Shooting Advanced. Develop the skill No.2 Over the top

Shooting Advanced. Develop the skill No.2

Over the top

Equipment Required Your set of boule Three spare Boule Jack 4-inch square block of wood 25 metres of string or twine

Last session we focused on throwing straight and landing straight. On a firm flat terrain you will improve your hit rate no end by focusing on the line when shooting. Petanque as we know is a tricky sport and the opposition and pistes tend to gang up on you. We are to take the shooting practice to the next stage. Boule to boule shooting. Many players huddle in the blanket that is "drop short and hit". It is true this type of shooting can be very effective. Problems arise when the piste is far from flat and there are boule in the head blocking the line. More importantly they are your teams boule. They can achieve great things if they are left in front of the jack so the decision is to shoot over the top of these boule or not shoot at all!. The set up for this exercise is exactly the same as last month. The string can help to guide you and focus your aim, the major difference is the target boule. It is still resting between the tramlines but two feet in front of it you will place an obstacle. I have recommended a block of wood but most things will do. For safety sake try and use a blocking material that will not chip or splinter if your boule hits it. For example a house brick is not acceptable. A boule will do, but the three in the practice kit are for other things so you could use a heavy block of wood.

Once you have placed your blocker on the two lines your only option to hit the target boule is to throw over the obstacle to hit the boule. You will find, as you give the boule more height to clear the block, the boule bounce higher as they land. Think back to the last month's exercise when we added more backspin to the shot. You may find your first attempts fly over the target boule. Do not over do it , start with the target boule at six metres from the circle. Hopefully they will still be landing between the two strings. I have asked you to place the blocker two feet from the boule to instantly push for the lift of the shot. If you just cannot get over the blocker move it three feet away and as you gain confidence move the blocker closer. Remember not to try too hard as you start to go for the boule to boule moment. This will come in time. You have two feet in front of the target boule to land in. Focus on this strip, as they will score in our test later. Finally, now you have become accustom to shooting along the two strings, give you eye a distraction. Place two boule within eight inches of the target boule. Either side of the line will do. They are not obstacles but we are trying to create a head. Place a jack close to either of these boule for added realism. Why? Well many players struggle to turn practice sessions into solid results when embroiled in a game. The reason? They practice shooting a boule with no other distraction. This can lead to taking the wrong boule out of a head when shooting, as they are not used to selecting the target. Lining up on the length and distance of the target before they shoot.

One last tip. As we get older our eyes take longer to adjust to distance. If you wish, you can walk out the distance to the target boule. This has the added benefit of checking you are going to shoot the correct boule. When in the circle take a moment to focus on the boule. As a matter of interest it can take up to fifteen secound for you eye to adjust to close work and then ten metres away. 15 seconds may seem a long time to stand still in the circle, but it is not as long as the walk up the terrain when you have just missed

You can now start the exercise.

Practice shooting the boule and score yourself accordingly. Remember we are concentrating on the line as well as the length. Your boule should land between the lines, over the obstacle and hopefully hit the target boule. If your piste is difficult and you find your boule landing between the lines but bouncing over do not worry. In this exercise you still score those throws. Remember line is still everything. If your boule keep bouncing over try to place a little more backspin on the boule during the throw. This can be done by bending the wrist before the throw begins so the backspin is exaggerated. Do not try to flick the boule at the end of the throwing movement as this may lead to sprains. The boule is much heavier at this point due to centrifugal energy. So a slow arm back. Fold the wrist over the boule and then a steady throw with a nice straight follow through. Focus on the lines. Imagine your arm is travelling along the same lines during the throw to give you a nice, straight throw. Because of the obstacle you may wish to release the boule slightly later in the throw to take the boule higher and over the barrier Good Luck

How to score

Boule landing over the barrier between the lines in front of boule 5 points

Hitting target boule 5 points

Maximum score per boule 10 points

Any boule hitting the barrier minus 10 points

Amount of Boule thrown for exercise 30