News Clips: U.S. Selection Eight Results, Croquet News and Nine-Wicket Flash Movies

Selection Eight Reports / Bob Alman has a pretty good rundown on the U.S. Selection Eight results in the Croquet World forum. Here are the top two group placings as reported there (third eight released tomorrow):

FIRST EIGHT FINAL STANDINGS
Place/Player/Wins

1. Ben Rothman (10)
2. Danny Huneycutt (9)
3. Doug Grimsley (8)
4. Rich Lamm (7)
5. Jerry Stark (6)
5. Brian Cumming (6)
7. Jim Bast (5)
7. Paul Billings (5)

SECOND EIGHT FINAL STANDINGS

1. Rick Wilhoite (12)
2. Stuart Lawrence (8)
3. Bob Kroeger (7)
3. John Osborn (7)
3. Brit Ruby (7)
6. Charles Gillmartin (5)
6. Peter Just (5)
6. Johnny Mitchell (5)

Croquet News Fall 2009 Issue / The new issue of Croquet News hit my mail box yesterday. Mik Mehas is on the cover and other highlights include an interesting article on croquet presented at a kids sports conference in Florida and a detailed explanation on the USCA handicap system (I'm a 20). Don't be confused by the Summer 2009 cover date, I'm pretty sure it's the fall issue.

Nine-Wicket Flash Training / Long ago I had noticed videos on the old nine-wicket website about running breaks. It was just recently that I checked out the videos on the new site. I didn't realize they were upgraded to interactive flash videos. They are very well done and I would say they are essential viewing for anyone playing the nine-wicket game. I'd love to see one of these on the association triple and sextuple peels.

Two-Ball Break

Three-Ball Break

Four-Ball Break

Croquet News Clips: Longman Cup, Kactus Creek & Women's GC Championship Line-up

Croquet on Film tipped this video of the Longman Cup club competition held in England and Wales. The play is bit difficult to follow, but I was pretty impressed with the trophies at the end. A description of the competition is provided on this Watford (Cassiobury) Croquet Club page.

Kactus Creek Invitational Results / A new club competition was introduced in the Kansas City metro area over the past weekend. Players from the Kactus Creek Croquet Club in Parkville, Missouri squared off against a group of Minnesota players. Matt Smith reports that Minnesota "kicked the tar" out of Missouri 6-3 in singles and 2-1 in doubles.

2009 WCF World Women's Golf Croquet Championship Roster / The WCF announced line-ups for the women's GC championship to be held in Cairnlea, Victoria, Australia November 21-28.

Players of Note
Iman Elfaransawi - Egypt (reigning hampion);
Marwa Mostafa Mohamed Youssef - Egypt;
Hemmat Mostafa Abdelmoneim Mostafa - Egypt
Jenny Clarke - New Zealand

Line-ups By Country:

Australia
Alix Verge
Rosemary Graham
Wendy Dickson
Creina Dawson
Tricia Devlin
Pam Gentle
Liz Fleming
Anna Miller
Christine Pont
Margaret Melville
Anne Quinn
Kay Chynoweth
Susan Sands
Wilma Bonnar
Judy Evans
Rosemary Newsham
Genny Vandersluys
Jacky McDonald (Wild Card)
Elizabeth Allen (Wild Card)
Judy Wembridge (Wild Card)
Sue Beattie (Wild Card)
Sue Leitinger (Wild Card)

Egypt
Iman Elfaransawi (reigning hampion)
Marwa Mostafa Mohamed Youssef
Hemmat Mostafa Abdelmoneim Mostafa
Manal Ali Mohsen
Shaden Okasha Ahmed Abdelkader Okasha
Soumaya Saad Salama Mohamed El-Eryan
Nihal Ahmed Sayed Ahmed
Sarah Riad
Salwa Saleh Ahmed Shaaban
Sherine Mohammed Hamdi Hamed
Abir Moustafa Abdelhamid
Samia Mohamed Ali Mahmoud

England
Kath Burt
Teresa Burt
Ros Pimlott

Ireland
Jane Shorten

New Zealand
Jenny Clarke
Mavis Brogden
Phyllis Young
Dallas Cooke
Ann Sharp
Alison Wall
Erica Stephens
Marlene McCaa
Sue Roberts
Gwen Salisbury
Laura Whittaker
Ashley Cooke

Scotland
Jola Jurasinska

South Africa
Carole Jackson
Clare Stableford
Anne Oxton

USA
Anne Taves
Josie Jackson

First Alternates
Nerida Taylor - Australia
Marga Podnieks - Australia

Croquet Shirt: It Takes Balls

Croquet Network Product of the Month -- It Takes Balls Croquet Value Shirt - $13.95 plus s/h

This month, we're featuring our first and still best-selling croquet shirt and collection. Croquet is a game for the mentally tough and those willing to take risks. This shirt says it all about croquet. The shirt is sold through our Cafepress store, which means polo-style shirts, hats and plenty more options are available. Check out the full collection at the It Takes Balls Croquet Collection page. To buy the shirt pictured above, go to the It Takes Balls T-Shirt page.

We have more designs available. To see all of the Croquet Network croquet shirt designs go to the Croquet Network Store.

Nine to Six: Part 2 - Post Roquet Options

USCA Stock Photo

Probably the biggest adjustment when transitioning from nine-wicket croquet to the six-wicket game is the reduction of options after roqueting a live ball. The nine wicket game offers a range of choices for your first bonus shot:

  1. You can play your shot from a distance of one mallet head (9") or less from the roqueted ball.
  2. You can use the most famous shot in croquet. Place your ball in contact with the roqueted ball and use your foot or hand to secure your ball. It's the ultimate stop shot.
  3. A simple croquet shot where your ball is placed in contact with the roqueted ball. You can perform a split roll here, a stop shot or a simple takeoff.
  4. And the final option (unique to nine-wicket) is playing your ball where it lays.

For the six-wicket game, it is simple. Once you roquet a live ball, go ahead and pick it up because you'll be playing a shot in contact with the roqueted ball. There is no option for placing your foot or hand on your ball on your bonus stroke so forget all about that one. You can play a split roll, stop shot or simple takeoff. The key for the takeoff is that you have to hit into the roqueted ball enough so that it visibly moves. If the ball does not move, it is a fault. The balls are reset and the turn is over.

The Nine to Six Series (Highlighting Differences Between Nine-wicket and Six-wicket Croquet)

Part One -- Clearing Deadness
Part Two -- Post Roquet Options
Part Three -- Boundaries
Part Four -- Wiring
Part Five -- Rover Balls

More on this series: The series endeavors to describe changes that nine wicket players will encounter when they try out the U.S. rules six wicket game. There's a lot of quality information on six-wicket on the internet, but some of it seems pretty complex and is presented all at once. The aim here is to slice this into smaller concepts to allow players to absorb as needed. Also, I need to clarify that I have been playing the six-wicket game for just one-year and have not attended tournaments. So, more experienced players should feel welcome to chime in using the comments and clarify if I am leading people astray. I do think my inexperience is useful in that the concepts are fresh in my mind. Also, for players making the jump to six-wicket, I assume the basics of the game are understood.

Croquet News Clips: Croquet Shirt, Egyptian Open and Wine & Wickets

Designer Duncan Quinn has unleashed a "croquet shirt" on the world. Other than the one on the left being predominantly white, I'm not sure what would classify these as croquet shirts. I suppose they look comfortable, but ultimately I'd suggest a modification. You can keep the pink trim on the white, but I'd also offer four more versions with blue, red, black and yellow trim for each. Again, the mention of Adrien Grenier makes me think that some how, some way, HBO is going to come after my Entourage script based on Ari Gold being a closet, elite-level six-wicket player. Also, I better mention our own Croquet Network Store for those who like to bring a little humor to their fashion on the court.

The Egyptians once again showed their dominance in golf croquet. Sherif Nafaa claimed the 5th Egyptian Open by defeating 21-year-old Ahmed Yasser 2-7,  7-,6  7-6,   5-7,  7-5. It must have been a thrilling match, but I'd be curious to know how long this final series lasted. Nafa earned $2000 (U.S.) for the win. More details are available over several new items on the WCF website.

Wine, Wickets and Wheels, oh my. The Hayes Croquet Club continues to push the envelope for aggressive growth and marketing of the game as they are planning several croquet events to be weaved into a July 1-4 celebration at the Rutherford B. Hayes Presidential Center near Fremont, Ohio. As it has been recently brought to the attention of the croquet world that the Presidential Center contains a massive collection of croquet books and artifacts, the Hayes Club was formed roughly one year ago to acknowledge the collection and already boasts 40 members that play weekly on the lawns at the center. Now, they are promoting this Wine, Wickets & Wheels event. It seems like a massive undertaking and the best way to understand it is to check out the details on the CroquetWorld website.

October Croquet Links: NCC, Nine-Wicket Website and Croquet Records

Clubs

Sarasota County Croquet Club -- The SCCC is located in Venice, Florida and the video above is a superb introduction to the club.

National Croquet Center -- The crown jewel of U.S. Croquet is located in West Palm Beach, Florida and features 12 full-size croquet lawns and a 19,000 square foot clubhouse.

Detroit Croquet Club -- This site has intrigued me for quite a while. Although some of the pages have never been filled with content and no updates appear, I feel the concept of what they are doing and the feel of the site is unique and possibly a promising way to organize a club. Would love to see this site be more active, but at the least, maybe by checking it out club managers can draw from the website design and format.

Associations

USCA Nine-Wicket Croquet Site -- I think this site is structured well and can be a key to developing the game across the United States. The site offers an RSS feed so you can stay up-to-date with the news section with your iGoogle or MyYahoo page or other feed reader.

Croquet New Zealand -- The association site for croquet in New Zealand which boasts nearly 4,000 members. A functional site that seems to be updated frequently. My favorite discovery here is the collection of PDF versions of their magazine -- Croquet New Zealand Update.

International

CroquetRecords.com -- This site updates the International, U.S. and North American rankings among other things. If you dig around, you'll find a good history on champions and tournament results as well.

Bowdon Croquet Club -- The club in England looks like a good model for running a large club. Of particular interest to me was the pricing scale.

Country Club Johannesburg  -- I thought this South African site had a nice look to it and some interesting statistics on membership numbers for the commonwealth countries.

All links above will now appear in the Croquet Links section on the navigation bar at the top of the site. Any links back are greatly appreciated.

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.

Croquet News Clips: John Prince Cartoon, Egyptian Open and 50

John Prince illustrationIf you follow the Nottingham Board List, the above cartoon will probably amuse you. Beyond on that you should check out this web page on the John Prince (scroll down) that has all kinds of croquet illustrations.

Sometimes it seems like Egypt is the heart of croquet. Sure, Great Britain is pretty much the dominant force, but check out this quote from the WCF site on the Egyptian Open.

Yesterday at a Press Conference Members of the Egyptian Croquet Federation Board and WCF President answered questions for about an hour on subjects ranging from the strength of Egypts players, how croquet is developing into new countries, funding for international events and development of croquet in Egypt.

I haven't heard the word press conference associated with croquet much here in the states.

If you want to impress me, put 50 years in the game. Muriel Woodward, 87, and Eileen Trenwith
from the Yorke Peninsula in Australia were honored for 52 and 50 years respectively as members of the Moonta Croquet Club.

“I love it and I just enjoyed playing," Woodward said. "I didn’t go out there expecting to win. I just wanted to enjoy the game. I used to go away to tournaments and always take a beginner as a partner. I like teaching others and passing on my love for the game.”

This certainly highlights one of the many benefits of croquet and I love the passion they show for the game.