Club News

1st Hereford (YMCA) Cub Scouts – Pétanque England “WHITE AWARD”

Following an initial personal contact between one of our WHPC members (thank you Alistair) and the 1st Hereford (YMCA) Cub Scout Pack in September 2023 we jointly set up a Pétanque Coaching programme for up to 30 Beaver and Cub Scouts in “the Pack”. The purpose of this coaching was not only to introduce the Scouts to Pétanque via the PE White Award, but also as a qualification for the Scout’s own “New Skills Badge” which provided great motivation and enthusiasm amongst the participants. This event was a first for WHPC and as we now have a working template we are already in touch with other similar “Packs”, schools and youth groups in the area to repeat it for them later in the year,

Some detail : - In total 27 youngsters took part; aged from 6 – 11 years. 15 achieved the “White Award” standard & 12 received “Participation Certificates”. The programme took place over 3 x Monday evenings 5-8pm with the “Pack” being separated into 3 groups. Each group had 2 sessions of 1.5hrs. Over the three weeks 12 WHPC members assisted Melanie with hands on supervision of technique and skills practice. In their final session each participant was individually assessed by Melanie. The Participation Certificates were mainly given to the very young Beaver Scouts who were put through the same tests as the others but mainly lacked the physical strength to attain the distances of throw required. They will be invited back next year to try to attain the standards. Naturally, WHPC will now keep contact with the 1st Hereford (YMCA) Scout Group with a view to encouraging those youngsters and their parents to join us and make Pétanque part of their normal sporting life. We also intend to persuade other Clubs and Leagues in the area to arrange similar events with a view to establishing a Junior League and/or Tournaments to provide essential regular competition for the enthusiastic youngsters, thereby improving their skills, retaining their interest and ensuring the future of Pétanque in Hereford.