FRENCH BOCCE BALL: In pursuit of petanque

Enthusiasts of sport urge other valley players to join group

photos by larry cruikshank/viewClockwise from top left, petanque player Jean-Claude Canestrier shows off his skills during play with the Las Vegas Petanque group at Gardens Park, 10401 Gardens Park Drive. Group founder Lisette Garia-Kohler rolls out a shot. Player Jim Kohler, second from left, throws another ball during a game with the group, which meets at the park on Sundays at 6 p.m. photos by larry cruikshank/viewClockwise from top left, petanque player Jean-Claude Canestrier shows off his skills during play with the Las Vegas Petanque group at Gardens Park, 10401 Gardens Park Drive. Group founder Lisette Garia-Kohler rolls out a shot. Player Jim Kohler, second from left, throws another ball during a game with the group, which meets at the park on Sundays at 6 p.m. Advertisement

Las Vegas is often derided for being a transient city, a place where people from various locations and cultures quickly slip in and out. But that kind of growth also leads to the development of Las Vegas as a harbor of diversity, a true melting pot.

For Lisette Garcia-Kohler, it has provided a way to reconnect with her European lineage and a sport she picked up as a child, watching her father play.

A third-grade teacher at Goolsby Elementary School, Garcia-Kohler is one of the founders of the Las Vegas Petanque group, an informal gathering of people from all over the Las Vegas Valley who gather every Sunday evening at Gardens Park in Summerlin to play.

Petanque is basically the French version of bocce ball. Usually played on gravel or a hard dirt area, the game involves players throwing heavy metal balls as close as possible to a smaller wooden ball in order to score points.

The local group plays in the horseshoe pits at the park, oftentimes across from Italians playing bocce. It makes for an interesting, multicultural experience.

Garcia-Kohler said she didn't care for the game when she was younger, but now she sees it as a connection to her background.

"I hated it as a kid," she said. "It's predominantly played by men in the southern parts of France. If you go there, you'll see it all over. My father was a player, he was French. I grew up in a pretty European household and spent summers in France with my cousins and uncles."

When she moved to Las Vegas from San Francisco three years ago, she was "craving culture," Garcia-Kohler said.

"You don't miss it until you're actually removed from it. San Francisco has a huge French community," she said. "When I got here, I googled 'petanque Las Vegas' and found an announcement on Craigslist looking for other players. I got in touch and it started slowly moving from there."

The person who placed the online ad was Franck Labasse, pastry chef at Wynn Las Vegas and a competitive petanque player. He had moved from France to New York years ago and has lived in Las Vegas for a little more than a year.

"When I lived in New York, there was a lot of French people and a (strong) community for petanque," he said. "When I came here, I had to go looking for players."

Labasse, who recently went back to New York just to compete in a national petanque tournament, has been playing the game almost all his life.

"Where I am from, in Southern France, there is soccer and there is petanque, and everyone plays," he said. "I am from a small town. There were 500 people in the town, and 200 of them were in the petanque club. It's everywhere."

It may be huge in Europe, but the sport still appears to be in its infancy in Las Vegas.

"There are players here, we just need to get the word out," Garcia-Kohler said.

On June 22, more than 20 people showed up to play and learn the game, including three or four who had never heard of it before, she said.

"We can't really be an official club until we have an official terrain to play on, which is a hard thing to find," she said. "But the players keep coming."

Labasse said the group is hoping to lobby the city or county to make a petanque court part of an upcoming park project. After all, he said, "it's just dirt."

The Las Vegas Petanque group meets at 6 p.m. on Sundays at Gardens Park, 10401 Gardens Park Drive in Summerlin. For more information, visit www.lasvegaspetanque.com.