Guess what I did over Memorial Day weekend. I actually played croquet. Strange as it seems the deeper I get into the sport, the less I play. The opportunity occurred to return to Tulsa for the Indian Territory Open. My last American Rules tourney was the previous Memorial weekend in Tulsa for the 2011 Midwestern Regionals. This past weekend was an interesting one as I went in very out of croquet shape and I played up, joining the championship flight as a last minute substitute. Considering my bad form, it went fairly well as I picked up one win in block play, which got me to the knockout. That gave me a chance to go up against one of my favorite players -- Jeff Caldwell from Arkansas. When Jeff gets on a break ... well nobody marches through the wickets quite like he does. He's a fast player and lot of fun to watch. As expected, he ended my tournament with ease.
It was good to finally get some significant time on the courts though and secondarily good to just take in the culture of croquet. I think people are generally becoming familiar with me in at least one of my roles, independent croquet website publisher, USCA Communications Committee Chair or the USCA's Croquet News magazine publisher. Accordingly, players generally want to discuss all aspects of the sport. Most times though, the conversation drifts toward promotion and growth for croquet. On this trip, I particularly enjoyed sitting around the croquet roundtable with Matt Smith and Art Parsells on Friday night discussing several angles on the game and the broader picture.
Once concept or theme I've been hammering more and more lately is that we all have to remember that croquet is the best sport. I think most of us that play believe that. Of course, there are going to be some multi-sport stars that will have croquet lower on their list. For most of the hardcore though, it's a passion and that is pretty evident when you look at the expense and travel that croquet players are willing to take on.
Oddly though, when a player has to talk about croquet to a non-player, the conversation seems like an apology or takes a tone indicating the croquet player has some sort of affliction. If you agree, that croquet is the best sport, then maybe take a different perspective going forward. Instead of apologizing for it being boring to watch for non-players, just start with the concept that it is incredibly addictive, active, gender and age equal, engaging, beautiful and played outdoors. And even though the rules seem complex for AC and US 6W, they really aren't. Anyone with an attention span and a degree of intelligence can pick it up pretty fast.
Truly though, it is the best sport, so be proud to say it, debate it and really if someone doesn't get it -- it's their loss. Just more court time for the rest of us.