Opening Game (January 2010)

Okay, it's time to get back to work. More importantly, it's time to get the kids back in school, so I can work. I've just had two weeks at home with the eight- and four-year-old. A little sledding here, fort-building there and a trip to central Kansas, and all of the sudden the break is gone. No problem, the January issue of the digital magazine should come out this week, but I have to admit that is tight. Don't be surprised if it slips into next week.

I do want to remind everyone that this site welcomes feedback from all in the community. Comments are available on every article and the forum is wide open. I see a lot of discussion from the British players on the Nottingham e-mail list centered around association croquet. I would definitely encourage anyone that wants to talk to utilize the forum to get things started. The more active the discussion, the better.

Otherwise, here's to a fantastic 2010 and thanks for stopping by!

Regards,
Dylan Goodwin
Croquet Network Publisher

Opening Game (December 2009)

The video above is the last segment of the game five final between Iman El Faransawi and Alix Verge for the Women's Golf Croquet World Championship. If you haven't already, make sure you view the video before you go any further. Otherwise, I'll probably spoil what is a great viewing moment for any fan of croquet.

I suppose most of the croquet world already knew that Alix Verge had won the event, but the video taken by Chris Clarke truly caught me off guard. I think a lot of us would have been expecting a clearing of yellow there at the end. The double jump for the win takes your breath away.

Overall, I think the video series and following that championship event through the message boards provided a nice kickoff for the month of December, which by the way is still patiently awaiting the arrival of the December issue of Croquet Network magazine. Yes, things are still moving along, but it is an ambitious leap forward for this particular issue and the nature of this collaborative work means that we've seen a few delays. Let me just say that the release is near and hopefully it will be worth the wait.

On the website side of things, there was more planned for November than could really be posted. So, you may have noticed a few of the standard monthly posts didn't make it. I'm feeling a little more caught up on the web side, so we should get that back on track this month. Now, if we can just get this magazine lined out, everyone wil be happy. In the meantime, enjoy the site and have a great December!

Dylan Goodwin

Opening Game (November 2009)

I'll have to say November kicked off with a great start as the Kactus Kreek Club here in Kansas City was able to sneak in a day's worth of play on November 1. That definitely set a precedent as my latest day in the year to play the game. I'm considering it a reward for getting that second issue of the online magazine out. It was a beautiful day and a full crowd on the court as everyone was anxious to get in a little more play.

Speaking of the magazine, thank you to all of the subscribers that have done a great job of passing it on. Through the stats, I can see that the e-mail and magazine has been viewed by more than five times the amount of subscribers on the list. Great work -- this is how it grows. For anyone that is stopping by today, you can sign up for the magazine notification e-newsletter here.

For November on the website, you can look forward to additional content that was used to build the November issue. I'll be presenting some info from the interviews and I have plenty of photos and I believe more video. I'll also be reviewing a new croquet game for the Wii that is part of the Game Party 3 compilation. Definitely wait for my review this month before you make the purchase.

I would also like to take this opportunity to thank all of the people that helped make the November issue possible. For the interviews, thank you to George Cochran, Ben Rothman (croquetpro.blogspot.com), Billy Bob Breeden, Matt Smith and Nick Zink. For the Rothman photo, thank you to Tim Rapuano with the New York Croquet Club. Also, I'd like to mention Matt Griffith and his Kactus Creek Croquet Club as that is where I took the photos for the contents page in both issues.

In addition, Matt Griffith, Matt Smith and Billy Bob Breeden have all been fantastic in teaching me the game over the summer. Sundays are generally always open for practice games at Kactus Creek and those guys are always willing to take some time explain the great tactical dilemmas that pop-up and strategy in general. Personally, I have a long way to go, but I feel like I've been on an accelerated plan thanks to those guys.

Anyway, stay tuned to the website and look for the December issue of the magazine by the end of the month.

Opening Game (October 2009)

Here in the Kansas City area, croquet is starting to wind down a bit as the weather cools down for fall. Behind the scenes though, we've been working feverishly on the November issue of the Croquet Network Online Magazine which will focus on the Nine-Wicket championships and kick off two new departments. The new issue will be out during the second half of the month and is already weighing in at 16 pages (first issue was 11).

In addition, the prep work for future issues is already underway, because even though croquet play here in the midwest may be ending, we all know that the next few months will be busy for the game with Selection 8's later this month and the USCA Championship and Women's Golf Championship in November. December has the USCA Golf Croquet Championship and the Solomon Trophy on deck.

Covering the Nine-Wicket Tourney in KC was a good way to get started, but the next challenge will be providing coverage for the very busy tournament schedule across the country and beyond. As I've been making contacts and requests across the croquet community, I'm already impressed at how willing players are to help out and how supportive they have been of the online magazine concept. That's great news as I'll be counting on the community for access, results and photos as we build this thing up.

Along those lines, I would like to remind everyone to feel free to utilize the forum/message board to talk croquet, pose questions, post tourney results or announce upcoming events. The link is located on the top menu and you can also check it out here:

Croquet Network Forum

Also, if you have not yet subscribed to the online magazine, you can do that by entering your name and e-mail address in the form to the upper right of the website. The magazine is still in the "Free Trial" phase right now, so you've got nothing to lose by signing up and checking out the premiere issue. Again, the November issue will be released in the second half of this month.

Enjoy the coverage and hopefully those in the midwest and north can get a few more games in before the really cold weather hits.

First Shot: Nine-Wicket Nationals On Deck

Well, the year has certainly flown by as all of the sudden we are on the cusp of the USCA Nine-Wicket National Championship. The event will be hosted in Kansas City (Shawnee Mission to be specific) and I'm locked and loaded and looking forward to participating in and witnessing this event. I could hardly pass on it since I live right here in the metro.

The tournament spans October 3-5 with nine-wicket singles and doubles events in addition to a singles "cutthroat" event for mid-level players. The host organization is the Missouri Croquet Association.

Details for the event are as follows:

FRIDAY (one event only) 

Championship Singles (1 vs. 1, each person plays two balls)  

*Open to all skill levels, but be prepared to play against high level players

*Standard USCA Nine Wicket Rules with options 1, 1A, 2, 3, 7, 9 & 10

SATURDAY & SUNDAY (two events)

Championship Doubles (2 vs. 2, each person plays one ball) 

*Open to all skill levels, but be prepared to play against high level teams

*Standard USCA Nine Wicket Rules with options 1, 1A, 2, 3, 7, 9 & 10 

or

Cutthroat Singles (6 players per game, each plays one ball)

*Recommended for those with USCA handicap 9 & higher or no handicap

*USCA Nine Wicket Rules w/ options 2 & 3, with no carry-over deadness

To enter, call the USCA and provide entry and credit card information, or
send written entry information with a check to:

Linda Berry, Tourn. Serv. Coord. USCA
700 Florida Mango Rd.
West Palm Beach, FL 33406
561-478-0760 ext. 204
tournamentusca@aol.com

You can also get more info at the USCA website -- www.croquetamerica.com.

See you in Shawnee!

Sincerely,
Dylan Goodwin
Publisher, Croquet Network

First Shot: Six-Wicket Mission Accomplished

I organized my first croquet tournament on July 4, 1998. I was 30 at the time and my wife had plans to get our usual crowd together to celebrate the Fourth at our house. By that time, the summer house party circuit was just about to bore me to death. However, I had an idea -- a croquet tournament.

There was one problem though. Our yard was slightly undersized in my opinion and dotted with landscaping. Sure enough, after a trip to the library to gather some publications, the standard court size was 100' x 50'. So, I decided we would play with a reduced version of the six-wicket court, which fit my yard pretty well. However, I wanted to get as many people in a game as possible, so we played it as a standard, cutthroat (one-ball) game.

I called the event the PBR Classic and awarded the winner a 12-pack of Pabst Blue Ribbon in a styrofoam cooler. The event was an instant success and the following year everyone was clamoring for another tournament. By 2002, we had a full circuit going with a season long points race and a website.

Still, going back to the prep for that first event, I would skim through those library books and marvel at the photos of the six-wicket game. With the putting green surfaces and insanely tight wickets, I was truly fascinated by the concept of six-wicket play.

A few weeks ago, I finally played my first real game of six-wicket croquet in Parkville, Missouri. The experience did not disappoint so later this month I will provide the details on my trip to Parkville and my thoughts on the six wicket game. In the meantime, keep swinging the mallet while I try to figure out how to carve some more time out of my hectic schedule to get back to Parkville.

Sincerely, Dylan, Publisher -- Croquet Network

First Shot: A New Home and Look

Blogger was fun, but pretty slow and ineffective, so I jumped ship and moved the site to Squarespace. I use the Squarespace service for many of my other sites, so I knew it was time to upgrade. The reality is a good croquet site like this deserves nothing but the best and this platform will allow for many features to be added. Expect new additions to roll out as they become available.

Anyway, enough about the site -- we're knee deep into croquet season and hopefully you've been able to get your share of mallet play in this year. We finally got an official tournament underway at my club that enjoyed some warm weather and a dry field. Standing around in wet shoes was getting a little old.

In addition, I've been playing some backyard Golf Croquet with friends and as I've mentioned before -- I'm hooked. Not sure if I can make it through the season without setting up an impromptu golf croquet event.

On the national scene, I'm finding more and more croquet sites that are offering blog type platforms. I think this is a key for growth as they generally offer RSS feeds. In fact, you'll see in the left column we're getting more and more sites into the network feed, which is about the most useful tool I can offer. Good stuff as it's becoming easier to stay up to date. So, it looks like Web 2.0 is catching on in the croquet world, and I'll feature some of the blog types site later this month in the club/links department.

That pretty much kicks things off for June. Hope you enjoy the site this month and I'll leave you with this link to a blog post on what is great about croquet.

Sincerely,
Dylan -- Publisher, Croquet Network

First Shot: Upside/Downside

Well, I'm finding out how difficult it is to manage a blog site, play some croquet, keep the grass under control and spend some time with the family. The downside is nearly another month without getting a post up, but we forge on.

The upside is I've got a couple of tournaments under my belt. The downside is they've both been wet and cold and dark.

The upside is I played and hosted my first team event for our local club -- Alumni Cup. The downside -- we lost to K-State. Oh well, the NC and Orange Bowl will have to satisfy me 'til next year.

The upside is my yard is starting to fill in. The downside is it seems like I spend more time mowing that playing.

The upside is it looks like I've wrangled an invite to play some six-wicket croquet on a real field. The downside -- there is none, you can't go wrong with that.

The true upside is that the weather is starting to warm up a bit in Kansas and it's time to "swing the wrenches."

Sincerely, Dylan, Publisher -- Croquet Network