be easy  but here we have a few suggestions to keep the game in motion. With hard summer pistes the boule will react in a different way than normal and jack throwing is not easy.

Shooting boule touching jack

In this game the boule and jack are set up exactly as before and if you thought the last task was frustrating and you were beaten at every length now is the chance for revenge. Having warmed up by going back and forth putting the boule back into position you can now shoot the boule away. Hitting the boule scores 1 and a carreau scores two. A miss of the boule is 1 to the holding boule. A jack movement over 1 metre is 2 to the holding boule. This practice session has three major benefits to players 1. It shows how hard and frustrating shooting can be. 2. The carreau is always worth two points and all shooters should work on their carreau rate. It can be the major difference when we travel over that little strip of water The English channel. Work on the back spin and the height of the shot to achieve a high carreau rate. 3. Many players who see the jack shoot off at an angle see it as a stroke of bad luck and their head drops. The jack jumping from a touching boule is a fact of life. Getting used to being punished on jack flukes makes you try harder and understand bad things happen. Also you can realise you can carreau a boule and the jack can stay where it is. Practise makes perfect. Score again as before, first to thirteen and try all the lengths.

I am sure you have other game plays to keep warm but that is the idea of practice in the cold months. Warm up, Play quickly and have plenty of laughs. We all play to have fun and these winter practice sessions help keep those arms moving and boule spin control firmly in mind.