Playing Pétanque at Greenridge Primary School

Pétanque (pronounced pay-tong) is a sport that you may have never heard of, but it’s caught the interest of some pupils from Greenridge Primary School, the only school in Singapore that offers such a CCA. The objective of this game of French origin is similar to boules: Players stand with their feet together in a circle and take turns throwing a metallic ball such that it either lands closer to the object ball (known as a jack) than the balls of their opponent. Alternatively, they can try to knock the jack toward the other balls, away from the opponent’s. Typically, this game can be played in teams of two, four or six pupils (singles, doubles & triplettes respectively).

Greenridge Primary School pupils are no strangers to pétanque. It was established there in 2001 by Ms Vicki Heo, a former teacher who is a national pétanque player for Singapore and has won several SEA Games medals in this sport. She was so passionate about introducing pétanque to the pupils that she used her own money to fund the construction of a special pétanque court in the school.

Passion for pétanque

“This sport is actually getting quite big in Asia with full-time national pétanque players in countries like China, Laos and Vietnam,” says the school’s current coach Mr Eddie Lim. “It’s a bit different here in Singapore, but I do think this game is very good for children to play because it is a precision sport that requires lots of thinking, improves motor skills and imparts the importance of teamwork.”

While the CCA started with just 15 pupils, today it has about a membership of about 40. “Not every child enjoys vigorous sports, and this game brings in the challenging element of strategising,” explains teacher-in-charge Mrs Pang-Lim Choon Lee of the popularity of this CCA. In fact, obese or underweight pupils are encouraged to take up pétanque as a CCA as its moderate pace of physical activity makes it less intimidating for them to do sports while allowing them to gradually build up their fitness.

“It’s not very tiring and I don’t need to sweat,” says Pri 5 pupil Lim Yan Zheng, who was spotted during a game scurrying about assessing his team’s ball positions and offering advice to teammates on where to aim. “I’ve learnt how to encourage other people and sometimes, I teach my teammates on throwing better balls. My favourite part of the game is pointing (i.e. getting the ball as close to the jack as possible). I like it when I’m successful in hitting the spot that I’ve aimed for,” he enthuses.

Shooting higher

With Greenridge Primary School being the only institution to offer pétanque – where’s the competition? Mr Lim explains that an annual competition is held within the CCA to challenge pupils to improve their skills, with medals given out to the winners. At the same time, he selects promising players from the school’s CCA to train with the Singapore pétanque team at Toa Payoh Stadium on weekends.

“I hope to play pétanque for Team Singapore one day. My family and friends are very happy that there is a possibility for me now that I practise with the national team every weekend,” says Pri 6 pupil Muhammad Nasrullah Bin Yusop, who like Yan Zheng is one of the students selected to train with the Singapore pétanque team. In fact, according to Mrs Pang-Lim, this is good progress for Nasrullah as he’d joined the CCA because of his weight, but has now become one of the top players amongst his peers.

As their CCA T-shirt says in French, “A Little Pétanque – Why Not?”, it seems that dabbling in this sport has only brought about plenty of fun and opportunities for the pupils at Greenridge Primary School.