3 minute read
court side
It Is About You
With summer in full swing, croquet is happening across the USA, north and south of the border in Mexico and Canada and I hope in your nearby club or backyard.
As I write this article, several of our fine women players are contesting the 2023 GC Women’s Title in England. We are very proud of the USCA players – Helen Covington, Cheryl Bromley, Bev Cardo, Debbie Davidoff and Ellen Nielsen for participating in this elite challenge and being ambassadors for the USCA on the international croquet stage.
The USCA is also equally proud of the fine showing of the USCA players competing in the recent 2023 AC World Championship. It was the strongest-ever showing by U.S. talent. Matthew Essick was the stand-out performer across all players in the event. When the dust settled, Essick finished in second place in a thrilling knockout contest. Outstanding performances were given from all our players – Matthew Essick (Runner-up), Tom Balding (Bronze Medal Winner), Stephen Morgan, Blake Fields, Kyle Maloof, Ben Rothman and Zack Watson qualified for the knockout. Sherif Abdelwahab completed a sextuple peel in block play and there was good play by Stuart Lawrence, Doug Grimsley, Jeff Soo, Brian Cumming and Paul Bennett in the blocks.
The USCA is not just about tournament play. It is about you! You are the USCA and someone that enjoys croquet, and your membership support allows us to further our mission to promote the awareness, development and enjoyment of Croquet in America. Our five key elements to promote and develop croquet are: foster relationships by building community; support participation and continuity through organizational excellence; commit to growth through diversity and inclusion; develop and enjoy the sport through education; promote croquet as a lifelong activity and healthy lifestyle. We are your partner.
An example of building community is the fine work being done by USCA member James Creasy with the Jiminy Wicket program. In May, James Creasey and Bev Cardo, USCA Secretary, engaged 40 high school and college students in golf croquet at the annual Special Olympics Youth Summit indoors at the Championsgate Resort in Orlando, Fla. As a result of the overwhelming display of laughter and smiles, Jiminy Wicket has been asked to bring croquet to eight high schools in Florida with the first annual inter-school tournament to be held at the National Croquet Center on November 15 this year. The plan is to expand this into 50-60 schools next year.
The USCA recently launched CroquetNow, available exclusively to USCA members. It provides a fun way to track improvement, view past games and record results, handicaps and view rankings within your club in both singles and doubles in AC, GC, A6W and 9W. If you have not explored this system, please do so. It is a great club-level resource.
The USCA continues to make concerted efforts to provide resources at a local club level to meet the wide range and contrast in play across the country. If it is a game played with ball and mallet, we are in. Thank you for your support of the USCA through your membership, which makes all this happen. Let’s keep the ball rolling!
