Original source: https://petanque-aktuell.de/historisch-deutsches-europameister-team-startet-bei-den-masters-de-petanque-2026/ The reigning German European champion quartet of Matthias Laukart, Tobias Müller, Daniel Reichert, and Moritz Rosik will compete this summer in the prestigious Masters de Pétanque. For the first time ever, a German team will take part in the world’s most important pétanque tournament series. The Key: European Championship Title 2025 in Santa Susanna In July 2025, the four players made history in Santa Susanna: in the final of the Men’s Triplette European Championship, they convincingly defeated perennial favorites France. Earlier, they had knocked reigning world champions Italy out of the tournament in the round of 16 with a 13–11 victory. A result that made the European pétanque world take notice — and evidently also impressed the organizers of the Masters. The Team Matthias Laukart (Horb) – Tireur. Born in 1991, the shooter has been one of Germany’s most consistent top players for years: European Championship bronze in 2024, World Championship bronze in 2023, and now European Championship gold in 2025. Tobias Müller (Horb) is an all-rounder who confidently masters every position and recently became German Triplette vice champion. Daniel Reichert (Horb) brings many years of national team experience and is regarded as the team’s versatile “joker.” Moritz Rosik (Düsseldorf) is the most experienced member: World Championship bronze in 2017 and 2023, crowned with gold in 2025.

I got an email today which has a lot of great stuff for me in advance of this weekends Department Triples in Normandy playoff. It’s from The Inner Game who I highly recommend you subscribe to and watch as it’s based on one of my favourite books The Inner Game of Tennis. Yes i said tennis and not pétanque but any sport can apply to this mental inner game. I have been preaching about this for 20+ years now. “You feel something similar before your next big presentation, your quarterly review, or that one conversation that could change everything. The stakes feel enormous because someone important is watching. Your mind races through consequences. You can feel yourself tensing up. That moment hits harder than all the hours, or even years of work, you put into preparing for it. The Principle Self 1 loves an audience. It imagines the crowd, the judgment, the story that will be told about you. It rehearses failure and triumph in equal measure, all while the actual task waits quietly in front of you. Self 2 knows the ball doesn’t care who’s watching. The serve, the slide, the next word out of your mouth: None of it changes just because a stadium or boardroom full of eyes is watching. The mechanics remain the same: Just breath, focus, and action. What changes is the narrative Self 1 spins about what this moment means. When you strip away the imagined audience, what remains is simply you and the task in front of you. One action, then the next. This Week’s Practice Before your next high-stakes moment, pause and ask: What would I do if no one were watching? Memorize that answer, because it’s going to be easy to forget in the heat of the moment. But that’s when you need that memory the most. Recite it to yourself, and notice how the task simplifies when you remove the audience from your mind. Return to the task at hand; just you and the one thing in front of you. Your Invitation When the spotlight finds you this week, let it be a reminder: you’ve done this work. Your body knows. Your mind knows. Trust yourself to perform.”

Preparing for tomorrow’s national triplets. I hope this is the right preparation 😂. Cheers friends!

Kinda funny when you film youself. I’ve tried to slow down my shots and improve my arc a bit lately.Try to pace myself to get the correct shot. And it feels better and feels like ive done a major change. But now when i watch the recording i cant see any difference 😂😂😂. So the change is probably more in the mind.

How do I know I have correct boule size? If I compare all manufacturers suggestions and some suppliers my ball perfect size vary from 72-75 mm. (Handlength and longfinger size guides) I have then considered OBUT is the biggest manufacturer so they have probably some experience, and then it should be 73 mm, but in the lower end handsize 82-86 mm -> 73 mm. (I saw a list where many good male player had size and weight listed , and most had 71-73 680-690) Due to my handshape I think I could gain with 72 but how do I know if that is correct size ? Is there any exercise practice to do to decide with size is the correct one or is it only based on feeling ? I started with OBUT Match 73/690 my first ball in my short career, works ok, but when do a high lob or plombing it releases to early, is it size or technique? Then I tested OBUT RCC 72/690 a used ball, but very slippery, ok when hi loob and slippery when plomb, but shooting miss left, size or technique? Now I got MS Master Inox 72/690 to test, it is a used boule so the surface have good grip. Any suggestions how to decide correct size quickly, so I can drop that mental thought and focus on playing better.