What's the plate? Why would someone be given a plate at a croquet tournament? Those were the first

questions I asked at my first croquet tournament. Sounded strange to me.

 

Most week long tournaments will have the plate. It's usually for just the championship flight. It's for all of those who do not make the play-offs, or those who fall out of the play-offs usually before the semi-finals. The rules for the plate are always different, depending on who the tournament director is. Sometimes the TD will just delegate the task of running the plate to someone else. And that person may decide to torture the participants but playing out his/her own cruel social croquet experiment by using an interesting format. I'm guessing the concept behind the plate is that for a major tournament with a number of players, you want to give them more games to play. Especially for those who come from out-of-town and are stuck here. They have nothing else to do and they want their money's worth.

 

Not all people decide to play in the plate. Local players may decide to skip it; they can just go home. Older players or those who are tuckered out from other tournaments may decide to skip it. Croquet freaks will always play in the plate because they will never miss an opportunity to play croquet. Croquet fanatics skip the plate because they want to watch the stars playing in the playoffs. There are many factors that go into whether to play in the plate or not. And sometimes, you even get an award for winning the plate. That honor may be a bit like kissing your sister, but I'm just guessing here because I've never played in the plate.

 

So ... did I play in the plate? What's your guess? Really? Well, your wrong! I know what you all guessed, and you all guessed wrong, at least those who know me. I decided to skip the plate. And that decision was actually contrary to the advice given to me by my AC croquet consulieri Rhys Thomas, who suggested that I need to play more games to get experience and sharpen my skills. I exercised my executive veto power. I think it's the only advice from Rhys I have not followed. But I had two reasons. Number one, I'm a bit tired from a few days of getting up at the crack of dawn to help set up the courts, and then playing all day. Number two, I really wanted to watch the stars play. You can read about croquet tactics and skills from books, but it just isn't the same unless you see it with your own eyes, and have an opportunity to ask that player later, "why did you do that?" Number three, I need to re-tool my game. Playing against the big boys without the ability to peel is like showing up to a gun fight with a cap gun. Next time I do this tournament, I hope to have something more potent than a cap gun (like maybe a squirt gun?). 

 

But, just to make you feel better about your incorrect guess, I do have to admit that I did sneak away toward the end and practice my jump shots on the sandy soft Mission Hills courts. Hey, the Bob Riddell Golf Croquet tournament is coming up, and I have to get my jump shot ready. I still have some old scores to settle out here in the desert in golf croquet. You didn't think I would actually not play any croquet today, did you?

 

I'll end this by just a few final thoughts about AC croquet:

 

1. In my opinion, AC is the gold standard of croquet. It's played by the best players, and at the top level it is played brilliantly. To me, it's an art form, and those who do it at the top level are truly artists. Some breaks just pop out of nothing, depending on where the balls are. The court is your blank canvass. What you make of your break is like what an artist decides to do with his/her canvass. Sometimes it works out, sometimes it doesn't.

 

2. A beginner in AC is someone who vaguely knows what a baulk line is. An intermediate is someone who can run a three-ball break and has a notion of a few of the general openings. A really competent player can peg out when the opportunity arises. An expert can regularly perform triple peels in tournament competition.

 

3. For some unknown reason, there are not many female players in AC, and none who played in the Championship flight this year. It's a mystery to me, because in Britain and Australia and New Zealand, there are some really top flight female players who could pound me flat, fold me up into an envelope and mail me back home. I think it's a bad thing for the sport that half the population does not participate or does not populate the upper flights as they should. I'm also a bit sad that I'm usually one of the younger persons out here. Ben Rothman is 28 and newly emerging star Stephen Morgan is 19 or 20. That's good. But for the sport to really gain traction, we need more of these young whipper-snappers out here beating up all of us old guys.

 

That's it. Your inbox is now safe from my e-mails, until the next National Championship. Until then, cheers.

--Eric Sawyer | Pasadena Croquet Club | www.pasadenacroquetclub.org