Member Profile:Tom Balding

Tom Balding

Age: 25 Home base: Maryland Home club: Grandfather Golf and Country Club Grip: Standard Mallet: Pidcock, 12-inch head, 3 pounds 1 ounce, 38-inch shaft. Years playing croquet: Four years Favorite croquet venue Hard to call, but it’s probably the Chesapeake Bay Croquet Club. The scenery, the volunteers, the dedication to the game — there’s nowhere else quite like it. Pinehurst Croquet Club also gets a shoutout as it was my first time on a real croquet lawn and playing there was pivotal to my development in the game.

Favorite tournament Definitely the North Mountain Shootout. The courts are incredible, the competition is unmatched and the Watsons really make you feel welcome. It’s the one tournament I refuse to miss each year under any circumstances.

How did you get into the game? I discovered croquet while attending St. John’s College in Annapolis, Md. They have a nine wicket croquet team that competes against the Naval Academy every year (and beats them most years at that). From there I met a few USCA members, including Carla Rueck, who sort of showed me the way to advance in the world of competitive croquet.

Croquet highlights/tourney wins I have won the USCA Selection Eights Second 8. The North Carolina AC Open and the Midwest AC Regional, and I have made it to the semifinals of both the AC and GC nationals. And as far as highlights for me, making the MacRobertson Shield team is the pinnacle. That was one of my top goals in croquet from the moment I heard about the competition. I’m sure when the tournament finishes it will be the greatest experience of my time in croquet thus far.

Do you play other sports? I used to bowl somewhat competitively as a teenager, and I’ve recently started trying to hone my billiard skills when I’m not on the lawn. I figured I need a sport I can play when it’s too dark out to play croquet!

Favorite sports teams? My father was a big college football fan from Oklahoma, so naturally, I grew up in an Oklahoma Sooners household. So, I’d have to say that it ranks as my favorite sports team. I never really followed any professional sports growing up, so I don’t really have a list beyond that. Pop culture favorites For TV, it’s Agatha Christie’s “Poirot,” starring David Suchet; my favorite movie is “A Knight’s Tale” starring Heath Ledger and my current favorite book is “War and Peace” by Leo Tolstoy. I don’t really have any favorites with music, it’s one big random jumbled playlist.

What is the best thing the USCA has done for croquet? The USCA has done a wonderful job at promoting and supporting young talent and giving them the resources needed to travel and engage with the sport on a national and international level. US croquet has catapulted to new heights even since I joined the USCA, and it is thanks in large part to the efforts being made across the board to support the growth of new talent.

What is the USCA’s greatest weakness? The strength of the USCA as I said above lies in retention, and then by extension, development, but I think there could be some improvement in initial exposure and recruitment. Even when I was on my college team and went to the USCA collegiate nationals, the path forward into the world of the USCA wasn’t entirely clear or apparent, and it ended up being almost pure happenstance that I found my way to my first singles tournament and then to my first home club in Westhampton. But even here things are going in the right direction, and I’m happy to see the range of resources that prospective members now have available to them.

What would you like to see happen in the sport over the next 10 years? I would like to see croquet generate a strong collegiate presence across the United States. I think it’s possible, with the right approach, that within a decade we could see dozens of schools turning out top-level croquet players who are dedicated to this game we all love. We see collegiate croquet growing now in Oklahoma and Mississippi and are finding a revival on the upper east coast. I think with enough investment we may see collegiate croquet in all 50 states.

What have you learned from croquet? The importance of remaining level-headed even in the face of dire odds. The weakest part of my game has long been my mentality, and I don’t think I really became good at this game until I started learning to take everything as it happens and leave it as it happens and not carry it around with me and let it weigh me down.

Quick croquet tip? If you cast and you’re peeking up at your target, make sure to take one extra cast with your head back down in its final position before you go to hit the ball. It will make a world of difference with helping you make good contact with the ball.