Interview with the principal

1. What are your thoughts for the Petanque Team at school?

In fact, petanque is a domestic rising sport in recent years. It may be more popular sport in Taipei. There was an educational promoting activity in Chinese Taipei Pétanque & Sports Boules Association. In the student stage, children can access various sports. Children are more familiar with some sports such as basketball and baseball, but most of them do not know what petanque is. At Xisong Elementary School, we are unique, since we had petanque long time ago.

2. Have you played Petanque before?

Yes. I played petanque at Xisong Elementary School too. I stood beside the court few times when children were practicing, and Teacher Chong-hsi Wu had taught me how to throw the ball. You may not know this. When they practiced in front of English classroom at lunch break on a rainy day, I would practice with them to throw some balls. They all said that I was doing great, and made me very happy.

3. Do you have anything you want to speak to the Petanque Team?

   They indeed work very hard. Whether it is sunny or rainy, they practice hard. There are singles games, doubles games, and triples games for petanque. In the games, the players throw two balls or three balls in a round. I hope that all the big and little children can teach and learn from one another, and exert the spirit and sentiment of team work.

4. What is your impression on petanque?

I feel that it is an excellent sport for training the qualitative. Sometimes, I feel it is difficult to measure how I can use strength of 1 kg. When they throw a ball, they need to judge if the distance between ball and lane is sufficient. Also, different court could affect their judgment. For example, our court is more flat, so the ball they throw rolls more quickly. Also, there are different sizes of stones in some sandpit, so the resistance is different, and the strength may need to be adjusted. When they play in a different court, they need to analyze the court, observe how other players throw the ball, and how the ball rolls. Therefore, petanque requires high skills and techniques, and is a sport combining our mentality and learning.

Interview review

During the interview, the principle said that he hoped more students could join the Petanque Team, since it was a rare opportunity that our school had a petanque court. He hoped that we could practice more. When you feel you can hit the target, you may not be able to actually hit it. This is what we need to learn. Petanque is a very fun sport.