My first Xare Match

Urrunarrak is one of the clubs that plays in the Ligue de Pelote du Pays Basque  Championnat du Pays Basque 2017 - Xare - 1ère série. By itself, this is not particularly noteworthy. The league has 8 other teams that are vying for a championship. However, what does make Urrunarrak unique at the moment, is that the club produces videos of its home matches. I had never seen a Xare match before I discovered their Youtube site. My first Xare match was Urrunarak v Hardoytarrak, played on October 2, 2016. Details of the competition and the match can be found at the link above. Details about what Xare is and how it is played are available in English here. Or here, en Francais. The key to the game is the implement, the xare.

Because the meshwork of the racquet is so loose, putting the pelote in play is a combination of hitting and catching/throwing, somewhat, but not exactly analogous to the way the joko garbi cesta is used. And because the sport is played on a trinquet court, a short (28 meter) court with some of the ornamentations that are central to Main Nue, the pelote moves very quickly and unpredictably. The sport emphasizes quickness and finesse.

The pelote doesn't move as fast as in Jai Alai, but the game progresses tremendously fast. Even long points go very quickly. That was the first thing I noticed about the sport. 40 point matches rarely take an hour to play. The one I watched had 65 points and was played in less than 42 minutes by premier club teams. The longest point I saw took 43 seconds. It consumed 16 balls in play. I'm not exactly sure which point it was because of the difficulty keeping score. It was near the end of the match.

October 2, 2016

Urrugne Fronton (1) (2)

Hardoytarrak (Anglet) (Driolet-Sistiague) defeated Urrunarrak (Urrugne) (Urchueguia-Moncada) 40-25. Hardoytarrak is in green shirts. Urrunarrak is in red shirts.

Pelotelive.free.fr match page.

Full match video  Note that there is no scoreboard. The match scores are called out but you have to listen very closely. I never did get the linescore to a point where I could release it to you with confidence. Perhaps you will.

These two teams also played each other in the semi-finals of the 2014-15 Championnat de France on February 5, 2015. There is full match video for it as well (without sound). The video is from a different angle and a scoreboard is clearly visible, making it very useful in learning the sport. It can be found at pelotelive.free.fr here (Hardoytarrak is in white--match begins at 4 minutes 22 seconds on the video). Make sure to DESACTIVER PFF'S auto-refresh feature below the video or it will not play properly.

Back to the update.

Bote Luzea--Primer Titulo de Euskal Herria--How they got there: the entire the tournament (scores, match articles, match videos and photos) from beginning to end

In this tournament matches were played to 11 games or 70 minutes, whichever came first. Each game is won by the team scoring 4 points. In this tournament the 6 teams were split into "A" and "B" groups, with a round robin in each group. At the end of the round robin, the first place team played each second place team in the other group in semfinals. Those winners met in a final. Read this article from bottom to top to replay the tournament in chronological order.

Source for all match articles: EEPF. Source for all video: Bote Luzea Facebook page.

September 25, 2016

Final

Plaza de Leitza (1) (2): Lapurdi 1 (Bessonart, Valencia, Urkia, Fagoaga, Etcheberry, Otegi, and Tikoipe) defeated Gipuzkoa 2 (Jon Urbieta, Jauregi, Esnal, Ibai Urbieta, and  Andoni Urbieta) 6-3 (70 minutes). Note: Gipuzkoa 2's Inaki Esnal and Jon Urbieta played and won the Oriatsun V Txapelketa Pasaka final (covered in this blog) in August.

Match article

Selected match video 1

Selected  match video 2

Photos Part 1

Photos Part 2

Advertisement of Final

September 19, 2016

Semi-Final 2

Lapurdi 1 (Bessonart, Valencia, Urkia, Fagoaga, Etcheberry, Otegi y Tikoipe) defeated Lapurdi 2 5-3 (70 minutes).

Match article:

September 18, 2016:

Semi-final 1

Zubieta Plaza (1) (2): Gipuzkoa 2 (Jon Urbieta, Jauregi, Esnal, Ibai Urbieta and Andoni Urbieta) ,defeated Gipuzkoa 1 (Andoni Zabala, Ekaitz Lasa, Julen Chiapuso, Beñat Arzelus, Josu Leonet, Aritz Leonet and Joseba Azpiroz  7-4 (70 minutes)

Match article:

Selected match video 1

Selected match video 2

Photos

The winners of each of the below listed matches faced the loser of the other match in the semi-finals.

League phase Group B

September 11, 2016

Amasa Villabona (1) (2):  Lapurdi 1 (Bessonart, Valencia, Urkia, Fagoaga, Etcheberry, Otegi and Tikoipe) defeated Gipuzkoa 2 (Jon Urbieta, Jauregi, Esnal, Ibai Urbieta and Andoni Urbieta) 7-3 (70 minutes)

Match article

Selected match video

Photos

League phase Group A

September 10, 2016

Sara: Gipuzkoa 1 (Andoni Zabala, Ekaitz Lasa, Julen Chiapuso, Beñat Arzelus, Josu Leonet, Aritz Leonet and Joseba Azpiroz) defeated Lapurdi 2 8-3 (70 minutes)

Match article

Selected match video 1

Selected match video 2

Photos

For the league matches of Sep. 2-3 see EEPF Results pages. I think the matches listed here on September 1 actually happened on August 26 (source: tracking back the Bote Luzea  Facebook page and matching up the EEPF match articles).

Group A

Sep. 2, 2016:

Lapurdi 2 defeated Behe Nafarroa 10-6 (70 minutes)

Match article

Group B

September 3, 2016:

 Gipuzkoa 2 (Jon Urbieta, Jauregi, Esnal, Ibai Urbieta y Andoni Urbieta) defeated Lapurdi 3 10-3 (70 minutes)

Match article

August 26, 2016

Beheko Plaza, Oriatsun: (1) (2) Gipuzkoa 1  (Andoni Zabala, Ekaitz Lasa, Julen Chiapuso, Beñat Arzelus, Josu Leonet, Aritz Leonet and Joseba Azpiroz defeated Behe Nafarroa 9-1 (70 minutes)

Match article

Selected match video

Photos

Senpere : Lapurdi 1 defeated Lapurdi 3  9-4 (70 minutes)

Match article

Selected match video

Photos

========================

Announcement of tournament

Further news:

Rules of the tournament:

Back to the update

Remonte--XI Torneo Comunidad Foral de Navarra--from start to finish

This tournament meandered through two months and a good bit of Navarra, mostly in small towns and villages. If you look at the populations listed for the venues (with the exception of one match in Pamplona), you see that the final was held in the smallest venue of all, and most of the matches were played in towns of less than 3,000. To follow the tournament from beginning to end, scroll to the bottom of the page and read up. Enjoy the tour.

Sources for all match scores, articles, and tables: Euskal Jai Berri and Oriamendi2010 unless otherwise specifically stated. I used Oriemendi2010 because it maintained current tables for the A Tournament league phase.

September 25, 2016 at Zubiri (1) (2) (435)

A Tournament final

Endika-Ion defeated Uterga-Etxeberria III 35-25

The experiment with Endika in the front court worked from beginning to end as E-I were undefeated in the tournament with four wins. The match article praises Endika's performance. He is known as a shot maker in the back court and this was transferred to the front court for this tournament. He executed several types of shots that yielded points for his team. Ion played excellent Remonte in the back court. The result was a surprisingly easy victory over last year's champions.

Correction:  The match article noted Endika's great play in the front court in the Navarra Tournament. This indicated my ignorance about Endika's career. In researching the history of the Sagardoaren Txapelketa for the 2017 edition, I discovered that Endika had played in the inaugural final (2011) in the front court. Some research in the Oriamendi2010 database showed that records of Endika's matches (going as far back as April 29, 2010) had him in the front court from April of 2010 until October 3, 2013. So his being in the front court in the Navarra tournament was no "experiment." (Added March 3, 2017).

B Tournament final:

Goikoetxea V-Azpiroz defeated Eburu-Otano 35-32

Match articles for both matches (Euskal Jai Berri)

September 23, 2016 at Fronton Toki Alai, Huarte (Uharte) (6776)

A Tournament semi-final

Uterga-Etxeberria III defeated Ezkurra II-Barrenetxea IV 30-23

Selected linescore (winners always listed first)

19-8; 20-15; 24-18; 30-23

Match article (Euskal Jai Berri)

E-B started tentatively and the vastly experienced U-E took advantage for a big lead. E-B played hard during a 7-1 run that got them back in the game, but they never were able to overcome their poor start.

A Tournament league phase final

Endika-Ion....3-0
Uterga-Etxeberria III....2-1
Ezkurra II-Barrenetxea IV....1-2
Urriza-Aizpuru III....0-3

Note that Endika, a back courter, played this entire tournament in the front court.

In addition to the players listed, Ansa II, Segurola, Zubiri, and Garces played as substitutes.

September 20, 2016 at Villafranca (Alesbes) (1?) (2) (2805)

Ezkurra II-Barrenetxea IV defeated Urriza-Garces (substituting for Aizpuru III) 30-28

Match article and final A tournament league table:

With the victory, E-B earned a place in the semi-final against Uterga-Exteberria III

September 16, 2016 at Labrit Fronton, Pamplona (Iruna) (195,893)

A Tournament:

Endika-Ion defeated Urriza-Aizpuru III 30-26

Match article and A tournament league table

Match article (Noticias de Navarra)

The victory finished a perfect 3-0 league phase for Endika-Ion and gave them a place in the final.

August 16, 2016, at Aoiz (Agoitz) (1) (2) (2601)

B Tournament: 2nd semi-final

Eburu-Otano defeated Barricart-Martirena (substituting for Zaldua) 30-23

Match article (Euskal Jai Berri)

 Eburu-Otano v Goikoetxea V-Azpiroz in the final of the B Tournament

August 11, 2016, at Sumbilla (Sunbilla) (1) (2) (3) (648)

A Tournament:

Uterga-Etxeberria III defeated Urriza-Zubiri (substituting for Aizpuru II) 30-25

Match article and tournament league table

Due to injuries, Urriza played each match in this tournament with a different partner.

August 7, 2016, at Doneztebe (Santesteban) (1) (2) (1658)

 A Tournament:

Uterga-Etxeberria III defeated Ansa II (substituting for Ezkurra II)-Barrenetxea IV 30-29

Match article and tournament league table

August 5, 2016, at Lekumberri (Lekunberri) (1) (2) (1386)

A Tournament:

Segurola (substituting for Endika)-Ion defeated Uterga-Etxeberria III 30-27

B Tournament: 1st semi-final

Goikoetxea V-Azpiroz defeated Rodriguez (substituting for Benat)-Labaka (substituting for Martirena) 30-10

Match articles for both matches and A tournament league table

B Tournament:

Goikoetxea V-Asproz
Eburu-Otano
Barricart-Zaldua
Benat-Martirena

In addition to the players listed, Rodriguez and Labaka played as substitutes.

July 23, 2016, at Irurzun (Irurtzun) (1) (2) (2194)

Endika-Ion defeated Ansa II (substituting for Ezkurra II)-Barrenetxea IV 30-17

Match article and A Tournament league table

A Tournament league phase

Endika-Ion
Uterga-Etxeberria III
Ezkurra II-Barrenetxea IV
Urriza-Aizpuru III


Back to the update

Remonte--Uterga's masterpiece in the game after.

June 10, 2016

Uterga-Ion defeated Ezkurra-Etxeberria III 40-18.

Full Match Video (match begins at 1 hour, 20 minutes, 15 seconds on the video).

Full match video (EITB via Oriamendi 2010)

Full Match Video (EITB)

On Thursdays and Saturdays there are four Remonte matches at the Galaretta Fronton in Hernani. The second match is the "Star match," when the highest quality players on the Oriamendi 2010 roster face off against each other. The third match is also a high quality match. Whenever the "Star Match" is a tournament final, all three other matches that day become afterthoughts. This day was no different, which was unfortunate, because Uterga played a masterpiece.

Uterga has now won two in a row.  The first was last week's star match where he and Exteberria III came back from 32-38 to win 40-38, and now this great match. Before that, going back to July 1, for matches we have results for from the Oriamendi 2010 Match database, he was 2-8, including losses in the Kutxa Bank Tournament to Barrenetxea IV and Urriza, as well as two losses in the San Fermin tournament, one to Urriza. When Ezkurra returned from injury, his first match was a victory v Uterga. The last two months have been difficult ones. In the grind of a fixture list as demanding as the Remonte fixture list is, players are bound to have ups and downs. Sometimes a mechanical flaw creeps into one's game. Sometimes a nagging injury can be the cause. Any number of things can cause a slump. For a player of Uterga's caliber, this was a long slump. But the last two victories have been great ones, the first one with back firmly bolted to the wall, the second an absolute clinic in shot making that reminded us all of what an artist with the cesta he is.

He and Ion crushed Ezkurra-Exteberria III. Uterga really hit his stride in the second half of the match, turning a still competitive 20-13 lead into a 40-18 route. In the ten points when U-I really put the match out of reach (26-14--35-15), he scored 8 of the points. He scored on 4 two-wall shots, 2 dejadas, a high and deep passing shot on one of the longest points of the match (20 balls in play) and a left wall shot. These 10 points take place from 1:55:33 to 2:03:53 of the video. It is an absolute master class in Remonte offense, well worth the 8 minutes.

Oh and by the way, you might also want to check out the point that began at 36-17 and ended at 37-17 (2:06:32--2:06:41). Uterga wins that point with a two wall shot from the 7 line, with his shoulder almost against the left wall. For the match he had, by my count, 14 two wall winners. It's a beautiful thing to see Uterga at his best.

Back to the update.

Jai Alai/Cesta Punta--Analysis of Aritz' great week

Complete weekly statistics of wins and losses (wins defined as 1st (win), 2nd (place), or 3rd (show) in quinella score matches, losses defined as every game not "in the money") are accounted for, by week and cumulatively, under the "Jai Alai, Miami weekly leaders" page on the right side of main updates blog.

If you look at the Miami Player Pages for each Monday, you will see a precise accounting of how each player did for the week. A week's performances (the entire schedule of games in one day is called a performance in Quinella based pari-mutual Jai Alai) are quickly summarized by subtracting the figures for the beginning of the previous week from the figures from the beginning of the present week. You can do that yourself or you can check Tiger's Jai Alai Chalk Talk Discussion Forum, which has been active since 2003 and discusses all things Jai Alai (mostly in English). The discussion forum is supported by the Jai Alai Heaven website, which contains a very large and well organized collection of Jai Alai related information. The most important part of JAH from an information standpoint, is the One Stop Info page, which links to all the statistics you'll ever need regarding professional Quinella Jai Alai in the U.S. Tiger takes that info and distills it into a set of weekly data that is tremendously useful for whatever purpose you choose. That is the weekly data that he has so kindly given me permission to copy into my Miami (and soon also into another page for Dania) recurring results page.

One Stop Info, from a librarian's point of view, is about as perfectly organized a web page as you will find anywhere on any topic. In a very small amount of space, Tiger has linked to a very large array of statistics. It is completely intuitive, and for those who wish to follow this type of Jai Alai on a day to day basis, this is the essential bookmark.

I am going to spend a little time trying to explain Quinella Jai Alai in order to help you understand the magnitude of the week that Aritz Erkiaga had between August 31 to September 5, 2016. For those of you who are very familiar with the game, simply scroll down from here to where Aritz' day to day data is (Aritz Erkiaga, like all other players...).

Quinella Jai Alai is a very different discipline from the partido Jai Alai we have been following. It is set up like a horse race, because its main context and purpose is pari-mutual wagering. Each game consists of 8 (singles) or 16 (doubles) players, in other words, eight teams. Team 1 plays one point against Team 2. The winner keeps playing. The loser goes back to the bench and waits for its turn in the rotation to come up again. Games are played to 7 or 9 points. In the first round, each point is worth 1 point. In every subsequent round each point is worth 2 points. This means that a 7 point match can be won with anywhere from 4 to 7 actual points, a  9 point match with anywhere from 5 to 8. There are various types of wagers, the most popular being the trifecta (pick winner, place and show).

In this form of the sport mistakes are harshly punished. A mistake causes your team to be thrown out of the game for, I believe, the next 6 actual points. Games cannot be won from the bench. What this means to the players is that there is no time to get into a rhythm.

At Miami there are 12 games in each performance. Games 1-6 are usually played by the "B" players, games 7-12 usually by the "A" players. Games 1-6 consist of two singles matches, one 9 point match and three 7 point matches. Games 7-12 are a little different in that there are two 9 point matches instead of one. The key word about this set up is "usually." For various reasons, early game players play in late games, and vice versa. The two key variables, variables which change from game to game are "post position" (1-8) and partnerships in the doubles matches. In general, high number post positions such as 6-8 are more difficult to win from.  First because a later post position takes longer to get in the game. Second because the number of opportunities to get back into the game after losing a point diminishes as the game progresses.

The uniforms of players are color coded and have two numbers, post position on the front and personal on the back. For anyone who has never watched Quinella Jai Alai, it can be quite confusing at first. The reason for all the confusion is to make the wagering interesting and entertaining. This also makes it more difficult for players to win matches. There is no consistency of anything from match to match.

Quinella Jai Alai at Miami is very demanding. It is played 6 days a week (Tuesday's are off days). Each game is completely different. It is one of the most mentally taxing sports imaginable. Grinding out game after game, day after day, in post position after post position, with partner after partner is extremely difficult. And of course this doesn't begin to deal with the physical demands of the sport.

Aritz Erkiaga, like all other players, usually has a base workload of 5 games a performance. He plays, for the most part, in the late games. For various reasons, his workload for the 6 days we will look at was 39 games, the second highest workload for the week of anyone on the 36 player Miami roster.

Of those 39 games, Aritz (his playing name) won 16. Four players tied for second for the week with 7 wins. Aritz more than doubled the wins of his nearest competitor for the week. If you look at the figures for the week ending August 29 (a "short week" because the Fronton was closed  for two days by the threat of dangerous weather) and August 22, which is when I began the Miami page), or if you look at earlier weekly figures that are available at the discussion forum listed above, you will see what a normal spread between the leading winner and the second place winner usually is. Only then can Aritz' week be truly appreciated.

Another way to appreciate this achievement is to look at it a little more closely. I compiled each game Aritz played, day by day. This was more difficult than it might seem, because there were days when he substituted for another player. Tiger provides a list of these substitutions, making such a compilation possible. The substitution list is not guaranteed to be completely accurate, as Tiger explains, but it is the only list we have. Miami Jai Alai, inexplicably, does not provide an official list.  So with the knowledge that this might not be the exact, true picture, lets take a look at Aritz' week.

Key:

Game Number (G1,2,...); Post Number (P1, P2...); Finish (F1 (win),2 (place),3(show) or X--out of the money); type of game (7D=7 point doubles, 9D=9 point doubles, 7S=7 point singles); Partner. Aritz plays the front court.


*=Substitute

Wednesday, August 31:

G2,,,,P7....FX....7D....Santiso
G3....P2....F3.....7D....Cisneros
G4....P1....F1.....9D....Alejandro
G7....P3....F1.....7D....Arriza
G8....P7....F2.....9D....Ricky
G10..P6....F3.....9D....Ladutxe
G11..P5....FX....7D....Aldazabal
G12..P2....F2.....7S

8 games, P1, P2(2), P3, P5, P6, P7(2)
2 wins, 2 place, 2 show, 2 out of the money
Won from P1 and P3
Won with Alexandro and Arriza

Thursday, September 1, 2016

G7....P6....F1....D7....Ladutxe
G8....P5....FX...D9....Cisneros
G10..P1....F1....D9....Irastorza
G11..P2....F1....D7....Ricky
G12..P6....FX...S7

5 games, P1, P2, P5, P6(2)
3 wins, 2 out of the money
Won from P1, P2, P6
Won with Ladutxe, Irastorza, and Ricky

Friday, September 2, 2016

G4*...P8....F1....D9....Sierra II
G6*...P3....FX...D7....Spinner
G7.....P8....FX...D7....Manuel
G8.....P8....F3....D9....Ricky
G10...P3....F1....D9....Ladutxe
G11...P1....F1....D7....Duke
G12...P6....F1....S7

7 Games, P1, P3(2), P6, P8(3)
4 wins, 1 show, 2 out of the money
Won from P1, P3, P6, P8
Won with Sierra II, Ladutxe, Duke

Saturday, September 3, 2016

G7....P8....FX....D7....Ricky
G8....P7....F3.....D9....Duke
G10..P8....FX....D9....Manuel
G11..P1....F1.....D7....Cisneros
G12..P3....F1.....S7

5 games, P1, P3, P7, P8(2)
2 wins, 1 show, 2 out of the money
Won P1, P3
Won with Cisneros

Sunday, September 4, 2016

G7....P1....F1....D7....Manuel
G8....P1....F2....D9....Cisneros
G10..P8....FX...D9....Duke
G11..P4....F2....D7....Irastorza
G12..P2....F1....S7

5 games, P1(2), P2, P4, P8
2 wins, 2 place, 1 out of the money
Won from P1, P2
Won with Manuel

September 5, 2016

G2....P4....FX....D7....Aizpitarte
G3....P6....FX....D7....Ladutxe
G4....P8....F2.....D9....Arriza
G5....P1....F1.....S7
G6....P1....FX....D7.....Irastorza
G7*..P6....FX....D7.....Guisasola
G8*..P7....F3.....D9.....Garro
G10..P2....F1.....D9.....Guisasola
G11..P7....F1.....D7.....Duke

9 games, P1(2), P2, P4, P6(2), P7(2), P8
3 wins, 1 place, 1 show, 4 out of the money
Won from P1, P2,  P7
Won with Gusasola, Duke

39 games, 16 wins .(410 winning percentage), 5, place, 5 show,  26 in the money (.667 in the money percentage).

Won 4 singles out of  6
Place 1 singles out of 6
Out of the money 1 singles out of 6

Won 12 doubles out of 33
Placed 4 doubles out of 33
Show 5 doubles out of 33
Out of the money 12 doubles out of 33

Won from Post 1: 6 of 8
Won from Post 2: 3 of 5
Won from Post 3: 3 of 4
Won from Post 4: 0 of 2
Won from Post 5: 0 of 2
Won from Post 6: 2 of 6
Won from Post 7: 1 of 5
Won from Post 8: 1 of 7

Won with Alexandro, Arriza, Cisneros,  Duke (2), Guisasola, Irastorza,  Ladutxe (2), Manuel, Ricky, Sierra II

Aritz took care of business when he had good opportunities. Out of the 1-3 post positions (17 opportunities), where a high percentage (.394 through Sep. 5) of matches are won, he won 75 percent. From the 6-8 positions (18 opportunities) where a much lower percentage (.262) of matches are won, his percentage was .222. He also made the most of his opportunities when he didn't have to worry about who his partner was. He wasn't particularly effective in early games (3 wins, 4 in the money out of 10). He won with 10 different partners. Finally, in the very latest games (10-12), games where it sometimes takes a great deal of energy just to keep going (see especially Sep. 5), but also the marquee games of the day, he won 10 times in 17 tries, a .588 winning percentage. In these games he was in the money 13 times, a .765 winning percentage. He must have been very tired at the end of the Sep. 5 performance. It was quite a week.

Back to the Update

Pasaka--How these two teams got to this match

Oiartsun V. Txapelketa

August 3, 2016

Final

Urbieta-Esnal defeated Nazabal-Zabala 13-1

Full match video (Source: EITB) (Match begins at 12 minutes 7 seconds on the recording).

This is the match we see. But before this match there was a tournament that stretched back to June 26. It was sponsored by the Gipuzkoako Euskal Pilota Fedrazio. I was unable to find any scores except the final at the website, but I was able to find them easily using the GEPF mobile application. If you have the app follow

Competitions-->Federado--->Gipuzkoa-Kontzejpea--->Pasaka Mano Parejas.

Here is the tournament from beginning to end. Enjoy the replay.

The tournament was contested in two league phases, followed by semi-finals and a final

Phase competition took place June 26, July 3, and July 17, 2016 Phase matches were played to 11 (must win by two). Semi-finals and finals were played to 13 (must win by two).

Group A

Journada 1

Nazabal-Zabala defeated Arzelius-Chaipuso 11-6

Enaut Esnaola-Alvarez defeated Mujika Andaro 11-4

Journada 2

Arzelius Chiapuso defeated Enaut Esnaola-Alvarez 11-4

Nazabal-Zabala defeated Mujika Andaro 11-4

Journada 3

Arzelius-Chaipuso defeated Mujika-Andaro 11-4

Enaut Esnaola-Alvarez defeated Nazabal-Zabala 11-3

Group B

Journada 1

Urbieta-Esnal defeated Flores-Jon Ander Esnaola 11-3

Saralegi-Sarasti (gonb.) defeated Lasa-Argote 12-10

Journada 2

Saralegi-Sarasti (gonb.) defeated Flores-Jon Ander Esnaola 11-6

Urbieta-Esnal defeated Lasa-Argote 11-3

Journada 3

Flores-Jon Ander Esnaola defeated Lasa-Argote 11-4

Urbieta-Esnal defeated Saralegi-Sarasti (gonb.) 11-5

Phase table

Group A

Nazabal-Zabala 5 points (2-1)
Arzelus-Chiapuso 5 points (2-1)
Enaut Esnaola-Alvarez 5 points (2-1)
Mujika-Andaro 3 points (0-3)

Group B

Urbieta-Esnal 6 points (3-0)
Saralegi-Sarasti (gonb.) 5 points (2-1)
Flores-John Ander Esnaola 4 points (1-2)
Lasa-Argota 3 points (0-3)

July 24, 2016:

Semi-Finals

Nazabal-Zabala defeated Flores-Jon Ander Esnaola 13-7

Urbieta-Esnal defeated Arzelus-Chiapuso 14-12

August 3, 2016:

Final

Urbieta-Esnal defeated Nazabal-Zabala 13-1

Final records

Urbieta-Esnal 5-0 (11-3; 11-3; 11-5; 14-12; 13-1) (60-24)
Nazabal-Zabala 3-2 (11-6; 11-4; 3-11; 13-7; 1-13) (39-41)
Arzelus-Chiapuso 2-2 (6-11; 11;4; 11-4; 12-14) (40-33)
Flores-Jon Ander Esnaola 1-3 (3-11; 6-11; 11-4; 7-13) (27-39)
Enaut Esnaola-Alvarez 2-1 (11-4; 4-11; 11-3) (26-18)
Saralegi-Sarasti (gonb.) 2-1 (12-10; 11-6; 5-11) (28-27)
Lasa-Argota 0-3 (10-12; 3-11; 4-11) (17-34)
Mujika-Andaro 0-3 (4-11; 4-11; 4-11) (12-33)

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Jai Alai/Cesta Punta--Remonte--Pala-- Long court to short court trends in Jai Alai/Cesta Punta, Remonte, and Pala

It was very interesting to see Jai Alai/Cesta Punta played on a short court. The Bizkaia Fronton is a big short court at 38 meters, but it is still a short court. The powers that be on the Basque Country Jai Alai scene wish to take the game to more fans. And it is a simple matter of arithmetic. There are many more short courts than long ones. The players are good enough to adapt their game to the different conditions.

The trend is the same for two other implement modalities, Pala and Remonte. Pala has been going toward more short court matches for some time. A couple of InnPala's up and coming stars, Dan Necol and Sylvain Brefel are from the North Basque and learned their games on short courts. Remonte also plays several summer tournaments on short courts, again in an effort to spread the game. 

Before there were indoor courts there were outdoor courts (Fronton Place Libres). These have only one wall. They are much bigger than long courts, between 80 and 100 meters long. The long courts are around 54 meters long and the short courts around 36.

 I thought it might be interesting to show the evolution from long to short courts with video examples for these three sports. Each of them has a "cathedral" long court (Mungia for Pala, Hernani for Remonte, and Gernika for Jai Alai).There are matches from all three below. Things to look for in these examples are the differences in speed, implements (espcially for Pala, where the Grosse/Larga bat can weigh up to 950 grams, far heavier than the corta/motza bats used on short courts), and the subtle changes in strategies that the sizes of the courts encourage. The outdoor games seem to be the most conservative, the players are not really looking for kill shots. These games emphasize power to send deep shots over and over trying to induce mistakes. As the courts get smaller the ability to kill points quickly becomes more a part of the strategy.

Note: with the exception of the Grand Chistera video (a video of the first 23 minutes, 14 seconds of the match) all of the below linked videos are full match videos.

Jai Alai/Cesta Punta

Outdoors (Grand Chistera)

May 15, 2015: Section Paloise Pelote Fronton (Pau)

Chapionnat de France 2015 poule match

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

Match video (Source: Toute sur la Pelote Basque Youtube site)

Long Court

August 5, 2016: Fronton Gernika Jai Alai (1) (2)

Gernika II Jai Alai World Tour Final

3rd place:

Barandika-Amigorena defeated Erik-Lekerika 2-1

Final:

Hormaetxea-Aldazabal defeated Beaskoetxea-Txasio 2-1

Match Video (Source: EITB)

Short Court

August 28, 2016: Bizkaia Fronton (Bilbo (Bilbao)).

Jai Alai World Tour CPO Individual MPB Semi-Final

Olharan defeated Hormaextea 2-1

Match video (Source: EITB)

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Pala:

Outdoors (Grosse Pala)

August 9, 2016: Soustons Fronton Municipal (1) (2)

2016 Championnat de France National A Final

Soustons (Jérome Bats-Fabien Brocas) defeated Esquiule (Michel Bassignana- Hervé Belestin) 40-20

Match video (Source: PilotariP Youtube site)

Pala Larga Indoor

April 16, 2016: Mundo Parejas Final: Udala (City) Fronton (Mungia)

Final:

Fusto-Brefel defeated Gaubeka-Imanol 3-2

3rd place:

Necol--Ibai Perez defeated Landeta-Ibargari 3-2

Match video (Source: EITB)

Short Court (Pala Corta/Pala Motza) 

August 17, 2016: Atano III Fronton, Donastia (San Sebastian) 

Kirol Txartela Masters Tournament 

3rd place:

Landeta--Ibai-Perez defeated Arozena-Irrigoyen 3-1

Final:

Navarro-Brefel defeated Zubiri-Ayerbe 3-2

Match video (Source: EITB)

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Remonte: I have never seen an outdoor Remonte match

Long Court

December 12, 2015: Galarrata Fronton  (Hernani)

Tourneo Parejas ORONA (Binakako Txapelketa) Semifinal 

Ezkurra-Endika  defeated Urriza-Agirrezabala 40-35

Match video (Source: EITB)

Short Court

June 11, 2016: Beloki Fronton (1) (2)  (Zumarraga)

Gipuzkoako Foru Aldundiaren 2016ko Saria-VII Erremonte Kopa.

Final

Uterga-Aizpuru III defeated Urriza-Zaldua 35-25

Match video This match follows a mano match: it begins at 1:06:32 on the recording (Source: EITB)

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