The game of Petanca or Boulles is enjoyed by men and women of all ages and is played all over the Costa Blanca region. The local Spanish are very good and spend hours practicing which is evident whenever they play in competitions.

We have lots of clubs who are encouraging players of all nationalities to join; this has greatly helped to improve international relations and in Torrevieja we have 14 countries all playing in the Costa Blanca league. In three years the league has grown from 18 teams to the present 42 with 7 divisions. The leagues are sponsored by some leading companies and this has enabled the league to provide trophies for the winners and runners up. This in turn has created even more interest and new teams joining.

The Torrevieja Ayuntamiento (Town Council) sponsors European Day which is in the first week of May. This year will be the 4th time this event will be held and already we have teams from Belguim, Denmark, England, Finland, France, Germany, Holland, Ireland, Italy, Norway, N Ireland, Scotland, Spain, Sweden and Wales which guarantees a record entry. The Town Hall provides trophies for the winners as well as T-Shirts for all competitors and refreshments during the lunch break. This gets better support each year and the standard of play has also improved.

Petanca can be played and enjoyed by everyone. Any piece of waste ground is suitable as it all helps to improve your game and all pitches are different. The game is played at the big clubs as well as single pitches. A lot of town halls are showing interest in this low cost facility and creating pitches in the park areas which are well used. Torrevieja is one of these councils and it now has a programme with Petanca being included in the major park areas.

A lot of the clubs have memberships of 100 or more and this allows for regular meetings and championships. A lot of these clubs hold Grand Prix style meetings which bring the top players together and get good publicity from both the local papers and radio stations.

It’s not just the top players who have championships; more attention is being given to newcomers who are keen to learn the game and this is shown at Blue Lagoon and San Luis who have healthy memberships and a big UK membership. The latest club is El Rancho near Los Montesinos where the owner, Bosse Hall, has a 23,000 square meter complex with a restaurant, horse riding and a large Petanca area. This will be a very popular venue and a league member within the year.

For further information about Petanca anywhere in Spain please phone Roger Seymour on 96 678 5642