From the USCA announcements page, the U.S. Solomon Trophy team has been announced:
Jim Bast
Doug Grimsley
Danny Huneycutt (Captain)**
Chris Patmore
Ben Rothman
Jeff Soo
The 2011 Solomon Trophy Test (U.K. versus USA) will be played June 28 - July 1 at Hampworth (near Salisbury), United Kingdom.
** Selected by team
Click to visit CNET StoreThe WCF has announced that Bay of Plenty, New Zealand will host the 2011 Women's Golf Championship to be held November 19-26. WCF president Charles Jones was quoted on the Croquet New Zealand Website:
“The hosting of this world championship can only be good for Golf Croquet in this country. New Zealand has a exciting future in women’s golf croquet, especially with an increasing number of talented young women playing the sport.”
Previous host cities include Cairo (2005), Dublin (2007) and Melbourne (2009).
A few recent North American tournaments have been announced. The Pacific Cup will be held in Kirkland, Washington September 8-11 and the Mar-a-Lago Club has announced a singles event for April 14-16 and doubles for February 24-26.
Croquet New Zealand recently announced results from the Southern Veterans' Tournament held at the Winton Croquet Club November 24-28:
Association Singles Championship
Winnner: Paul Castell 6 wins
Runner up: B Monckton 5 wins on count back
Association Handicap Singles
Winner: J Cleine
Runner up: A Sandilands
Association Handicap Doubles
Winners: M Gwynne and J Pullar
Runnners up: V Skinner and J Hamilton
Golf Croquet Championship Singles
Winner: B Monckton
Runner up: D Jackson
Be sure and stop by the Mallet Poll if you haven't already. We'd love to see as much feedback as we can there. So far the two other mallet choice votes have come in as "Lee Thomas" and "Bob Fish".
RANCHO MIRAGE, CA -- Mission Hills Croquet Pro Ben Rothman conducted an Intro to American & International Rules Croquet Class from November 29th thru December 3rd along with co-facilitators Dick Engebretson and Leo Nikora. Many of the experienced Mission Hills players participated as "coaches"... Aviv Katz, Mike Orgill, Mary Rodeberg (two days!), Len Lyon, Pat Apple, Biff Roche, Jean Engebretson, and Karen Comeau.
Graduates in the above photo from left to right:
Front row -- Coach Jean Engebretson, Lynn Smith, Welles Farago, Lou Ann Evans, Mary Brault, & Coach Mary Rodeberg.
Back row -- Coach Leo Nikora, Paul Christy, Nick Gray, Coach Dick Engebretson, Bob Morford, Bill Courtney, Scott Smith, and Croquet Pro Ben Rothman.
If you are interested in attending a Mission Hills croquet class, contact Ben at (925) 212-2593 or croquetpro@gmail.com for a class outline & details and upcoming dates.
Here are the hottest trending keywords to hit CroquetNetwork.com last month:
01. Wii Croquet
02. Croquet Network
03. Gateball Video
04. Croquet Tournaments
05. Cameron Guernsey
06. Morford Mallets
07. USCA Croquet Photography
08. Croquet Pasadena Store
09. Len Lavallee
10. Steve Scalpone
Click Image to purchase mugLeo Nikora tipped off on his e-newsletter that the official Navy store is offering a Navy Croquet Shirt. Pretty simple, but still, an interesting development. In addition, Nikora has added a slew of new croquet photos, illustrations and advertisments to the Maui Croquet Club site. Check out the recent additions list at the bottom of this page.
The USCA has offered the following spring 2011 dates for instructional schools to be held at the National Croquet Center in West Palm Beach, Florida. For more info, contact Erica Sherman at 561-478-0760.
The Mission Hills Croquet Club in Rancho Mirage, California has announced that Phyllis & Jim Butts have decided to “retire” from their croquet club roles after seven years of dedication and hard work to make the Mission Hills Croquet Club “The Best in the West.” Among their many their many accomplishments for Mission Hills, they were successful in bringing many National and International croquet events and players to the Mission Hills venue and continue to continue in that capacity going forward as the Mission Hills USCA liaisons. Ron Hendry has accepted the President’s role and Genie Hendry be taking up Phyllis duties of planning the catered events. Mike Orgill is our new Treasurer.
The Sydney Morning Herald offers this piece on how croquet has given a man with cancer a new activity to pursue.
Jenny Clarke continued her hot streak with a win at the Women's Invitation held in Masterton, New Zealand.
A recent article in the The Bayside Bulletin describes the burgeoning croquet scene in Australia:
"2010 has demonstrated that Australian players are proving to be very competitive internationally in the mallet sports disciplines of golf croquet, gateball (Australia's newest mallet sport), ricochet and traditional association croquet."
Though this article from the Brimbank Leader seems to temper that enthusiasm a bit (also includes a few photos);
Mr Reither thought the sport’s popularity was increasing but that croquet was still trying to rise above the stigma of being “the old people’s game.” “We’re having trouble convincing people it’s not,” he said.
And it is hoped that the young rising stars of croquet will help lead the way. Three of the country’s best are teenagers from the same family, including 17-year-old Robert Fletcher who is Australia’s number one.
Mike Orgill sent a recent announcement that the 2011 North American Open will be held at the Sonoma-Cutrer Vineyards in Windsor, California from May 8 to May 14, 2011. The tournament will be played under association rules and limited to 16 players. Tournament entry will be based on world rankings. Details about purse and other information will be forthcoming in January.
Martin French gave an interesting tidbit about future schedules in a recent post on his WCF blog:
"One of the big improvements I hope we can make very soon is to publish a 10 year rolling schedule of when we'd like to hold each type of championship - and then start asking for bids for the next couple of years."
In case you missed it in the forum or on Facebook, the Morehead/Fargo High School Croquet League is looking for equipment donations. More details are in the Croquet Network forum.
The ACA recently announced their roster for the Trans-Tasman team. The Team will travel to Cairnlea, Victoria to compete in the Trans-Tasman Test Series from April 15-20, 2011.
Men
Ian Dumergue
Greg Fletcher
Robert Fletcher
Stephen Forster
Reserves
Malcolm Fletcher
Peter Landrebe (Captain)
Women
Rosie Graham
Margaret Melville
Miranda Morgan
Alison Sharpe
Reserves
Trish Devlin
Charlotte Morgan
The ACA has also provided the PDF entry form for the Inaugural Golf Croquet President’s Tens to be held in Melbourne February 11-14, 2011
Croquet New Zealand recently announced results from the North and South Island GC Grade Championships:
North Island GC Grade Champs / Taranaki Association, New Plymouth
Premier: 0-4 handicap
J.Christie; Morrinsville 1st
N. Morrow; Warkworth 2nd
B. Bullen; Wanganui 3rd
Intermediate: 5-7 handicap
J. Kermode; Palmerston North 1st
B. Reader; New Plymouth 2nd
S. Mitchell; West End 3rd
Primary: 8-12 andicap
G. Cooper; New Plymouth 1st
C. Reay; Palmerston North 2nd
A. Ridgway Ellis; Inglewood 3rd
South Island Golf Grade Championships / United Croquet Club in Christchurch
Duncan Dixon 7-4,6-7,7-5 over Jenny Clarke
Chris Clarke also made a recent appeal for donations for Kaiapoi Croquet Club to repair damage suffered during the recent earthquake that hit Canterbury, New Zealand.
"All of you will be aware of the earthquake that struck Canterbury on 4th September. Most of our clubs have escaped with very little damage, however the Kaiapoi Croquet Club was not as fortunate. There are cracks 6 feet deep and 20 yards long in the lawns and there is now a slope of over 2 feet on their previously flat lawns. The clubhouse has moved nearly 3 feet and is no longer level. They are waiting for an engineers report, but in all likelihood will end up having to move to a new location. It has been suggested by CNZ, that Canterbury should ask each club in NZ for a contribution towards getting Kaiapoi back on their feet. Any donation will be appreciated, but if you could raise $100 per club, that would be wonderful. I attach some photos of Kaiapoi Croquet Club after the earthquake."
In case you missed it, Jenny Clark took the Australian Open singles title. The ACA site has full results for both singles and doubles.
The USCA website has a full photo gallery and summary of the recent USCA GC Nationals Tournament. In addition, singles champion Ben Rothman has a rundown of the event posted on his CroquetPro blog.
Also from Ben's blog, he has an updated post on "an easy way to a good swing."
Big news from the WCF as new secretary general Martin French has started a What's Happening with the WCF Blog. This a great move as I've already dropped that RSS feed into the automated news feed in the right column of the Croquet Network front page, so you'll see any new posts from the WCF as they come up. That feed collects all of the very few available croquet dedicated RSS feed. More croquet sites need RSS feeds and a simple concept is to use an external free service for a blog and automatically feed that blogs headlines into the front page of your main site. Definitely a traffic driver and a way to keep users engaged. Also, it simplifies your updating process.
Recent winners from he 25th New Zealand Veterans’ Northern Championship held at the Whangarei Croquet Club in Whangareri:
Association Championship Singles
Winner - Roger White
Runner up - Richard Williamson
Association Handicap Singles (2 rounds)
Winner - Roger White
Runner up - Richard Williamson
Association Doubles
Winners - George Depree & Helen Wilkinson
Runners up - Verna Williscroft & Margaret Lindsay
Golf Croquet Handicap Doubles
Winners_ Judy Keogh & Jon Thackray
Runners up - on a c/b - John & Carol Christmas
Golf Croquet Handicap Singles
Winner - John Christmas
Runner up - Carol Christmas
Dec 1–5 / USCA Florida Regional Championship / Sarasota County Croquet Club, Sarasota, FL
Erica Sherman / 561-478-0760 /
Dec 7-11 / 2010 US Open (AC) / Mission Hills Country Club, Rancho Mirage, California
Stan Patmor / 602-955-1547 or 800-294-0875 / / TD Rory Kelley rkelley@postsignaz.com
Jan 7–9 / SCCC High Handicap Adjuster (Singles Only) / Pinebrook Park, Venice, FL
Charlotte Neagle / 941-412-8828 / charlotte.neagle@gmail.com
Jan 17–22 / Palm Beach CC Invitational / National Croquet Center, West Palm Beach, FL
Archie Peck / 561-818-6039 / archiepeck@aol.com
Jan 25–29 / Desert Classic (AC)/ Mission Hills Country Club, Rancho Mirage, CA
Ron Hendry / 760-832-7681 / 760-567-6236 / croquetca@dc.rr.com / Ben Rothman, TD
Jan 26–30 / Beach Club Invitational / The Beach Club, Palm Beach, FL
Stewart Jackson / 561-514-9007 / 917-215-5428 / lequipe@aol.com
Feb 2–5 / Desert Adventure Golf Croquet Tournament (GC) / Mission Hills Country Club, Rancho Mirage, CA
Ron Hendry / 760-832-7681 / 760-567-6236 / croquetca@dc.rr.com / Ben Rothman, TD
Feb 3–6 / SCCC Winter Singles Invitational / Pinebrook Park, Venice, FL
Charlotte Neagle / 941-412-8828 / charlotte.neagle@gmail.com
Feb 8–12 / Peyton Ballenger Invitational / Croquet Club at PGA National, Palm Beach Gardens, FL
Missy Diack / 561-630-0119 / missydiack@comcast.net / John Osborn, TD
Feb 17–20 / Green Gables Croquet Club Palm Beach Winter Tournament / Palm Beach CC, Palm Beach, FL
Clair Flinn / 732-449-2933 / 908-875-5439 / bracer5@msn.com / Herb Roemmele, TM
Feb 18–20 / SCCC Club Doubles/Singles Championship / Pinebrook Park, Venice, FL
Charlotte Neagle / 941-412-8828 / charlotte.neagle@gmail.com / continued on March 18-20, 2011
Feb 23–27 / 4th Annual Int'l Polo Club Palm Beach Invitational (GC) / International Polo Club, Wellington, FL
Don Jacobson, Host / 561-254-0999 / donjay16@aol.com / Mohammad Kamal, TD / $8000 purse, $5000
Feb 24–27 / 17th Audubon Croquet Invitational / Audubon Country Club, Naples, FL
John Richardson, TM / 239-653-9705 / 416-648-6249 / john_richardson@manulife.com / Fred Jones, TD
Feb 24–26 / Mar-a-Lago Doubles Invitational / Mar-a-Lago, Palm Beach, FL
John Osborn / 561-762-5904 / twenty6to2@aol.com
Mar 1–5 / Mission Hills Invitational / Mission Hills Country Club, Rancho Mirage, CA
Ron Hendry / 760-832-7681 / 760-567-6236 / croquetca@dc.rr.com / Ben Rothman, TD
Mar 3–6 / Charles Steuber Invitational / National Croquet Center, West Palm Beach, FL
Archie Peck / 561-818-6039 / archiepeck@aol.com
Mar 11–13 / Boca Grande Invitational / Gasparilla Inn & Boca Bay, Boca Grande, FL
Blaine Davis, TM / 941-964-1092 / 201-506-1982 / blainedavis@att.net / Fred Jones, TD
Mar 13–15 / USCA Croquet Week Golf Croquet Championship (GC) / National Croquet Center, West Palm Beach, FL
Erica Sherman / 561-478-0760 / tournamentusca@aol.com
Mar 15–16 / Hammock Dunes Club Championship / Hammock Dunes Club, Palm Coast, FL
Susan Cole / 386-986-4496 / spcole@cfl.rr.com / Ted Knopf, TD
Mar 16–20 / USCA Club Teams Championship / National Croquet Center, West Palm Beach, FL
Erica Sherman / 561-478-0760 / tournamentusca@aol.com
Mar 18–20 / SCCC Club Doubles/Singles Championship / Pinebrook Park, Venice, FL
Charlotte Neagle / 941-412-8828 / charlotte.neagle@gmail.com /continued from February 18-20, 2011
Mar 28 – Apr 3 / USCA AC Rules National Championship (AC) / National Croquet Center, West Palm Beach, FL
Erica Sherman / 561-478-0760 / tournamentusca@aol.com
Apr 5–9 / USCA Western Regional Championship / Mission Hills Country Club, Rancho Mirage, CA
Erica Sherman / 561-478-0760 / tournamentusca@aol.com / Ben Rothman, TD
Apr 8–10 / SCCC Spring Invitational (Singles Only) / Pinebrook Park, Venice, FL
Charlotte Neagle / 941-412-8828 / charlotte.neagle@gmail.com
Apr 14–16 / Mar-a-Lago Singles Invitational / Mar-a-Lago, Palm Beach, FL
John Osborn / 561-762-5904 / twenty6to2@aol.com
Apr 27–30 / Dorthy Fosse Invitational / Hammock Dunes Club, Palm Coast, FL
Susan Cole / 386-986-4496 / spcole@cfl.rr.com / Fred Jones, TD
Kicking off this Wednesday morning and there is a lot of croquet going on as the U.S. has wrapped up some recent GC action and now the southern hemisphere is rolling into play. To update the Croquet Network scene, there are great materials lined out for what should have been the October/November issue of Croquet Network magazine. Job changes for me have really eaten into my person time and the issue though nearly finished has slowed to a crawl. The Croquet Network mission is not in jeopardy, but it's clear that once I am able to get this issue out, that I'll have to remove myself from the editorial function. I can still punch out the short columns and web-based materials, but the more in-depth pieces are going to be outsourced. In short, thank you for your patience and just know that this thing is still moving forward and the plan is to take it up another notch in 2011. On to the regular news ...
Through Mike Orgill and Genie Hendry, we are able to present a gallery of photos (click any of the thumbnails to move into slideshow mode) from Sarah Adler taken at the dedication of the Meadowood Croquet Lawns in honor of Jerry Stark that occurred on October 27.
In case you missed it, Ben Rothman capped a productive fall season by snagging the USCA Golf Croquet National Championship last weekend at Mission Hills in Rancho Mirage, California. Forty players partcipated in the event and Rothman had to contend with a championship flight that held top GC players Mohammad Kamal and Sheriff Abdelwahab along with hardcore U.S./association players such as Danny Huneycutt and Rich Lamm. Speaking of Huneycutt, Rothman just missed on picking up what would be the triple crown of USCA croquet singles play due to Huneycutt. Rothman has the U.S. Rules and GC Championships for 2010 but Huneycutt won the U.S. Association title back in April. Can we promote this idea of USCA Triple Crown? Looks like the list of GC champions should be added to the USCA Champions page.
You may have also missed a review of the MacRob Competition posted by Jim Bast in the main CWO forum. The post is a bit unique in that it compares the first U.S. appearance in the Mac versus the most recent. A brief excerpt:
The feeling that accompanied getting the USA accepted, and being selected for the first team, was an odd combination of relief and euphoria. We knew that we were living history and it was amazing to be a part of it. But once the Mac was underway it became a true "deer-in-the-headlights" situation.
Moving on to the southern hemisphere and there's been a lot of action in New Zealand. Results from the Gold and Silver Mallet tournament are available with Paul Skinley taking the Gold and Toby Garrison taking the Silver. The GC Gold and Silver Star tournament took place this past weekend at the Richmond Croquet Club. Phillip Drew took the Gold Star and Eleanor Hannay took the Silver. Under way this week is the NZ Scratch to 3 Bisques tournament in Pukehohe. In doubles, Hamish Mcintosh and Sean Foster are early winners.
Meanwhile Australia is getting ready to set the wickets for the 61st Australian Open which will be held November 19-20 in Melbourne. There is a full PDF program available with details on the event and a list of participating players follows:
Robert Fletcher (Vic)
Bruce Fleming (Qld)
Ken Bald (Vic)
Stephen Richards (NSW)
Trevor Bassett (NSW)
Kevin Beard (Vic)
Jim Nicholls (NSW)
Dennis Bulloch (NZ)
Tim Murphy (NSW)
Liz Fleming (Qld)
Alan Walsh (NSW)
Albert Rutten (SA)
Greg Rowberry (SA)
Alan Honey (NSW)
Rosemary Graham (NSW)
Robyn Stock (NSW)
Charlotte Morgan (SA)
Steve Jones (Qld)
Martyn Prins (NSW)
Judy Wembridge (Vic)
Mike Hughes (NSW)
Basil Ladyman (WA)
Ray Vize (NSW)
Stephen Howes (NSW)
Rosemary Newsham (Qld)
Ray Irlam (Vic)
Greg Fletcher (Vic)
Peter Landrebe (NSW)
Jenny Clarke (NZ)
Malcolm Fletcher (Vic)
Ken Edwards (NSW)
John Levick (NSW)
Alison Sharpe (NSW)
Claire Bassett (NSW)
Tom Knight (Qld)
David Wise (SA)
Tricia Devlin (Vic)
Tony Hall (NSW)
Geoff Kingdon (Tas)
Dick Smith (Qld)
Gareth Bushill (NSW)
Judy Evans (Vic)
Championship Flight
1. Ben Rothman
2. Danny Huneycutt
3. Rich Lamm
3. Leo Nikora
5. Sherif Abdelwahab
5. Paul Bennett
5. Jacques Fournier
5. Arthur Bagby
Championship Doubles
1. Paul Bennett/Jacques Fournier
2. Danny Huneycutt/Sherif Abdelwahab
3. Ben Rothman/Bob Van Tassell
3. Ron Eccles/Leo Nikora
First Flight Singles
1. Karl-Heinz Kempfer
2. Eric Sawyer
3. Jean Engebretson
4. Bob Riddell
5. Sheri Foroughi
5. Mary Rodeberg
First Flight Doubles
1. Eric Sawyer/Caren Sawyer
2. Bob Riddell/Mary Rodeberg
3. Karl-Heinz Kempfer/Phyllis Butts
3. Bob Morford/Nick Gray
Second Flight Singles
1. Welles Farago
2. Ruth Stotter
3. Betty Teoman
4. Marc Clausen
5. Jerry Phillips
5. Paul Christy
Second Flight Doubles
1. Welles Farago/Marc Clausen
2. Jerry Phillips/Paul Christy
3. Larry Stotter/Ruth Stotter
3. Helen Orgill/Phil Arenson
From WCF President Charles Jones:
This is to advise that Martin French of the Ipswich Club, U.K. has been appointed Secretary General of the WCF. The WCFMC was impressed with the high standard of applicants received. Martin has many skills both from within croquet and in his working life that he will bring to this position. I thank all members for the interest shown in this position. I look forward to the contribution I know Martin will make to the WCF organization and wish him well.