Getting the Ball Rolling : Embracing <i> Petanque</i> --a Sunny Game With a Continental Flair

PE-thonk! PE-thonk! Every Saturday morning the four-inch steel balls click out a sound much like the name of the European game-- Petanque.

“It’s a totally delightful game,” said Jody Hoy, head of the French department at Irvine Valley College. “And there’s this little subculture of people who love to play it.”

In the south of France, in places like Newport Beach sister city Antibes, the game is called Petanque . In northern France, Hoy said, it’s called Boules (pronounced bools).

Michael Hirsh, 59, plays Petanque each week with about 20 others from the Irvine Valley College French Club. But his desire to play closer to his Corona del Mar home led him to ask for two Petanque courts beside the lawn bowling courts at the city’s San Joaquin Hills recreation facility--a request that was granted Thursday.

For Petanque enthusiasts, summer doesn’t mean having to head for the hills, the water or the sky for recreation. They find fun and contentment upon modest 55-by-14-foot packed dirt courts.

“Probably the closest thing to it is an Italian game called boccie ball,” Hirsh said. “Basically, it is a game that has been played since ancient Roman times. The Romans first used to throw round stones. Over the centuries the game has evolved so that round stones aren’t used anymore, and now we play with steel balls.”

In Petanque, a small wooden ball about the size of a shooter marble is tossed onto the court, and team members must each throw three steel balls as close to the wooden ball as they can without hitting it. They may also carom their balls off other players’ balls, getting closer to the target and knocking the opponent farther away whenever possible.

The request for a court temporarily stumped parks, beaches and recreation officials in Newport Beach.

“We didn’t have a clue [what the game was] until these people came in, and I’m not sure we’re clear on it now,” said spokesman Dave McConnell a few days before the Parks, Beaches and Recreation Commission approved the court installation.

While barely known to most Americans, the game has an international organization with 42 countries as members. The United States club, Federacion de Petanque USA, has 700 members in 20 clubs--the largest of which plays at Rancho Park in West Los Angeles. FPUSA also has six clubs in the San Francisco Bay area and one in San Diego.

“It’s a lot of fun, especially when you go to competitions,” said Max Legrand, treasurer of FPUSA’s national organization and an official of the 13-year-old Los Angeles club. “There’s a lot of things to compete about. It’s a very simple game but it’s a very hard game, and when it’s played the right way it’s beautiful to watch.”

Among players, the very word Petanque is like a secret cue to drop everything to discuss or play it.

Players say the game’s balance of skill and ease, of competition and companionship, are the main attraction. And Petanque is economically accessible at about $30 for all the necessary gear.

Hirsh learned to play Petanque six years ago while traveling in France, a trip he estimates he has made 25 times.

“As you’re driving through France, you drive through a little village and stop at a cafe for lunch,” Hirsh said. “Many of the cafes are on a town square, so If you see someone playing you can just walk up and say, ‘Hi, I’m Michael, can I throw the ball?’ And there you are.

“Rank beginners who go in and play, they get very easily encouraged because it’s not like tennis or something [more complicated]. Within the first half hour, you’ll be able to throw it well enough to play and have fun,” he said. “You won’t win any tournaments, but you’ll be able to play.”

Hoy, who persuaded campus officials to build the court at Irvine Valley College, said the game is easy. “It doesn’t take 40 years of skill. It does take some concentration. It’s good for your body. And it’s a very social game.

“One day,” she continued, “I got this idea of building a Petanque court, sort of like my own ‘Field of Dreams’--you know, ‘If you build it they will come.’ ”

Her dream came true about three years ago, when the court was finished and members of the Los Angeles club came to teach the game to students.

“There were about 12 of them and they were all wearing white and they had these red, white and blue caps. It was wonderful,” Hoy recalled. “We had a lot of students there. [The visiting club] showed us how to play the game and we were hooked.”

The court at Irvine Valley College was the only one between Los Angeles and San Diego, Legrand said.