This is a current awareness blog that links to the latest sources of information on Basque Pelota matches and Tournaments. It covers all of both North and South Basque modalities: Pro and amateur. It links to match stories, statistics and video highlights and/or full match videos. NEW!!! JAI ALAI LEAGUE (EREMAN!) SEASON INTRO AND JAI ALAI WOMEN'S WINTER TOUR 2024 (2/22/24)!!!

Tuesday, July 19, 2016

Remonte--Summer Comings and Goings

As with the other modalities, Summer for Remonte means tournaments. Print coverage for most of Remonte emanates from the Oriamendi2010 web site and its ancillary Facebook, Twitter, and Youtube sites. Links to all things Oriamendi2010 (especially player and rankings pages) are available in the sources page on the right side of the blog. The Oriamendi2010 website is completely bilingual (Euskaren/Castillano). We point to the Castillano site but will apply labels for both languages.

In addition to tournaments, Oriamendi2010, the entity that manages the sport in the South Basque, provides the staple of the sport, four matches every Thursday and Saturday. One of these matches is the marquee or "Star" match. It is covered with a detailed match report. Selected matches are also broadcast on the EITB TV network and then made available for viewing on demand. We will begin coverage of the Star matches July 16, 2016 except for a unique Star match that was held on June 25, 2016 and was broadcast on EITB. Since the "Star" matches are a recurrring feature, they will be kept at the "Remonte--"Star Match" page on the right side of the blog. Tournament coverage will begin with the two tournament finals that were broadcast on EITB in June and July respectively.

Grand Chistera--Minor Modality--Update

The purpose of this update is more to introduce a modality than to update a competition. In this case we have an opportunity to link to video of Grand Chistera. Grand Chistera, for those who don't know, is Jai Alai (or Cesta Punta) played on a fronton place libre (explained on the modalities page on the right side of the blog). These courts are usually about 80 meters long, far larger than any of the indoor courts you will see in these updates. So large that a crash helmet sport is played without headgear. It is amazing to watch and we happen to have access to some very nice video.

From Championnat de France 2016 National B Grand Chistera Competition:

A round of 16 match played on July 10, 2016

White (Eyheagary-Pierrou-J. Portet) defeated Blue (Guignard-Hernandez-Medina) 40-13. Source for score and competition information: Federation Francaise de Pelote Basque.

Match site

For the competition site, simply hit the "retour" key at the match site. This will give you an idea of the size and context of the competition.

Selected match video (Source: Olivier Simon via Tout sur la Pelote Basque Youtube site). 7 minutes 39 seconds. This video is taken from behind the players.

We also have access to another Grand Chistera match video, taken from last year's Championnat de France Pro-Am 2015 competition.

A poul match.

White (J.Olharan-L.Alliez-S.Itoiz) defeated Green (C.Pierrou-A.Alliez-J.Portet)  40-34.

Selected match video (Source: Tout sur la Pelote Basque Youtube site.) 23 minutes, 14 seconds. This video is taken from in front of the players.

There are three interesting things to look for. One is the comparison between back and front views. The second is that these matches are contested among teams of three. The third, which you will easily see, is the difference in talent between National Class B and Professional players.

Note also that Jerome Portet played in both matches. He was also involved in CdF Championnat de France Junior and Senior Level Cesta Punta championships in March of 2016. He is the back man in white in the B match and the back man in Green in the Pro/Am match.

Arnaud Alliez and Jean Olharan are professional players that we will spend quite some time with later in this blog.



Paleta--Paleta Cuir--Paleta Tour 2016

Paleta Tour 2016, a  "haute niveau" level men's tournament sponsored by Section Paloise Pelote Basque was a 12 team, four "poule" round robin doubles competition followed by quarter finals, semi-finals, and a final that ran from May 13-July 2, 2016. Paleta Cuir is explained in the modalities page on the right side of the blog. This tournament was played on a 36 meter mur a gauche court. Cuir, for those who do not know, means leather, a very hard leather ball. And that means crash helmets and an entirely different sound when ball hits paleta or wall. Note the difference in striking area between the short bat here and the paleta used for the rubber ball. The game moves at an incredible pace, as you'll see. Source for all information, pelotelive.free.fr. Video source: Olivier Simon via Tout sur la Pelote Basque Youtube site. The videos (full, condensed and selected parts of matches) are all linked from their match pages at pelotelive.free.fr. Make sure to "disactiver" the auto-refresh before watching.

Final:

Dardenne-Chatellier defeated Clain-Lagarde 3-1 (8-10, 10-8, 10-3, 10-4)

Competition site

Final Match video

In addition to the final match video, there are match videos for seven other matches. 8 of 19 matches are covered. Look for the video icon as you scroll through the competition site. For beginners, there is no better introduction to this modality. For experienced fans, it is, quite simply, a feast.