Morning Coffee: Davidson GC Champs, Egyptian Open, Jim Carey and WCF Action

The Davidson team of Mac Gilliland and Mark Millard went 9-0 at the Collegiate National Championships to claim the Collegiate GC National Championship at the Merion Cricket Club in Haverford, Pennsylvania. The duo faced off against Navy in the final match.

“The competition was intense, but we made it through,” Gilliland said. “All of our matches were close, including five wins by only one wicket. Mark’s go-for-it attitude and my experience at the tournament made a deadly combination.”

The WCF has been in the news quite a bit this past week, which makes it particularly frustrasting that they've broken their news module. Once ahead of the curve for all of the association sites, their RSS feed is now broken on the site and there are two stories that I would normally direct link. Oh well, let's move on ...

The resignation of Brian Storey as WCF Secretary General and subsequent appointment of Chris Clarke as his replacement brewed up a firestorm of controversy on the Nottingham e-mail list. You can see the offical release on the WCF website. To get a rundown on the overall story, check out the letter on the "Secretary-General" post on the Croquet World forum.

The 2010 Egyptian Open Golf Croquet tournament is now open for registration. The event takes place at the Gezirah Club and Federation Lawns, Cairo from October 1-6. Confirmed entries include:

Ahmed Nars
Reg Bamford
David Openshaw
Dick Strover
Leo McBride
Sherif Abdelwahab
Len Canavan
Wayne Davies
Ed Cunnningham
Evan Newell

Interested players should contact the Egyptian Croquet Federation Vice-President, Amir Ramsis.

Despite the spelling, Jim Carey tweeted about croquet over the weekend:

"Said 'Yes' 2 crochet 2day! I knocked my cousin's teeth out with 1 of those mallets 38yrs ago. He stood right behind me!"

Morning Coffee: Huneycutt, Fulford and Mulliner

Danny Huneycutt protected his #1 U.S. ranking by snagging a 2-1 match victory over Ben Rothman at the USCA Association Rules National Championship at Mission Hills in California this past weekend. Rothman didn't get blanked though as he partnered with Doug Grimsley to take a 2-1 victory (+13tp, -14tp, +17tp) over Bob Van Tassell and Johnny Mitchell for the doubles title. You can check out Rothman's full report in the Croquet World Online Forum.

In weekend U.K. action, Rob Fulford took the Colchester Open with a 6-2 record that was matched only by David Maugham. Fulford won the head-to-head match to claim the title.

Earlier this month, Stephen Mulliner took the Surbiton Golf Croquet tournament with a 7-4, 7-3 victory over Nelson Morrow in the finals. Knockout results:

Stephen Mulliner beat William Gee 7-1 7-4
Andrew Johnson beat Roger Barnacle 7-2 6-7 7-6
Howard Cheyne beat Dick Stover 7-5 5-7 7-4
Nelson Morrow beat Jamie Burch 7-4 7-2

Mulliner beat Johnson 7-3 7-4
Morrow beat Cheyne 7-5 7-6

Mulliner beat Morrow 7-4 7-3

Morning Coffee: Annapolis Cup, Hayes Center and USCA Association Championship

Available for purchase, click for detailsSt. John's ruled the Annapolis Cup again beating Navy 5-0 last Saturday. St. John's now leads the series 23-5 and have pushed their current streak to five straight. Probably the biggest surprise to come out of the event is that the St. John's president took the opportunity to trash the sport of croquet:

"St. John's President Chris Nelson proclaimed croquet the "slowest sport" and invited the campus' guests to 'enjoy the picnic and watch the grass grow.'"

 

The Rutherford B. Hayes Center Croquet Club continues to generate headlines in their local media. The week they got a write-up on their season openining session.

The USCA Association National Championship kicked off day one yesterday at the Mission Hills Club in Rancho Mirage, California. Check the Croquet World forum for daily reports. Here is the line-up:

Championship Singles
Danny Huneycutt
Ben Rothman
Doug Grimsley
Jeff Soo
Rich Lamm
Brian Cumming
Paul Bennett
Jim Bast  
Paul Billings
Johnny Mitchell
Bob Van Tassell
Ron Lloyd
Jim Butts
Charles Smith
Ron Hendry
Steve Scalpone
Steve Summer
Martyn Selman
Steve Johnston
Tony Reaves

First Flight Singles
Donna Dixon
Dick Engebretson
Marvin Salles
Phyllis    Butts
Sheri Foroughi
Mary Rodeberg
Jane Beharriel
Steve Mossbrook
Judy Dahlstom
Jean Engebretson
Toni Kemp

Doubles Championship
Rothman/Grimsley
Soo/Lamm
Cumming/Bast
Bennett/Billings
Huneycutt/Summer
Mitchell/Van Tassell
Butts/Hendry
Scalpone/Selman
Smith/Johnston
Lloyd/Reaves

First Flight Doubles
Engebretson/Salles
Dixon/Mossbrook
Rodeberg/Behariel
Dahlstrom/Kemp

Morning Coffee: iPad, BU Extreme Croquet, WCF

As a web publisher, I definitely had an interest in checking out Apple's new iPad device. Yesterday, I did an in-store 30-minute test drive. Of course, I was disappointed that the Croquet Network Magazine issues were not viewable on the device (as expected), but I was pleased that the website shows fairly well. It was smaller than I expected and a little heavier. I found the internet speed to be adequate, but not necessarily lightning fast as advertised. All of the other apps on the other hand were very quick.

 

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Morning Coffee: New Schedule, CroquetPro and WCF Over 50

The April Issue of Croquet Network is wrapping up and should be out within days. Recently, I've been trying to post three times a week on the website with Morning Coffee coming on Mondays, but I've done some recent evaluating and that is cutting into my magazine schedule. So, I'm now looking to ease back a bit and go to two times a week with Morning Coffee on Tuesdays.
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Morning Coffee: Swartz Creek Croquet, Pasadena Tournament and Intergalactic Croquet?

According to an MLive.com article, croquet could experience growth in Flint, Michigan. Doug Stephens is pushing the sport in the area with the formation of the Swartz Creek Croquet Society. So far he is the only member, but his presentation to the local Kiwanis Club seems to be a good start. An excerpt from the article:

“Eventually, I’d like to see 12 very nice professional courses. A golf course would be an ideal spot. Eventually, we could have professional tournaments come through Swartz Creek,” Stephens said.

The Pasadena Croquet Club will hold a non-sanctioned invitational May 28-31. The event has room for 16 players on two courts located in historic Old Town Pasadena in Southern California. Play begins Friday afternoon and the finals conclude the morning of Memorial Day.  For information, contact Eric Sawyer at ecsccs@sbcglobal.net or call (323) 257-8541.

Intergalactic Winter Croquet Tournament ... I can't even really summarize this one. The question remains -- do these events do more damage than good for the game?

Morning Coffee: MacRobertson Website, Midwest Regional VP, Clothing Line

Get ready for the August MacRobertson Shield competition by checking out the official MacRobertson Shield website. The website contains the full schedule for the event, information on the venues and teams. It also has a commentary section that suggests it will provide updates on the event. Thirteen additional countries are expected to participate in Tiers 2, 3 and 4 of the expanded event.

Kansas City's Matt Griffith won the election for VP of the USCA's midwest region over John Dill from Dallas, Texas.

Robert V. Salinas has introduced a line of croquet clothing. It looks to be nice quality, but I'm not sure about the golf style stance in the main logo. Probably a notch better than the "croquet" shirts offered by Duncan Quinn.