The Alexandra Pétanque Club hosted successful South Island Men’s and Women’s Triples tournaments at the weekend, with 66 players coming from as far away as Christchurch.

Club captain Bernice ‘Bunny’ Hamilton said there were a few young players involved, and the club would welcome more young people.

“We had a couple of young people from Wellington here who are studying in Dunedin,” she said. “One plays for Dunedin and another for Taieri.

“We’d love to encourage more young people from our area.”

The Alexandra club has a 12-year-boy who plays who is “really, really good”, she said, and has hosted sessions for students from Dunstan High School who “played really well and really enjoyed it”.

Winners of the 2023 South Island Women’s Triples pétanque tournament are, from left, Phyll Esplin (Dunedin City), Toi Rosie (Taieri), and Glenda Pritchard (Taieri).

Dunedin City Pétanque Club president Stefany Frost is also manager of the club’s youth group, and said five of the club’s youth members competed in Alexandra.

“We have 15 youth members and up to 20 playing on a weekly basis,” she said.

The club runs a youth league after-school programme to engage the young players, and gives them training, coaching and membership, and 10 players went to the National Youth Championships in Rotorua in April.

One of Dunedin City’s youth members who competed in Alexandra, Jackson Gallagher (19), has been one to watch for pétanque followers for some time now.

Jackson said he learned to play from his grandfather during his school holidays from about age seven, and enjoyed the game enough to stick with it. 

“I’ve been to a few competitions up north and I’ve put my name down for the trans-Tasmans later this year," he said.

He also credited the youth league for bringing in more young players and said it was a good thing to have new perspectives in clubs.

“Even at my local club, we now have two youth members on the club committee,” he said.

Winners of the 2023 South Island Men’s Triples pétanque tournament are, from left, Warren McConnell, Gordon Dykes and Neville Frost (all Dunedin City).

Stefany said the Dunedin City team enjoyed a great weekend in Alexandra.

“The Alexandra crew are always amazing, but all the teams are,” she said. “A Taieri player provided transport for some of our players, Alexandra people provided accommodation - all the teams pitched in to make it a great event.”

The winning teams were: 

2023 South Island Women’s Triples 

1. Glenda Pritchard, Toi Rosie (Taieri), Phyll Esplin (Dunedin City)

2. Cathryn Lyall, Karen Stephen (Dunedin City), Chris Dixon (Ashburton)

3. Nicky Foden (Ashburton), Jen Sutherland, Becca Scott (Dunedin City)

2023 South Island Men’s Triples 

1. Gordon Dykes, Warren McConnell, Neville Frost (Dunedin City)

2. Erik Ross (Taieri), Matthew Scott, Jackson Gallagher (Dunedin City)

3. Phillip Lyall, Mark Richardson (Dunedin City), Neville Bensdorp (Ashburton)