Do you have time to fill out a brief survey on the Croquet Network eNewsletter? We are hoping to improve the newsletter and fulfill the mission of becoming a worldwide resource for croquet news and info. You take the survey here:
http://croquetnetwork.polldaddy.com/s/croquet-network-e-newsletter
If you are not familiar with the eNewsletter, you can sign up here:
WEST PALM BEACH, FL -- If you would like to nominate a USCA member or club that excelled during 2013 to be considered for an Annual Award, please send your nomination to Shereen Hayes -shereenhayes@aol.com by December 15, 2013. Awards will be presented during Club Teams at the Participant’s Dinner on Friday, March 14, 2014.
Ben Rothman at Lake ToxawayLAKE TOXAWAY, NC -- I spent last weekend in western North Carolina and witnessed the end of the Toxaway Mountain Challenge Invitational and the start of the USCA GC National Championships. In between, I took part in a USCA strategy session centered around marketing and communications and also witnessed a doubles exhibition match held in the rain at the Lake Toxaway Croquet Club between Sherif Abdelwahab/Ben Rothman and Rich Lamm/Stephen Mulliner. Abdelwahab and Rothman won that match and you can view some video here.
I saw four different clubs during the weekend and took in a lot of info. Here's what I came away with in no particular order:
The western area of North Carolina (referred to as the Plateau) has now grown to 1,300 croquet members. The majority of those player are not USCA members as the entire state of North Carolina currently has a total of 274 members. Think about what that means considering the USCA has a total of 3,000 members and roughly 1,000 players that participated in sanctioned events in 2012.
What is the key to growth in the area? Both George Enochs of the Lake Toxaway Croquet Club and Michael Albert of the Cedar Creek Raquet Club said the same thing. They started with golf croquet and treated it as a legitimate form of croquet rather than an introduction. We hear a lot in USCA circles that club managers and presidents are utilizing GC to try to promote growth. What I learned to ask myself in North Carolina is -- am I really treating GC as an equal? The truth is I generally treat the game as an intro even though I may be touting it as the version that can be played at a very elite level as well purely social. I've held very few "competitive" GC tournaments or competitions. Despite the fact that new players always are quickly drawn into the game. Most often, I've tried to bring those players into one of the bonus shot versions of croquet once they show an interest -- likely too soon in most cases. And I don't play near enough legitimate GC myself, even though it would be the best thing for my overall game.
Still, a big factor in the success in North Carolina is that they are getting clubs to build courts. After all, GC is not really going to get converts when it is played on long grass. How are they getting clubs to buy in? For one, it takes someone on the board to be a true champion. Once that happens and a plan for a court gets under way, that champion has to be active in promoting, recruiting and teaching. Once that starts though, look out ...
There is definitely a snowball effect going on in North Carolina. Once a couple of clubs got going, it put pressure on the neighboring clubs to add a court. And that explains the billboard featuring croquet I saw on the highway.
But what are the clubs getting out of this burst of croquet enthusiasm? Overall, there is an increase in revenue related to retention, food and beverages, merchandise, tournaments and other activities. When you have 70 people show up for a regular Monday night session, that is clearly going to have an impact on the restaurant and bar.
What seemed to really stick out though as the true benefit is the inherent advantage croquet has over golf or tennis in the social aspect. If the croquet courts are near the clubhouse, when the mallets are in session that creates a center of activity around the clubhouse that drives enthusiasm and engagement. The nature of golf croquet (especially doubles) is that players can be talking in their own game in the game nearby or to people off the court. Golf is actually relatively isolated in that a foursome heads out on a great big course then returns in four hours. They certainly are social upon the return, but the event of golf is spread out enough that it is really a challenge to "watch" a club level tournament.
Tennis generally is closer to the club, and offers a bit more energy and player density, but it is still spread out. This is not to say croquet is better than tennis or golf, the idea is simply that it provides an additional buzz around the club that appeals to basic human nature. That kind of energy is hard for a club manager to pass up once they see it in action.
The overall societal benefit of croquet shouldn't be under-estimated either. I'm not sure there would be anything rougher than that moment when you finally have to admit that your body can't handle tennis or golf anymore. Croquet has often played the role of replacement sport in that scenario. That's great news for club managers from a member retention perspective. More importantly though, our sport may be a key to healthy, active, engaged and happy lives for our exploding 60 to 100 population.
The 2013 WCF Women's GC World Championship had been scheduled for March 2014, and the entry process had started. However, the situation in Egypt has taken a turn for the worse in the past month, so the WCF has agreed with the Egyptian Croquet Federation to defer the event until November 2014. The will re-evaluate the situation in Egypt in February 2014, and then confirm the dates and arrangements.
Source: http://www.wcfcroquet.org/joomla/index.php/all-news-items/303-2014-women-s-gcwc
New World Champion Robert Fletcher took some time over the past few days to answer a lightning round of six questions just after his blitz through the ACWC.
#1 - So, you really just rolled through this World Championship (23-0) at a time when it seems like there are a lot of players out there with legitimate title chances. Can you explain how that happened? Is it your that playing has moved to another level or are there other factors?
I think I just played really consistently, I didn't do anything fancy, I just played solid croquet all week. I had played deep into Worlds before, so I knew what to expect in the later rounds.
#2 - Despite the 3-0 score, the final with Paddy seemed fairly interactive. Can you talk about how that match went and maybe what the key to you gaining control?
It was interactive, mainly due to the hoops being put in new holes that day. Surbiton has a clay base which makes for very tough hoops, plus the variable pace of the lawn. We both took some time to adjust to the hoops, but it was probably my shooting throughout the first two games that made the difference.
#3 - A World Championship is an incredible lifetime achievement and you've done it at the age of 20. It would almost seem to be overwhelming. Can you describe what it was like once you got that final peg out?
I was relieved, that the match was over (as it had been long and tough), and delighted to have come through on top!
#4 - Can you give us any insight on what you think distinguishes a top 10 world player from the rest of the field?
Photo provided by Adrian Wadley. See the full gallery here.