Traralgonhome to state champs

Croquet

By TOM HAYES

THE Traralgon Croquet Club claimed another Victorian Champion last week, when Shane Downie took out the singles and doubles championships.

Over the Australia Day long-weekend, the VCA Victoria Championships were under way.

From January 26 to 27 the VCA Open Doubles were in action in the round robin format.

Downie his sister, Julie Beasley from Warragul, took out the doubles competition, by two hoops to Richards Parks and John van der Touw from Monash.

Downie and Beasley won all nine games to achievegold, whilethe runners-up only took seven wins, losing to Downie and Beasley and third-placed pairing -Richard Hingst and Claire Keating.

In the following two days, on January 28 and 29, Downie would achieve gold onceagainby taking out the Open Singles Championship.

Downie progressed to the knockout phase by topping BlockCwithanet hoopstotal of 22, nine more than thenext best,Lester Hughes from Williamstown.

The top two of Blocks A, B, Cand Dwould progress to the knockouts.

In the first round of the knockouts, Downie defeated OwenDickinson of Essendon -who came second in Block B-10-8, progressing to theSemi Final.

With one game to go until the final, Downie worked his magic and progressed, defeating Block Awinner, Kevin Beard from Yarrawonga, 10-7.

The Final was abest-of-three, he faced Chas Quinn, alsofrom Yarrawonga,who topped Block D.

In the firstmatch, Downiewon 7-6,but Quinn took out the second match 7-4, forcing athird and final match.

But Downie proved to be too good, taking out the third game 7-3, and simultaneously taking out the Singles Championship.

sport we don’t really know much about, on the other side of the world, in front of 60,000 people andmillions on TV.

“I still pinch myself in moments like that, and it’s awesome to experience it with agood mate.”

Hutton highlighted the biggest difference between college football and local Aussie Rules is simply the size of the two.

“We have our own plane that fliesustoaway games, then we get police escorted along the highways in busses to 100,000-seat stadiums that are packed every singleweek.

“Ourgamesare broadcast on national TV and all around the world.

“Most people outside of the US don’t realise, but college football is actually bigger than the NFL in many ways. If you ask someone over here which NFL team they barrack for, most of them don’t have ateam. But ask them which college they support and you can almost guarantee they name one.”

As much as he’d like to move back home, Hutton says he will miss the US.

“The experiences that are possible by living over here, and the buzzing, vibrant atmosphere of Stillwater is very unique and we will definitely miss it,” he said.

Huttonhas takenawaysomanyexperiences from his journey.

“I feel like every few months, we are ticking off anew bucket list item. But Ithink Iwill probably look back on the tough times the most fondly, in aweird way, due to the growth that came from in and the perspective that it has given us,” he said.

Uponhis return, Hutton looks forward to rejoining forces with the current reigning premiers of the North Gippsland Football League-Yallourn Yallourn North Jets.

“Watching fromafar, I’vebeen so proudofthe progress YYN has made over the last six to seven years, as aclub -not just with on field success,” Hutton said.

“They have builtsuch ayoung,fun, family atmosphere and Ican’t wait to get back involved in it!”

Hutton is only now recovering from atorn ACL, which he suffered in October last year, so we might have to wait until2024tosee him don the Jets guernsey.

While Hutton is returningfrom his college football experience, it leaves the potentialfor most Australians to get involved in the sport.

“Just get out and try it,” he said.

“You’re never going to feelcompletely ready, but you’ll figure it out as yougo. That goes for anything in life.

“Too many people wait to do something they really want to do because they don’t feel like they belong or they don’t feel completely ready, and often they never do it at all because of this mindset.

“Just get started and you’ll learn on the way. Everyone else is just trying to figure it out too!”