2019 Volume 4
CroquetNews The Official Magazine
of the United States Croquet Association
World Champion
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CroquetNews 2019 Volume 4
Features 12 | American World Champion 17 | Rothman Wins Worlds 21 | 2919 GC Nationals 26 | Decade Retrospective: 2010-2019 38 | Club Profile: Tega Cay 40 | Member Profile: Blake Fields 49 | Event Reports
Departments 03 | Courtside with Sara Low 04 | The Clubhouse 07 | Who Am I? 43 | Let’s Talk Tactics 45 | GC America 47 | 9W Roundup 58 | 2019 Grand Prix Update 60 | Events Calendar 62 | New Membership
On The Cover:
Photo of Ben Rothman during the 2019 WCF GC World Championship taken by Chris Roberts, editor of the Croquet Gazette.
Publisher:
Dylan Goodwin | uscacroquetnews@yahoo.com
Editor:
Julie Jantzer-Ward
Art Director
Brandy Ferguson
Inquiries
Please submit all inquiries and stories to uscacroquetnews@yahoo.com. Text should be submitted as a Microsoft Word file and photos need to be FULL resolution (300 dpi). All content may be edited for length and photos will be adjusted appropriately. Croquet News is produced four times per year and is distributed as a benefit to USCA membership. No part of this publication may be reproduced without the expressed permission of the publisher. Views expressed by contributors do not necessarily reflect the opinions of the USCA. © 2019 United States Croquet Association
courtside
Celebrating A Decade of Great Moments This issue of Croquet News highlights several topics, including the 2019 Golf Croquet and American Six Wicket Nationals. I send my heartfelt congratulations to all participants – players, volunteers and pros – and bravo to the winners. But it is another feature that grabbed my attention: the Decade Retrospective. How do you capture a decade, I wondered? And what truly are the highlights of this decade for croquet in the Americas? A comment often heard in this decade and before is, “This is not your father’s/ grandmother’s/childhood croquet.” The nine wicket croquet game of today is far different from the croquet game banned in Boston more than a century ago. Perhaps the game hasn’t changed much, but our social customs have in the past 100 years. Even the American six wicket croquet game that started the USCA differs today. In the past 10 years, we have seen some of the same names appear in the National Championships: Rothman, Soo, Huneycutt, Morgan, Abdelwahab, Cochran and a few Matts. Those names and more are listed as winners in the regionals: Bromley, Rapuano, White, Warlick and Butts to name a few. And a few of the decade’s club tournament winners: Young III, Patmore, Jones, Cardo, Wassink, Stettner, Ruby, Quimby, Maloof, Bitting, Lamm, Cumming, Lawrence, Hughes, Ekstrom, Osborn, Cherry, Curtis, McCoy, Cooper, Chilton, Shiftan. We even see regular names over and over in social games. Players who stand out during a decade also involve everyone who was a member of the USCA or who played a croquet game and used our regulations: players of American Six Wicket, Golf Croquet, Association or Nine Wicket Rules, tournament players, social players, a full decade of USCA Annual Award winners, National Champions and Hall of Famers. What about the people behind the games? In the past decade, we have had three USCA presidents, 10 USCA Management Committees, 16 permanent committees with a decade of rotating members, countless USCA volunteers, 30 Croquet News magazines and contributors. The list continues with the USCA instructors, referees and staff. Some of the faces have changed over the past 10 years, but we all go through the USCA office. Wow – and this is only a decade! USCA croquet continues to include more players and games. The “Decade Retrospective” is just a brief glimpse at some of the moments and winners over the past 10 years, but it is a reminder that the driving force is passion for the sport we all love. For all USCA members, pat yourself on the back. This decade of great moments and achievements in and around the USCA is due to everyone involved supporting, teaching, promoting, managing and playing this great sport.
Sara Low
USCA President | president@uscroquet.com croquetamerica.com | 3
TheClubhouse Women’s International Friendship Cup 2020 All women golf croquet players of any age and skill level are invited to the Women’s International Friendship Cup to be held October 20-25, 2020, at the Chesapeake Bay Croquet Club in Hartfield, Va.
This event will bring in top women’s croquet players from around the world and is open to women players of all ages and abilities with the first two days featuring world-class training clinics by top players. A doubles mixer will also be held where you can partner with one of these great ladies in a doubles game. The singles tournament will include separate divisions for Championship players, Intermediates and Beginners. Event schedule: • Tuesday, October 20: Training clinics (individual and group lessons are available). • Wednesday, October 21: Training Clinics in the morning; Social doubles mixer games in the afternoon. • Thursday, October 22: Women’s International Friendship Cup Singles Tournament begins and runs through Sunday, October 25.
EMAIL BLASTS As a club benefit, the USCA will send out one email blast per club per calendar year to help promote your USCA sanctioned tournament. Please send the file as a Microsoft WORD document or a .jpeg (photo) file — we cannot send any attachments or PDF files. Any additional email blasts will be $55.00 each.
Rhode Island Special Olympics Celebrates 10 Years
By Bobbi Shorthouse, Special Olympics Conn. & R.I. Croquet Volunteer Special Olympics Connecticut and Rhode Island were treated to a picture-perfect September 21-22 weekend in Watch Hill, R.I., as they celebrated the 10-year anniversary of the Connecticut unified team croquet competition at Elizabeth Park in Hartford, Conn. The interstate competition between Connecticut and Rhode Island at Ocean House was made possible through the hard work of the staff and volunteers at Special Olympics Connecticut, Special Olympics Rhode Island and Ocean House in Rhode Island. Stephen Morgan, croquet pro at Ocean House, put together the block schedules and did the scoring for the event, which featured 76 teams with a guarantee to play in three games.
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On Sunday, the event was honored to have both Sara Low and Sherif Abdelwahab observe the skill, enthusiasm and sportsmanship of the players and coaches. I watched Low and Abdelwahab’s pleasant surprise as athletes, coaches and parents came up to talk to them. I am sure both never realized that to Special Olympics croquet they were celebrities. The Special Olympics croquet athletes search for Morgan, Abdelwahab and Ben Rothman on YouTube. Their courts may only be a quarter size, games only 20 minutes and jump shots not allowed, but the players and coaches look to the USCA for information on improving their skills and tactics.
Dr. Blaine Eugene Davis: 1935-2019 USCA member Blaine E. Davis, passed away on July 21, 2019, at the age of 83. He was born in West Enfield, Maine, on October 17, 1935, and grew up in Lincoln, Maine. Most recently, Blaine and his wife, Sheila, resided in Boca Grande, Fla., for the past 22 years. Blaine was active in the Boca Grande Croquet Club, having been a leader in the organization for more than 20 years. Blaine founded and managed the Boca Grande Invitational Croquet Tournament hosted by the Gasparilla Inn & Mallet Club for many years and was recently honored when the annual event was renamed last year in his honor as the Blaine Davis Invitational Croquet Tournament. Blaine graduated from Maine Maritime Academy and sailed as a Marine Engineer for the Moore-McCormack Lines throughout South America, East Africa and the Baltic region of Europe. He is a retired naval officer: Lieutenant (j.g.) USNR. After his seafaring ventures, Blaine returned to college and graduated from the University of Maine (BSEE), Johns Hopkins University (Masters and Ph.D. in Applied Mathematics) and the MIT Sloan School (MBA). He worked initially at Bell Telephone Laboratories in Math Research and Systems Engineering at various Bell System facilities in New Jersey. Lastly, he worked at AT&T headquarters heading various strategic planning and business development functions including the establishment of many of AT&T’s facilities and its corporate presence overseas. In addition to his wife Sheila, he is survived by his brothers Gerald Davis of Lincoln, Maine, and Terry Davis and his fiancé Betty Nadeau of Howland, Maine; by two sons, Jeffrey and his wife Tracy Lauchaire, and Edmund and his wife Tracy LaBrecque, by two daughters; Gizelle Chrisafis, and Devdra Griffin and her husband Dr. John Griffin; nine grandsons, Joshua and Zachary Chrisafis, Blaine and Corben Davis, Jacob and Patrick Griffin, and Charles, Chase and Cooper Davis. He was predeceased by a brother, Timothy of Lincoln, Maine.
PASSAGES Jean Arrington
Donald Jacobson
Lucie Bard
Ron Lloyd
Bob Billy
Robert McMillan
Hall of Fame
Piping Rock Club SandyJames, National Croquet Center
Blaine Davis
Gasparilla Inn Mallet Club, Sarasota County Croquet Club
National Croquet Club Pinehurst Croquet Club At Large Member
Alfred Ogden
Ocean House Mallet Club
William Rinaman
Patricia Garrett
Pinehurst Croquet Club
Ann Howell
Cedar Creek Club
Bald Head Island Croquet Club Audubon Croquet Association
Adair Simon
Garnett Turner
At Large Member
USCA Management Committee ________________________ President Sara Low president@uscroquet.com First Vice President Damon Bidencope firstvp@uscroquet.com Second Vice President Don Oakley secondvp@uscroquet.com Treasurer David Isaacs treasurer@uscroquet.com Secretary Carla Rueck secretary@uscroquet.com United States Croquet Association (USCA) 700 Florida Mango Road West Palm Beach, FL 33406 Tel. (561) 478-0760 Fax (561) 686-5507 Email: usca@msn.com Website: www.croquetamerica.com ________________________ REGIONAL VICE PRESIDENTS Florida Gene Raymond (919) 612-3366 floridarvp@uscroquet.com Mid-Atlantic Timothy Rapuano (201) 887-0787 midatlanticrvp@uscroquet.com Midwest Russell S. Dilley (317) 903-6852 midwestrvp@uscroquet.com Northeast Patricia Spratt (860) 227-7297 northeastrvp@uscroquet.com Southeast Macey White (804) 832-2824 southeastrvp@uscroquet.com Western Rory Kelley (602) 686-3941 westernrvp@uscroquet.com ________________________ USCA STAFF Membership Coordinator Ursula Peck membership@uscroquet.com Tournament & Schools Johnny Mitchell tournament@uscroquet.com www.CroquetAmerica.com croquetamerica.com | 5
theclubhouse
SOLOMON HEARTBREAK By Jeff Soo Great Britain had to tap into some final-day heroics to snatch the 2019 Solomon Trophy title from Team USA 11-9 on its home turf at the Pinehurst Resort & County Club in Pinehurst, N.C. The event was held September 30 through October 4 and the victory now means GB leads the series 23-2. After back-to-back losses in 2009 and 2011, Great Britain has now stretched its current win streak to six. Here’s how the event played out day-by-day:
Day One Team USA started well, winning game one in two of three matches in the first doubles round. USA’s Matthew Essick and Stuart Lawrence won their match 2-0. The other two matches went to game three with GB winning both to open with a 2-1 lead in the test. Play continued with the start of the second doubles round and GB took a 1-0 lead in two matches. Rookie Zack Watson’s triple peel gave Team USA a lead in the third match.
Day Two There were triples all around as Watson recorded his second test-match triple to tie the event at 2-2, while teammates Essick and Stephen Morgan each tripled to level their matches. But GB closed out one match with a Mark Suter triple, then survived a Ben Rothman (USA) TPO to win the other. Thus, the two teams were tied 8-8 on games won, but GB led the test 4-2. The US team countered with a solid start to the first singles round. Rothman and Watson each won in straight games. Essick recovered from a game one loss to Suter to win 2-1 in a match with three triple peels. Duncan Reeve (GB) beat Stuart Lawrence (USA). With only four lawns available, the remaining singles matches had late starts, and the day ended with the test tied 5-5 with Alain Giraud (GB) leading Danny Huneycutt (USA) 1-0 and Ian Burridge (GB) tied 1-1 with Morgan.
Team USA’s Stephen Morgan in play on Day 1
Day Three Huneycutt leveled against Giraud in one of the unfinished singles matches, then play continued with the final doubles round. Reeve and Suter (GB) beat Huneycutt and Watson, finishing with a Suter triple. The other two matches went to 1-1. Having lost the first game against Samir Patel and Jonathan Powe (GB), Morgan and Rothman won the match on successive triples by Rothman, tying the test at 6-6. The stage was set for a dramatic final day with all three of the unfinished matches tied at 1-1.
Day Four It was a fast start as Matthew Essick and Zack Watson each posted straight-game wins to give the US team an 8-6 lead. Huneycutt then added another victory to the USA total, beating Powe in straight games for a 9-6 lead and only two victories out of the six matches left to win the test.
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Suter and Burridge then kicked off the comeback by posting wins over Lawrence and Rothman to get to 8-9. Reeve then added a 2-1 victory over Morgan to tie the test again. Giraud and Burridge added the final points for GB with respective 2-1 wins over Watson and Lawrence to complete a massive comeback from 6-9 down to retain the Solomon Trophy with an 11-9 final score. With the test match decided and limited daylight, the last remaining doubles match tied at 1-1 was abandoned. Despite the quick turn of events, it did turn out to be Team USA’s third best performance in Solomon Trophy play. In the final tally, the US team actually led on games won, 28-25. Of course, this also meant GB strongly outperformed Team USA in matches that went to a third game, winning seven of nine in that category. The US team had 15 triple peels (one of them a losing TPO) to Great Britain’s total of eight.
WHO AM I?
?
? Photo by Bert Darrow
I am an east-coaster, through-and-through, tried and true. For example, almost all my post-secondary education happened on the east coast (or farther east). In fact, you could say I have a bit of an Ivy League pedigree, spiced up with some fine Scottish seasoning. Nobody would call me a drama queen, but due to my background, I would not be entirely offended by such a moniker. It was providence that led me to my current home. Does any of this sound fishy? I would answer that yes and no. After all, I have a very fishy license issued by the State of New York, and I have a fair amount of experience doing fishy things on the fly. But I must not be too fishy, because I have received honors and made numerous appearances in journals, lecture halls and on television to share my expertise. To bolster my east-coast pedigree, my favorite athlete is a guy nicknamed “TB12,” and my favorite sports team is a minor collection of red-footed fellows in Pawtucket. In terms of croquet, my home club is in New York, and I really like American Rules croquet. How’s that for an east-coast pedigree? By the way, every time I walk on or near a croquet court, I keep hearing people say, “here comes the prez, here comes the prez!” Can you guess, Who am I?
Visit croquetamerica.com for more news. ORDER THE GEAR The NCC Pro Shop is now offering the Team USA croquet gear to supporters. It is embroidered with the USCA CROQUET logo and 100% of all USCA profits on this gear will go to benefit the Lee Olsen Fund. The options include shirts, ball caps, sun hats and rain gear. This is a wonderful way to show your support for our international teams and players. To order, contact Vickie Johnson (561-478-2300) at the NCC Pro Shop.
croquetamerica.com | 7
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The National Croquet Centre has stock so please contact Vickie Johnston: TEL 561 478 2300
2019 HIGHLANDS/CASHIERS PRO-AM The 2019 Highlands/Cashiers Pro-Am, hosted August 23-25, 2019, by The Chattooga Club, expanded on 2018’s formula: pro-am doubles, clinics and a pro-singles exhibition tournament. Extending the event to three days allowed for more players and sponsors. This was the third iteration of this fundraiser for the USCA’s Lee Olsen Fund, which supports players representing the US in international competition. The Pro-Am was spearheaded by Michael Albert, a member of the Lee Olsen Fund committee as well as the president of the USCA’s Western NC District. The event netted more than $43,000, thanks to amazing support from local players, including some creative and one-of-a-kind donations for the raffle, which was new this year. But the Pro-Am is more than just a fundraiser; it is also an opportunity for Team USA to get to know local players, share knowledge, have some fun and show off. In the Amateur division of the Pro-Am doubles, three players finished in a tight group at the top. A net-points tiebreaker put Corky Dell in third place, and a total-points tiebreaker was needed to determine the winner. Peter Carlin settled for second place, and Candra Seley took top honors. Among the pros, Danny Huneycutt was undefeated with five victories
Lee Olsen Fund Donors
Abney, Joyce Adkins, Emily Albers, Nancy Albert, Michael & Karen Barley, Chris & Gail Bell, James & Vicki Boatwright, John & Field Boger Owen Foundation Bond, Bill Bown, Thomas & Bonnie Brookfield Morgan & Judith Brown, Cynthia Bull, Webster & Kathleen Calvert, Donald & Lisa Carlin, Peter Carroll, Robert & Kathleen Collie Jr., Robert & Barbara Dawkins, Clint & Lane Dell, Rich & Corky Dent, Steve & Miriam Denton, Hal Deussing, George & Mary Elizabeth Doherty, James & Carol Dubow, Craig & Denise Duessing, George & Mary Dyal, James & Debra Field, Paul & Candyce Finney Norman & Misty Flowers, Gil Flowers, Priscilla Fransen, Victor & Bertha Freeman, Louis & Judith Gamble, Gary & Katherine Gamble, Katherine Greig, Brian & Jane Hardin, Tom Harper, Gordon & Corinne Hester, James & Sarah
Highlands Country Club Hodges, F. James Horton, Daniel & Catherine Host, Bruce or Sandra Howard, Dennis Howard, Jack Igoe, Belk & Ann Jamison, Jim & Barbara Kellett, Stiles Killilea, Kevin & Anne Knowlton, David & Jane Kolar, Mark & Shana Kuhlman, Keith Lauer, John & Patricia Leland, Thomas Lochirco, Mike & Sharon Maurer, Robert & Barbara Maus, John & Diana Mellon Trust Morley, J. Edward & Elizabeth Murphy, Susan Muzii, Ronald & Sally Nielsen, Eric Otto Nielsen, Erik Nielsen, Erik Otto Palmieri, John Potts, Susan Price, Clinton & Marilyn Ray, J. Billie Ray & Carol Rethorst, William & Diana Rivers, Kathleen Robinson, Lee & Carol Ross, Alexandra Scholnick, Frederick & Faith Scoggins, Kenneth & Jeanne Seinsheimer, Walter & Beverly Seley, Candra Silver Creek Real Estate
and a tie, finishing ahead of Ben Rothman in second, and Damon Bidencope and Cheryl Bromley, tied for third. The singles exhibition featured nine players in a full round-robin block, including Alison Sharpe, the current Australian national champion who flew in from Sydney to be a part of the weekend. Recently-crowned GC world champion Rothman had the rest of the field gunning for him, and the upsets began early. In the end, it was Huneycutt taking top honors with seven victories, followed by Sherif Abdelwahab at six and Matthew Essick and Jeff Soo tied on five apiece. The Chattooga Club was a gracious host with elegant service, outstanding cuisine and a magnificent setting. Since the inaugural Western NC Pro-Am in 2015, the monies raised by these events have revitalized the Lee Olsen Fund with a new level of organization and purpose. The fund has expanded its mandate to include providing team uniforms for all world championship events and to provide a greater level of support for young players in such events, such as this year’s Under 21 GC World Championship.
Spangenberg, Nicole Stahl, Briggs Taber, William & Gail Turner, Nat & Ellen Walker, H. William & Laura Walker, John & Diane
Weihs, Christof & Karen Wiemer, Julia Williams, Robert & Norris Wolfe, Jill York, Richard Young, Eugene
Photo by Jeff Soo
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theinbox 1959-2019: Westhampton Mallet Club Celebrates Diamond Jubilee
Westhampton's Annual Flamingo Cup
To celebrate their 60th anniversary, the Westhampton Mallet Club combined their Annual Meeting and Diamond Jubilee Dinner on October 5, 2019. The club was formed in 1959 and, according to Amato, currently has a record 92 members and three courts. The club has a rich history after starting with modest origins in the summer of 1959, when residents of the village took up the game at the home of Dupratt W. Taylor using a small backyard set. The club became more serious the following year, and it was in the summer of 1961 that the club reached a major inflection point in its development when Lt. Colonel Howard and Mrs. Anne Cox offered a large field on their estate for croquet courts. In 1966, Westhampton became the first American club to challenge England’s iconic Hurlingham Club. Notably, the club is one of the five founding members of the USCA and produced some of the most accomplished American croquet players including Jack Osborn and his son Johnny as well as Edmund A. Prentis III, and his son E.A. “Teddy” Prentis IV. —Submitted by Dennis Amato
LIGHT ‘IT UP
Looks like the deadness board is trying to outperform the players for outstanding colors at the 2019 Osborn Cup held by the New York Croquet Club in Central Park. —Submitted by David McCoy
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New Hall Of Fame Patch Earlier this year, the Hall of Fame Gala Committee members asked about updating the Hall of Fame jacket patch/logo. In response, I sketched out a basic concept on paper and eventually connected with Harvey Geiger who said he worked with a great graphic designer on all his projects and that he could get him to help. After several months and more than one hundred variations, we now have a new CFAapproved, Hall of Fame logo and patch, based on the original concept. The new patches were scheduled to be available for the November 22, 2019, Hall of Fame Induction and Gala. Former inductees will get the new patch for free if they wish to replace the old one.
—David McCoy
“WHO AM I?” ANSWER I am . . . Sara Low, the current president of the United States Croquet Association! Low received a Bachelor of Arts degree in International Relations from Brown University and a Masters of Fine Arts in Theatre Administration from the Yale University School of Drama (Brown and Yale are both Ivy League colleges). She also attended the University of St. Andrews in Scotland. In addition to her graduate work in theatre, Low had a long career promoting Broadway shows. That’s why she would not necessarily mind being called a “drama queen,” even though she is not one. You could say it is provident that she lives in Providence, R.I. Low is a licensed fishing guide and fly-fishing instructor in the state of New York, with more than 17 years of experience leading fishing trips and teaching fly fishing to both skilled and novice anglers. She was honored as the 2010 Fly Fisher of Distinction by the Catskill Fly Fishing Center and Museum. She has made numerous appearances in journals, lecture halls and on television to share her fly-fishing expertise. She has also written several books about fly fishing, including “A Guide’s Guide to Fly Fishing Mistakes,” which was selected by the Schenectady Daily Gazette as one of the top picks for books in 2014. Her favorite (non-croquet) athlete is quarterback Tom Brady of the world champion New England Patriots. Brady wears number 12, thus his nickname “TB12.” Her favorite sports team is the Pawtucket Red Sox, a minor league affiliate of the Boston Red Sox major league baseball team. As noted above, Low is the current president of the USCA, having previously served as a vice president for many years. She is the first female president in USCA history.
In an interesting melding of her two passions, croquet and fly fishing, Low and her business partner Karen Kaplan run High Spirits Unlimited, a company that develops trips and group outings based on fly fishing, croquet, culinary arts and other activities. Check out their company at: www.highspiritsunlimited.com.
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Interview with an
AMERICAN WORLD CHAMPION By Dylan Goodwin
Photo by Chris Roberts
Appearances by American players in a world championship are relatively rare. Jacques Fournier won the 1999 World Championship at Sonoma. Ben Rothman made the 2009 WCF AC Final in West Palm Beach and David Maloof did the same in 2016. But you must go back to Mik Mehas at the 1998 WCF World Golf Croquet Championship to find an American player that made it to a world final at an event held outside the US. So, 21 years later, the run that Rothman made in August at the 2019 WCF GC World Championship that culminated 12 | croquetamerica.com
with a thrilling come-from-behind win in five games over Egypt’s Mohamed Karem certainly caught the American croquet scene by surprise. Thankfully, for those paying attention and with basic technology skills, it was easy to tune in to YouTube and watch the semifinals and finals to catch a giant piece of American croquet history. I was honored that Rothman was gracious enough to spend a week on email with me and later follow up with a phone interview with the idea to talk about both the title and his career overall.
How exactly do you celebrate a croquet world championship victory?
tournaments as I could. Full-time dedicated to croquet started in 2008, and then I stopped at Mission Hills in 2015.
Hugs to Cody and Leo, some beers at the Southwick club with friends and locals and lots of smiles.
So, about seven full years there … playing 20 plus tournaments a year with domestic and international travel.
Later we went up to Scotland for a few days and bought a bottle of Oban scotch (Little Bay to be specific) and got the bottle engraved. I also smoked a few nice cigars. Eventually, the Oakland Croquet Club held a lunch party for me, and the city of Oakland made Sunday, September 29, 2019, “Ben Hunter Rothman Day.” I will probably never finish celebrating this, so I will have to update you as time goes on.
What led you to move away from the full-time croquet pro approach?
What moment did you enjoy most at the GCWC? It’s hard to pinpoint. I had to focus so much on not celebrating too early and staying hungry. Probably the exhibition at the opening ceremony with the Duke of Gloucester and the Leftenant of Sussex. My partner, the Leftenant, made an awesome hoop one and we beat the Duke and J.P. Moberly. That was pretty great. For those who have never played in a WCF World Championship, what don’t we know about what it’s like to play in the event? Nineteen countries and everyone speaks more English than I do Arabic or German or Swedish. We played at so many venues that if a player missed the opening ceremony, I may not have seen them until the knockout or the semifinals day 5-7 days later.
It’s an interesting lifestyle, living in a condo on the croquet court – spending all your winter earning money so that you can travel as much as possible. And the community there was great, but yeah, I was wanting to have a family and settle down somewhere that you would want to live for 12 months out of the year. Palm Springs was a little off the list for my partner and I. Summer in the desert wasn’t super-exciting. So, we came up north … I think for the first year or so after Cody and I moved to Oakland, I still went down to Palm Springs for one season. And she would come down for the occasional weekend and I would come up for holidays, but we just preferred to not have a long-distance relationship.
I spend a fair amount of mental energy trying to not think about winning and trying to focus on playing well.
It seemed to be a good-sized and engaged gallery for the final. Factoring in the Livestream, did the concept of the larger audience and the pressure that comes along with that enter your thoughts at all? Not really. Just put in the headphones and focus. The boards around the boundary and the fence were a bit annoying, though. I think those were there (and immobile) because of the larger-thanusual crowd. Watching the semifinals and finals, I know I had some doubts along the way – did you ever have any moments of thinking, yeah, this really isn’t going my way? I spend a fair amount of mental energy trying to not think about winning and trying to focus on playing well. When I get way behind, it takes less energy as the positive visualization comes up less often. So, yes, I do know the score and start to think it may not be my day, but then I focus on trying to make my opponent earn it and make it more of a tough fight. You were dedicated fully to croquet for a number of years. What was the time frame for that era of your croquet career? Late 2007 is when I started competing in the championship flight and by 2008 is when I started to travel. I went to Palm Beach in January and then kept travelling. So, 2008 was when I was still working at a restaurant in San Francisco and just getting time off to go and play. And then, I stopped working at the restaurant in the spring. Then I went full out in the summer to go to as many
Are you enjoying having a lighter tournament/playing schedule?
In an ideal world, I would love to play more. It is nice to not have to be on the road as much. I’ve kind of amped up my schedule since winning in August because it kind of spurred me on. I never imagined in 2015 when I stopped playing as much and kind of started to look for a software engineer job and we got pregnant and had a child … I didn’t really expect that my croquet accomplishments would increase. I just kind of thought I wouldn’t be able to do many more nationals, so I would just play for the US team and hopefully we’d get some team victories and maybe I’d travel occasionally when it suited our vacation schedule. It’s enjoyable, but I never expected that limiting my croquet playing would mean that I had a chance to win those elite tournaments. Do you think that you have improved as a player now that you are not playing as much? It’s hard to argue with results, but memory is a funny thing … I remember playing perfect American rules games or golf croquet games where I shot 50-foot hoop shots or AC games that you win in five turns. And because I am playing less, those (scenarios) just don’t come up. Croquet is a funny game where you don’t have to be in perfect physical shape and you can actually put the mallet down for a while because it is so mental. You have to hit well in the moment, but it’s unlike a lot of other sports where you can kind of take time off and then come to a tournament, and, as long as you get your hitting back in shape, you’re fine. Result-based, obviously it has been a great success. But, I don’t know for a fact in a video game, if I could beat 2009 Ben or 2014 Ben ... I don’t know that I could beat that version of myself because I was on the court all the time. But I think I have used that past experience to never really give up on the game because I’ve seen everything that happens. croquetamerica.com | 13
Ben Rothman checks his line during the quarterfinals. Photo by Jeff Soo.
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Sort of along those lines, as I was watching the GC World Final, I realized, "Wow, Ben is the veteran in this scenario. He’s been around these moments more often." I was thinking you had the edge of keeping your emotions more even-keel whereas Mohamed Karem hadn’t really been in that world spotlight scenario as often.
for the Solomon Trophy matches the last couple of years, so I don’t have enough games to be in the rankings. So, I’m going to play the Eights and hopefully that will help me get a bid to the worlds. Despite the fact that when my rank expired in August, at some point recently, I was #2 in the world. Now, I don’t get a spot in the worlds until I play some games.
My inner tactic was thinking that I was older than Josh Freeth and Mohamed and I had more experience … but I don’t know that for a fact. Josh had won the Under 21 Worlds and Mohamed had made it to the top-three players in Egypt before going to the Worlds and probably played in several Egyptian Opens that I haven’t experienced. But I told myself that they didn’t have the grind-it-out long-match experience … and especially in the semifinals, I needed to believe that because that was the only way I was going to win. And it turned out that way in the final. After game three, just keep it going and hopefully get it into uncomfortable territory for my apparently young opponent.
At the very worst, I will go over and play five days of qualifier and get my spot the old-fashion way.
It feels like less of an even-keel of emotion and more of a situation where I set myself to a hard tact and stayed there … and got into a kind of a weird, aggressive, I don’t care about the crowd, I don’t care about when he makes a shot. I’m just going to play aggressive and play for every advantage I can and get into that aggressive stalking mode. Speaking of Mohamed, it seems there were a couple of short-angled hoop shots that he made that he shot kind of softly. I thought the angle was insane and I was really surprised they went through. Do you remember those shots?
Considering your trip to AC World Final in 2009, which title do you think is harder to win? I can’t really speak to what I haven’t done. I guess I’d have to say AC is harder since I haven’t done it. In-game are you more comfortable when playing AC or GC? I think AC is more comfortable for me because I have total control when I am in. GC requires more confidence because I am constantly testing my boundaries.
I never imagined in 2015 when I stopped playing as much and kind of started to look for a software engineer job and we got pregnant and had a child … I didn’t really expect that my croquet accomplishments would increase.
I remember the trend. I don’t remember which ones specifically he hit softly … and, I don’t know that they were soft, but yeah, those were insane angles that he made, which was why I was giving him those shots or knocking him away to those angles, to a spot where I thought he would have a tough decision. Some of his angled shots were really good … you know I had that happen to me a number of times in that tournament. There is one video of a block game where my opponent made the 13th hoop from corner three. That’s a little upsetting when you are in a tight match. In the semifinals, Josh made some really good angled hoop shots as well. And then yeah, Mohamed made several really good angled hoop shots that just forced me into a mode where I had to hit him even if I thought the hoop shot was difficult. I couldn’t give it to him because he was making too many of them. You’ve mentioned that you are amping up your schedule, so what is your approach going forward? I went to the fundraiser in the mountains of North Carolina in late August to help raise money for the Lee Olsen fund and team travel in the future. As we were doing a golf croquet event, it was little more prestigious to have someone who had just won a big tournament actually show up. And, I’ve added the Selection Eights to my schedule and the worlds in Australia. I need the Eights, because I haven’t played AC except
There’s a quote out there right now: “greatest player in the history of US croquet.” What do you think about that? The hardest thing is comparing eras. It’s different. In terms of American players, I have several players that I put up on a pedestal and I didn’t get to play them at their height, so it’s always hard to compare. If you qualify with something like most titles or biggest wins, I think that is kind of fair. But it’s hard to compare me to a Mik Mehas, Jerry Stark, Archie Burchfield or even Archie Peck, Teddy Prentis or Johnny Osborn at their heights. Or Jaques Fournier.
Those accomplishments include the British Open title, the GC World Title, countless US national titles and you were on the first team to win the Solomon Trophy. Of course, you are already in US Croquet Hall of Fame and you are still only 35 years old. You could keep playing top-level croquet until 85. How do you frame a career that already looks complete compared to other sports, but in croquet might just be one of many peaks? Well, I don’t think it’s over by any stretch. That was the debate – a lot of top players had talked about what a shame it is the US Hall of Fame (HOF) doesn’t really have a lot of famous players. So, top players wanted more players in the HOF, but some of those same players didn’t want to go into the HOF for fear that it meant their career was over. Unlike other sports, it kind of makes sense to be inducted into the HOF even though you might have decades left. At least that was my view and now Danny Huneycutt is being inducted. It’s hard to compare to other sports. Rich Curtis spoke at the induction last year of the British Open win being the best accomplishment in croquet ever by an American. So that was kind of nice, but now it is kind of couched by the World Championship. It’s kind of like the HOF was an ellipsis, not a period. croquetamerica.com | 15
NATIONAL SINGLES TITLES 2009 Association Laws
ROTHMAN GC CAREER Year GP
NATIONAL DOUBLES TITLES
Wins Losses PCT
2010 13 12 1 0.923 2011 47 32 15 0.681 2012 27 19 8 0.704 2013 13 9 4 0.692 2014 17 14 3 0.824 2015 21 18 3 0.857 2016 15 10 5 0.667
2010 American Rules 2010 Golf Croquet
2009 Association Laws Partner: Doug Grimsley 2010 American Rules
Partner: Brian Cumming
2010 Association Laws Partner: Doug Grimsley 2012 American Rules
Partner: Brian Cumming
2012 Association Laws Partner: Doug Grimsley 2012 Golf Croquet
Partner: Sherif Abdelwahab
2013 Association Laws Partner: Doug Grimsley 2013 Golf Croquet
Partner: Sherif Abdelwahab
2019 62 49 13 0.790
2014 Golf Croquet
Partner: Sherif Abdelwahab
Total 226 174 52 0.770
2015 Golf Croquet
Partner: Sherif Abdelwahab
2018 11 11 0 1.000
ROTHMAN AC CAREER Year
GP Wins Losses
PCT Tps Tpos Otps Sxps
2012 American Rules
2003 9 6 3 0.667 0 0 0 0
2012 Golf Croquet
2007 23 15 8 0.652 2 0 0 0
2013 Association Laws 2013 Golf Croquet 2014 American Rules 2014 Golf Croquet 2015 Golf Croquet 16 | croquetamerica.com
2004 45 25 20 0.556 4 0 0 0 2005 11 4 7 0.364 1 0 0 0 2006 15 10 5 0.667 1 0 0 0 2008 149 93
56 0.624 34 1
0 0
2009 129 97
32 0.752 47 0
0 0
2010 144 108
36 0.750 70 1
0 2
2011 135 103
32 0.763 66 2
0 6
2012 78 66
12 0.846 48 1
0 0
2013 93 79
14 0.849 63 0
1 2
2014 119 88
31 0.739 68 2
1 0
2015 66 48
18 0.727 28 2
1 0
2016 42 29
13 0.690 13 1
1 0
2017 30 24
6 0.800 11 0
0 0
2018 25 18 7 0.720 3 0 0 0 2019 19 12 7 0.632 8 0 0 0 Total 1132 825 307 0.729 467 10
INTERNATIONAL MAJOR TITLES 2014 British Open Doubles
Partner Reg Bamford
2015 British Open Doubles
Partner Reg Bamford
2016 British Open Singles 2019 WCF GC World Championship
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WCF Simon Carter Golf Croquet World Championship 2019 July 27 – August 4, 2019 | Sussex, England
Rothman Wins WORLDS Article and Photos by Jeff Soo
B
en Rothman became the first American to win a World Croquet Federation (WCF) world title, taking gold at the WCF Simon Carter Golf Croquet World Championship 2019. He won a thrilling final, 7-5, 2-7, 3-7, 7-6, 7-5 over Mohamed Karem (EGY). The match took well more than six hours and featured many dramatic reversals of fortune, especially in the final two games. More than two hundred spectators were on hand to watch the final at the Sussex County Croquet Club in Southwick, England. Several hundred more tuned in to the live video and commentary stream on the Croquet England channel on YouTube. The field of 80 players representing 19 countries included four of the five most recent champions: Mohamed Nasr (EGY), winner in 2006; Ahmed Nasr (EGY), winner in 2004 and 2008, and silver medalist in 2013 and 2017; 2015 champion Ahmed El Mahdi (EGY); and, of course, defending (and 2013) champion and pre-tournament world #1 Reg Bamford, who plays for South Africa but lives in London, and for whom this was practically a local tournament. All four former champions advanced through the block phase of the tournament, qualifying to the 32-player knockout. Surprisingly, though, only El Mahdi managed to win his block, with an 8-1
record. Bamford and Mohamed Nasr each went 7-2, and Ahmed Nasr, the pre-tournament #5 seed, barely avoided a playoff to qualify on 6-3. Shockingly, all four then lost in the first round of the knockout. Bamford went down 7-4, 7-4 to the previously unheralded Nick Archer (ENG). El Mahdi and Ahmed Nasr also lost in straight games. Mohamed Nasr traded 7-3 games with Josh Freeth (NZ), losing 7-6 in the decider. For the 16 players who advanced to the second round, the path to the final suddenly looked much easier. Freeth, the 2015 Under-21 GC world champion, was one of a quartet of young New Zealanders, all of whom advanced to the knockout. In the round of 16, Freeth was joined by his compatriots Duncan Dixon, the 2009 Under 21 world champion, and Hamish McIntosh, bronze medalist in the 2011 GC World Championship. This was not even the full strength of the Kiwi youth contingent: Felix Webby and Edmund Fordyce, world top-10 players both, were unavailable. For New Zealand, the future looks bright indeed. The Spaniards also had an impressive showing. Jose Riva is well known in the croquet world as a top AC player and former London resident. He was joined in the knockout by Manual and Jose Alvarez-Sala, the latter of whom advanced to the quarterfinals. Four Americans qualified to the knockout,
but only Rothman survived the first round. He won seven straight games to advance to a semifinal matchup with Freeth. This was the first-ever meeting between the two. Rothman had a shaky start, missing several routine hoop shots, and Freeth dominated the early going to take an imposing 7-2, 7-3 lead in the best-of-five match. Rothman finally found form in game three, starting 2-0 after running H1 into the jaws of H2. He won 7-3 to get back into the match. Freeth jumped out to a 4-1 lead in game 4, but Rothman fought back to 4-all. Freeth was in strong position at H9, after playing Blue into the jaws and then clearing Yellow back to the line. Rothman played a bouncing jump shot to take the lead for the first time in game 4, then leveled the match with a 7-5 victory. The pair traded hoops to get to 2-all in the decider, Rothman then scoring H5 for the first change of lead since the match began. The lead changed hands twice again before Rothman closed out 7-5, a remarkable comeback. Karem, a former world #1, faced a tougher path to the final. His semifinal opponent was Hamy Erian (EGY), the tournament’s #2 seed and the 2015 silver medalist. The two are frequent opponents with many close matches; they met in the quarterfinals in 2017, Erian winning 7-6, 7-6, 7-6. This time Karem had the edge throughout the match, winning the first two games 7-5 and 7-4. Erian made a match of it, croquetamerica.com | 17
Sherif Abdelwahab leads Team USA in the opening ceremony.
winning the next game 7-6 after a tight battle throughout the game, finishing with a bouncing jump shot from the line. Karem resumed control in game 4, getting out to a 6-2 lead before closing out the match 7-3. The final would be a contest of power versus control. Rothman typically shoots at moderate pace, even when attempting clearance shots from long range. Karem, while sometimes playing mid-paced shots, most often shoots full strength, frequently running hoops off the far boundary and sending balls airborne on clearance shots. Both players showed some signs of nerves at the start of the match. Rothman settled in sooner, getting to 4-2 on the strength of an excellent clearance shot at H6, then to 5-2 after a couple of missed aggressive shots by Karem. Karem fought back to 5-6, setting the stage for a 25-minute battle at H12. Rothman won this battle—and game 1—on the strength of center-ball clearances at medium pace. Score one for control over power.
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In games 2 and 3, score two for power over control. In game 2, Karem got to 3-0 and 4-1 with impressive clearance and hoop shots. He also showed excellent touch to win a protracted sequence at H6, playing a perfect block from several yards out, getting to 5-1. He won the game 7-2 with a clean shot through H9 from the south boundary. Game 3 started with an exchange of hoops, then a run of three hoops for Karem to again take a 4-1 lead. The players traded the next four hoops, Karem reaching 6-3 by scoring H9 from a severe angle, then taking a two-gamesto-one lead after Rothman just nicked a seven-yard clearance at H10. Rothman scored H1 on the fifth turn of game 4; Karem leveled by scoring 2 from a couple of yards out at a 45-degree angle. In good position at H3, Karem played a clearance shot that put Rothman’s ball through the hoop, giving Rothman not only a 2-1 lead, but also the first ball down to H4. Karem saved the point with a long clearance, leading to an extended sequence of clearing and positioning
shots, a pattern that repeated at H5 and H6. Both players cleared well, but Karem won all three hoops to erase his unlucky shot at H3 for a 4-2 lead, then extended that to 5-2 with a long shot through H7. Rothman made quick work of H8, but Karem kept him on the defensive at H9. Rothman made contact from more than 30 yards to nudge Karem’s ball to a severely angled position, an even longer and more angled shot than his position with the same ball in game 3. He took on the shot at a moderate pace, scoring the hoop relatively cleanly—an outstanding shot. Karem was now one point away from the championship, with the added advantage of a one-game cushion. In the words of Stephen Mulliner, narrating the match on the YouTube live stream, “if Ben recovers from this, he will make Harry Houdini look like an amateur.” But if Rothman was rattled, he didn’t show it. He played Blue to a good position at H10. Karem declined an opportunity to promote Yellow, choosing the conventional tactic of playing in with his first ball and clearing with his
second. Rothman played Black in and now three balls were in good position at H10. Karem’s shot with Yellow missed, and Rothman cleared Red to the west boundary with a mild cut-clearance, advancing Blue to deep position at H11. Karem’s shot with Red missed narrowly, and Rothman played a smooth stroke to score Black through to the boundary. Karem played Yellow to a good position at H11, and Rothman calmly drained the four-yard, moderately angled hoop shot with Blue, finishing in long scoring position at H12. Red and Black played in, and Karem missed a 12-yard clearing with Yellow, ending wired from Black. Rothman cleared Red to the south boundary, and Karem missed another 12-yard clearance, leaving Rothman with a safe shot at the hoop. He ran the hoop through by four yards: 6-all. Karem played Yellow to a 3-yard position at H13. Playing from near corner 1, Rothman shot with Blue, missing to near corner 3. Karem shot Red to the boundary north of the hoop, taking no chance of interfering with Yellow. Rothman had more than 25 yards to clear Yellow with Black, and he hit the center ball, driving Yellow back to the boundary and leaving Black about four feet in, as luck would have it, blocking Red from the hoop. Karem’s shot with Yellow hit the outside of the wire, bouncing to the east boundary. Rothman played Blue to position, taking advantage of the lucky block by Black. Karem jumped with Red but missed both Blue and the hoop, and Rothman had complete control. He played Black to position wired from Red. Karem played an excellent cutclearance with Yellow to remove Blue from the hoop, but his only option with Red was to run the hoop backward from 22 yards away, hoping to hit or block Black. His ball hit the hoop but bounced off, leaving Rothman a straight-on, two-foot shot to level the match at 2-all. By this point in the match, “Mo” Karem was the obvious crowd favorite. Perhaps it was his stylish play and unflappable demeanor, in contrast to Rothman’s slower pace and frequent consultations with the referee. At any rate, while Rothman’s good shots were given due measure of applause, Karem clearly had won over many fans. Karem scored H1 on the fifth turn of the decider. He had a couple of half-
Hamy Erian (EGY), 2015 silver medalist, in the semifinals
chances at H2, but Rothman scored for 1-all. Rothman had the first successful clearing shot of the game, nudging Red out of position at H3. He missed his next clearing shot with the same ball, but Karem failed an angled shot with Yellow. Rothman attempted a four-yard jump shot with Blue, nearly running the hoop but ending in the jaws. Karem had a close jump shot with Red, which nicked Blue, kicking it back out of the hoop, his own ball bouncing up into the crown and then down and through the hoop by a few inches, hampered from the next hoop. Rothman quickly leveled at 2-all. He then parlayed a center-ball clearance at H5 to a 3-2 lead and a strong position at H6. Karem connected from 23 yards, narrowly missing an in-off through the hoop. But his next shot with that ball partially blocked his own clearing line, and Rothman played Blue in to make it a complete block. This left Karem with a nine-yard hoop shot, which failed, giving Rothman an easy shot for 4-2, his first clear advantage in the match since winning game 1. Rothman missed both his clearance attempts at H7, and Karem played a smooth stroke through the hoop, running a few yards past H8. After an exchange of
half-ball clearances, Karem missed from seven yards, leaving Rothman an eight-foot hoop shot, which he ran smoothly through for 5-3. Neither player was clearing well at this point, which allowed Karem to parlay a mid-paced hoop stroke at H9 into control at H10 and a 5-all tie. Blue, onside near H11, played into close position. Karem had the choice of an immediate seven-yard clearance with Red, or a 12-yard clearance with Yellow. He chose the latter and played Red into position, banking on one good shot to take control of the match. But the shot missed, and now Rothman had control. His hoop shot with Blue ended two yards past H12. Karem played for position wired from Blue, but the ball drifted wide, leaving Blue an open shot. Black took close position, and Yellow played in, attempting to block. Blue cleared Red to the north boundary. Karem’s shot was another near miss, and Rothman was left with a trivial shot to complete his improbable comeback to win game, match and championship. Since his breakout silver-medal performance at the 2009 AC World Championship, when he was 25 years old, Rothman has been the dominant player in US croquet. croquetamerica.com | 19
He has won 20 US national titles, including a stretch in 2012/13 where he won all six of the USCA’s open national titles in succession. He has been a top performer in team events, including an 11-4 record at the 2017 MacRobertson Shield (AC world team championship), the best-ever record for an American at this event. In 2016, he became the only American player to win the British Open (AC), the most historic and arguably the most prestigious title in the croquet world. And now he is a world champion, beyond doubt the greatest player in US croquet history.
The crowd shares in Karem’s disappointment as his final shot of the match narrowly misses
An uncharacteristic display of emotion after Karem scores hoop 9 from long and severely angled position to take a 6-3 lead in game 4
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Rothman reacts after scoring the championship point
2019 USCA National Golf Croquet Championships October 10-14, 2019 | West Palm Beach, Florida
Abdelwahab Triple Double at GC Nationals Article and Photos by Jeff Soo
Sherif Abdelwahab already held the records for the most US national golf croquet titles and the longest streak of national GC doubles titles. And, at the 2019 championships, he swept both titles for the third year in a row, extending his record to 13 overall GC national titles and eight doubles titles in a row. His opponent in the singles final was Blake Fields. Despite having just turned 13 years old, Fields is already a seasoned player, having won last year’s doubles title (partnered with Abdelwahab), and having played in the Under 21 GC World Championship this summer. His performance throughout the knockout was an impressive display of talent and grace under pressure. Abdelwahab won the final 7-6, 7-6, and to do that, he had to play at the top of his game. For young Fields, the sky’s the limit. Abdelwahab’s partner this year was David Maloof, the pair having also won this event in 2016. In the finals, they faced Ahab Dincer (Abdelwahab’s younger brother) and Macey White. Abdelwahab and Maloof ran out a comfortable 7-2 victory in the first game. Dincer and White fought back well in the second game, leading to tactical battles around the final hoops, before Abdelwahab and Maloof finished out 7-5. Other notable performances came from Cody Kittle, who played in his first tournament ever and reached the final of the Championship Singles Plate; Helen Covington, who played her second tournament ever and made the First Flight finals in both singles and doubles; First Flight doubles champions Gil Flowers and Rich Dell; and First Flight singles champion Ellie Griffith.
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CHAMPIONSHIP DOUBLES 01. Sherif Abdelwahab/David Maloof 02. Ahab Dincer/Macey White 03. Cheryl Bromley/Stephen Jackson 03. Randy Cardo/John Osborn 05. Michael Albert/Danny Huneycutt 05. Ahmed Alshurafa/Hisham El Zoghby 05. Matt Griffith/Leo McBride 08. Justin Fields/Eileen Soo 08. Amr Hamdy/Nazmi Nazmi 08. Brian Cumming/Hal Denton 08. Blake Fields/Jeff Soo 08. Peter Carlin/Donna Dixon 08. Jimmy Huff/Todd Russell 08. Cody Kittle/Stephen Morgan CHAMPIONSHIP SINGLES 01. Sherif Abdelwahab 02. Blake Fields 03. Ahab Dincer 03. Stephen Morgan 05. Danny Huneycutt 05. Brian Cumming 05. David Maloof 05. Matt Griffith 09. Jeff Soo 10. Jimmy Huff 10. Leo McBride 12. Michael Albert Sherif
12. Peter Carlin 14. Hisham El Zoghby
CHAMPIONSHIP DOUBLES PLATE
CHAMPIONSHIP SINGLES PLATE
01. Peter Carlin/Donna Dixon
01. Jeff Soo
02. Cody Kittle/Stephen Morgan
02. Cody Kittle
03. Amr Hamdy/Nazmi Nazmi
03. Amr Hamdy
03. Brian Cumming/Hal Denton
03. Gil Flowers
05. Jimmy Huff/Todd Russell
05. Macey White
05. Justin Fields/ Eileen Soo
05. Cheryl Bromley
05. Blake Fields/Jeff Soo
05. Ahmed Alshurafa 08. Hisham El Zoghby 08. Todd Russell 08. Stephen Jackson 08. Jimmy Huff 08. Nazmi Nazmi 08. Justin Fields 08. Donna Dixon
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15. Cheryl Bromley 15. Justin Fields 15. Donna Dixon 18. Nazmi Nazmi 18. Macey White 18. Ahmed Alshurafa 18. John Osborn 18. Stephen Jackson 23. Gil Flowers 23. Cody Kittle 23. Randy Cardo 23. Todd Russell 23. Amr Hamdy 28. Eileen Soo 28. Hal Denton
FIRST FLIGHT SINGLES 01. Ellie Griffith 02. Helen Covington Blake Fields
FIRST FLIGHT DOUBLES 01. Rich Dell/Gil Flowers 02. Helen Covington/Arlene Stevens 03. Karen Connery-Albert/Ellie Griffith 04. George Enochs/Billy Joe Simmons 05. John Fox/Peggy Fox 05. Priscilla Flowers/Shoshanna Shelley 07. Merle Berkshire/ Chris Smith 07. Paul Fecteau/ Henry Kraft
03. John Fox 03. Rich Dell 05. Paul Fecteau 06. Priscilla Flowers 07. Merle Berkshire 08. George Enochs 09. Billy Joe Simmons 10. Karen Connery-Albert 10. Bill Sullivan 10. Peggy Fox 10. Henry Kraft 14. Chris Smith 14. Shoshanna Shelley
FIRST FLIGHT DOUBLES PLATE 01. George Enochs/ Billy Joe Simmons 02. Paul Fecteau/Henry Kraft 03. Merle Berkshire/ Chris Smith 04. Priscilla Flowers/Shoshanna Shelley 04. John Fox/ Peggy Fox First Flight Singles Plate 01. Billy Joe Simmons 02. Peggy Fox 02. Bill Sullivan 04. Henry Kraft 05. Chris Smith croquetamerica.com | 23
Gil Flowers (shooting), Helen Covington, Arlene Stevens
Sherif
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Ahab Dincer
Helen Covington (watching), Ellie Griffith
DECADE RETROSPECTIVE
2010-2019 As we get ready to celebrate the holidays and close out the decade, it seems to be a good time to take a look back on the events over the past 10 years. On the following pages, you’ll find the covers, images and moments that stood out in a decade that saw stability for the USCA and a lot of highlights on the court. In addition, you’ll find a list of all USCA champions after the photo piece as we hope to preserve and honor the legacy to all those who have enjoyed competition on croquet courts across the USCA landscape.
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2010 After taking their first victory against Great Britain in the 2009 Solomon Trophy test, Jeff Soo and the US team looked to make some noise at the 2010 MacRobertson Shield team AC championship held in England. In round one, Team USA was down just 8-7 to the powerhouse Great Britain squad, but fell 12-9. They recovered to beat Australia 14-7 in round two, then fell 16-5 to New Zealand for a 1-2 overall record. Playing for the last time as Great Britain, Stephen Mulliner and the GB team claimed their seventh straight MacRobertson Shield by taking New Zealand 11-10 in round two and Australia 14-7 in round three to go 3-0. Photos by Adrian Wadley.
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2011 The US team travelled to Hamptworth, England, to claim a repeat victory in the Solomon Trophy series vs GB with an 11-6 win. Team photo by Mark Lawrence. croquetamerica.com | 27
2012
The USCA held a golf croquet exhibition at the National Croquet Center in West Palm Beach, Fla., that featured reigning GC world champion Mark McInerney from Ireland and Egypt’s Khalid Younis. Photos by Johnny Mitchell.
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2013 Ben Rothman claimed his second AC National Singles title at Mission Hills Croquet Club in Rancho Mirage, Calif. Photo by Leo Nikora. In late 2012, the WCF launched the World Team GC Championship. The first US team of Mohammad Kamal, Ben Rothman, Sherif Abdelwahab and David Bent were featured in the 2013 Volume 1 issue of Croquet News.
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2014 Nine wicket Nationals took a different approach as the event was held at Penn Valley Park in downtown Kansas City, Mo., next to the National WWI Museum and Liberty Memorial. Doug Moore is in play during the doubles playoffs. The 2014 US MacRob team of Jim Bast, Rich Lamm, Danny Huneycutt, Ben Rothman, David Maloof, Jeff Soo and manager Ervand Peterson pose with the MacRobertson Shield in New Zealand. Photo by Eileen Soo.
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2015 Johnny Mitchell presents Danny Huneycutt with the American Rules Singles Championship trophy at Mission Hills Croquet Club in Rancho Mirage, Calif. Photo provided by Dick Engebretson and Susan Stiff. Jeff Soo in play at the Burlingame CC in western North Carolina during GC Nationals. Photo by Ron Miller.
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2016 David Maloof shocked the AC World with his run to finals at the 2016 WCF AC World Championship held in West Palm Beach, Fla. The run ended with a loss to Stephen Mulliner in five games during an 11.5-hour battle that ended under the lights at the National Croquet Center (NCC). Matthew Harders was featured in this white-on-white photo during GC Nationals held at the NCC in the fall. The Croquet News cover shot from the summer issue featured Ben Rothman as he became the first American to win the British Open singles title.
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2017 Team USA’s Matthew Essick pegs out during the 2017 MacRobertson Shield competition that was hosted at Mission Hills Croquet Club in Rancho Mirage, Calif. Australia won the event and team members Malcom and Greg Fletcher inspect the Shield shortly after the presentation. Photos by Jeff Soo.
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2018
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Randy Cardo claimed his first US Grand Prix title in 2017 and was featured in the Croquet News winter issue in 2018. Photo by Beverly Cardo. Sherif Abdelwahab in play at the 2018 GC Nationals at Lake Toxaway Croquet Club. Abdelwahab won singles and doubles with young partner Blake Fields and, including the 2019 results, now has 13 national GC titles. Photo by Ron Miller.
2019
Ben Rothman celebrates the first American WCF world championship with his daughter Leonora. Photo by Jeff Soo. 2019 also saw the return of National Croquet Day for the USCA.
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USCA Champions 1977-2019 USCA GRAND PRIX WINNERS
USCA NATIONAL AMERICAN RULES CHAMPIONS
1983 – Ted Prentis 1984 – John C. Osborn 1985 – John C. Osborn 1986 – John C. Osborn 1987 – John C. Osborn 1988 – Reid Fleming 1989 – Reid Fleming 1990 – Jim Erwin 1991 – John C. Osborn 1992 – John C. Osborn 1993 – John C. Osborn ** 1999 – Mik Mehas 2000 – Jeff Soo 2001 – John C. Osborn 2002 – Jeff Soo 2003 – John C. Osborn 2004 – Bob Cherry 2005 – Brian Cumming 2006 – Ted Knopf 2007 – Stewart Jackson 2008 – Doug Grimsley 2009 – Ben Rothman 2010 – Ben Rothman 2011 – Danny Huneycutt 2012 – Ben Rothman 2013 – Danny Huneycutt 2014 – Jeff Soo 2015 – Danny Huneycutt 2016 – Stuart Lawrence 2017 – Randy Cardo 2018 – Randy Cardo
YEAR SINGLES 1977 Archie Peck 1978 Richard Pearman 1979 Archie Peck 1980 Archie Peck 1981 Richard Pearman 1982 Archie Peck 1983 Ted Prentis 1984 Jim Bast 1985 Ray Bell 1986 Reid Fleming 1987 John Osborn 1988 Reid Fleming 1989 Damon Bidencope 1990 Ted Prentis 1991 John Osborn 1992 Reid Fleming 1993 Mack Penwell 1994 Carl Mabee 1995 Wayne Rodoni 1996 Jim Hughes 1997 Britt Ruby 1998 Mik Mehas 1999 John Osborn 2000 Jeff Soo 2001 Paul Scott 2002 Jeff Soo 2003 Doug Grimsley 2004 Brian Cumming 2005 Jeff Soo 2006 Leo McBride 2007 Paul Scott 2008 Jeff Soo 2009 Paul Scott 2010 Ben Rothman 2011 Danny Huneycutt 2012 Ben Rothman 2013 Jeff Soo 2014 Ben Rothman 2015 Danny Huneycutt 2016 Brian Cumming 2017 Sherif Abdelwahab 2018 Danny Huneycutt
USCA WOMEN’S GP WINNERS 2008 – Jackie Jones 2009 – Jackie Jones 2010 – Jackie Jones 2011 – Jackie Jones 2012 – Jackie Jones 2013 – Jackie Jones 2014 – Jackie Jones 2015 – Jackie Jones 2016 – Jackie Jones 2017 – Jackie Jones 2018 – Jodie Rugart
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DOUBLES Archie Peck / Jack Osborn E. A. Prentis / Arther Bohner Archie Peck / Jack Osborn Ted Prentis / E. A. Prentis Ted Prentis / E. A. Prentis Archie Burchfield / Mark Burchfield Kiley Jones / R. Illingworth Jim Bast / Ray Bell Ray Bell / Dana Dribben Ray Bell / Dana Dribben Archie Burchfield / Damon Bidencope Ted Prentis / Bart Richardson Reid Fleming / Wayne Rodoni Debbie Cornelius / Reid Fleming Debbie Cornelius / Reid Fleming Harold Brown / Bob Yount Jim Hughes / Bob Kroeger Carl Mabee / John Phaneuf Wayne Rodoni / Mik Mehas Carl Mabee / John Phaneuf Mik Mehas / John Osborn Doug Grimsley / Rich Curtis Jeff Soo / Paul Scott Doug Grimsley / Rich Curtis Paul Scott / Jeff Soo Jeff Soo / Paul Scott Mik Mehas / Ren Kraft Ken Rosenberry / Mike Jenner Brian Cumming / Carl Uhlman Leo McBride / Mik Mehas Brian Cumming / Stewart Jackson Jeff Soo / Paul Scott Rich Curtis / Doug Grimsley Ben Rothman / Brian Cumming Rory Kelley / Britt Ruby Ben Rothman / Brian Cumming Jeff Soo / Rich Lamm Rich Lamm / Jeff Soo Danny Huneycutt / Randy Cardo Brian Cumming / Stuart Lawrence Rich Lamm / Jeff Soo Brian Cumming / Jeff Soo
USCA Champions 1977-2019 USCA ASSOCIATION LAWS NATIONAL CHAMPIONS YEAR SINGLES DOUBLES 1987 AC Bob Kroeger Tremaine Arkley / Reid Fleming 1988 AC Damon Bidencope Ted Prentis / Kiley Jones 1989 AC Damon Bidencope 1990 AC Damon Bidencope Damon Bidencope / Erv Peterson 1991 AC David Openshaw Damon Bidencope / Joe Hogan 1992 AC Tremaine Arkley 1993 AC John Taves Bob Rebuschatis / Ann Taves 1994 AC Tony Stephens Tony Stephens / Bill Berne 1995 AC Archie Burchfield 1996 AC Leo McBride 1997 AC Mik Mehas 1998 AC Mik Mehas 1999 AC Leo McBride 2000 AC Jerry Stark 2001 AC John Taves 2002 AC Jacques Fournier Jeff Soo / Paul Scott 2003 AC Leo McBride Jeff Soo / Paul Scott 2004 AC Bob Cherry Jerry Stark / Paul Scott 2005 AC Danny Huneycutt Jerry Stark / Curtis Drake 2006 AC Jerry Stark Jeff Soo / Paul Scott 2007 AC Rich Lamm Stewart Jackson / Archie Peck 2008 AC Brian Cumming Doug Grimsley / Leo McBride 2009 AC Ben Rothman Ben Rothman / Doug Grimsley 2010 AC Danny Huneycutt Ben Rothman / Doug Grimsley 2011 AC Stephen Mulliner Stephen Mulliner / Brian Cumming 2012 AC Rich Lamm Ben Rothman / Doug Grimsley 2013 AC Ben Rothman Ben Rothman / Doug Grimsley 2014 AC Jeff Soo Sherif Abdelwahab / Paul Bennett 2015 AC David Maloof Brian Cumming / Jeff Soo 2016 AC David Maloof Jim Bast / David Maloof 2017 AC Stephen Morgan Danny Huneycutt / Stephen Morgan 2018 AC Jeff Soo Brian Cumming / Rich Lamm 2019 AC Stephen Morgan Sherif Abdelwahab / Stephen Morgan USCA GOLF CROQUET NATIONAL CHAMPIONS YEAR SINGLES DOUBLES 1999 GC Mohammad Kamal Sherif Abdelwahab / Mik Mehas 2000 GC Khalid Younis 2001 GC Yasser Esmat 2002 GC Sherif Abdelwahab 2003 GC Stewart Jackson 2004 GC Mik Mehas 2005 GC Curtis Drake 2006 GC Jeff Soo Ron Lloyd / Bill Martin 2007 GC Mohammad Kamal Dick Brackett / Leo McBride 2008 GC Leo McBride John Osborn / David McCoy 2009 GC Mohammad Kamal 2010 GC Ben Rothman Paul Bennett / Jacques Fournier 2011 GC Rich Lamm Rich Lamm / Danny Huneycutt 2012 GC Ben Rothman Sherif Abdelwahab / Ben Rothman 2013 GC Ben Rothman Sherif Abdelwahab / Ben Rothman 2014 GC Ben Rothman Sherif Abdelwahab / Ben Rothman 2015 GC Ben Rothman Sherif Abdelwahab / Ben Rothman 2016 GC Stephen Morgan Sherif Abdelwahab / David Maloof 2017 GC Sherif Abdelwahab Sherif Abdelwahab / Stephen Morgan 2018 GC Sherif Abdelwahab Sherif Abdelwahab / Blake Fields 2019 GC Sherif Abdelwahab Sherif Abdelwahab / David Maloof
USCA 9-WICKET NATIONAL CHAMPIONS YEAR SINGLES DOUBLES 1995 9W Reid Fleming Neil Houghton / John Oehrle 2008 9W George Cochran Matt Baird / Art Parsells 2009 9W Matt Smith Matt Smith / Nick Zink 2010 9W George Cochran Matt Smith / Nick Zink 2011 9W Matt Smith Matt Baird / Jeff Caldwell 2012 9W Stephen Morgan George Cochran / John Warlick 2013 9W George Cochran George Cochran / John Warlick 2014 9W Paul Miller George Cochran / John Warlick 2015 9W Stephen Morgan George Cochran / John Warlick 2016 9W Paul Bennett Paul Bennett / Doug Moore 2017 9W Matt Griffith Matt Griffith / John Warlick 2018 9W Macey White John Warlick / Macey White 2019 9W Macey White John Warlick / Macey White SOLOMON TROPHY RESULTS YEAR WINNER SCORE LOCATION 1987 Great Britain 23-7 Palm Beach 1988 Great Britain 20-1 Cheltenham 1989 Great Britain 15-5 Palm Beach 1990 Great Britain 19-2 Roehampton 1991 Great Britain 14-7 Palm Beach 1992 Great Britain 19-2 Surbiton 1994 Great Britain 14-7 Palm Beach 1995 Great Britain 18-0 Nottingham 1997 Great Britain 16-4 Los Angeles 1998 Great Britain 14-7 Bowdon 1999 Great Britain 15-6 Sonoma-Cutrer 2001 Great Britain 20-0 Surbiton 2002 Great Britain 13-8 Palm Beach 2004 Great Britain 17-4 Heaton Park 2005 Great Britain 14-7 Palm Springs 2008 Great Britain 21-6 Heaton Park 2009 USA 11-9 Palm Springs 2011 USA 11-6 Hamptworth 2012 Great Britain 13-8 Bald Head Island 2013 Great Britain 17-4 Hunstanton 2015 Great Britain 15-6 Pinehurst 2016 Great Britain 17-4 Bowdon 2018 Great Britain 12-5 Surbiton 2019 Great Britain 11-9 Pinehurst
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clubprofile
Tega Cay Croquet Club Year founded: 2008. The court was built in 2010. Location: Tega Cay, South Carolina Number of members: We have 106 adult members of which 57 are charter members as well as 14 junior (under 18 years old) members. Since our court was built, we have maintained an adult membership of more than 100 members and more than half of our 108 original charter members are still active. Number of courts: One full-size lighted court, which we convert to two non-standard courts for club tournaments and social events. Type of grass: MiniVerde® Bermudagrass. Overview of club schedule: Our lawn is open daily, year-round, and with full lighting we can play all evening. The court is covered a few times a year to protect the grass if we get a stretch of below freezing nights.
Groups of four to eight players schedule weekly play times. Most days the court is in use from 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m., and in the
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summer, evenings are very popular. Both golf croquet groups and American rules six wicket groups have weekly time slots. Open tournaments: We have a regular schedule of club member tournaments in the spring and fall, both American rules and golf croquet. Most are a mixed doubles format and encourage participation by members of all skill levels. This year, we have added men’s and women’s singles golf croquet events. Their popularity ensures they will become annual events.
In the spring, we have a joint invitational golf croquet tournament with the Coastal Croquet Clubs located near Hilton Head, S.C. One year they host the event and the next year we host. This year, 22 of our members traveled to the Sun City-Bluffton and Dataw Island Club courts for two-day event. For National Croquet Day, we hosted the Croquet Network States Shield Southeast Quad Regional Qualifier. Teams from South and North Carolina, Florida and Georgia competed for a spot in the States Shield Championship held in August in Tulsa, Okla. It was a great opportunity for our club members to watch championship level players.
Website: www.tegacaycroquet.com Do you use social media? No. What makes this club special: We are primarily a social croquet club with a very active membership. Little emphasis is on structured, highly competitive play. Most members just enjoy playing for the love of the game.
Although we are located on the grounds of the municipal Tega Cay Golf Club, we are a private club with separate membership and affordable fees. The golf club has a stately 15,000-square-foot clubhouse with a restaurant, bar and event pavilion. Our lawn is immaculately maintained year-round by the golf club’s full-time grounds keeper and crew, so we have a first-rate, well-drained surface to play on. We are very fortunate to live in a climate that allows us to play year-round and in the evenings on a lighted court. Except for a few days in the winter that are a bit chilly, and some sweltering days in the summer, the diehard players are rarely kept off the lawn. Approach to growing membership: We do not have a club pro, but we have a twohour open court session weekly. It is open to the public as a good resource to introduce people to the game, many of whom then join the club. It is also a good way to help our members who want some additional training. Club members volunteer their time to run these sessions. Visitors and potential new members do not have to live in the city of Tega Cay to attend these sessions or to join our club. Several of our members live in and around nearby Charlotte, N.C. Two of our charter members now live in Great Britain and keep their memberships active here so they can play when they visit a couple of times a year. Are USCA members welcome? USCA members from outside the area are welcome to play on our court with a member of our club for a small fee. Playing times can be arranged with advanced notice.
memberprofile
Blake Fields Age: 13 Home base: Mission Hills Country Club, Rancho Mirage, Calif. Home club: Mission Hills Country Club Grip: Solomon Mallet: Morford Mallets Signature Series, head size 12 inches, shaft length 36 inches, total weight 3.04 ounces. Years playing croquet: Five Favorite croquet venue: Chattooga Club, N.C. Favorite tournament: 2018 Golf Croquet Nationals How did you get into the game? My grandfather has a condo right across from the Mission Hills Country Club’s lawns and was very curios at a young age of the people hitting croquet balls in all whites. I was asked by then club pro Ben Rothman to come and play and have been addicted ever since. Croquet highlights/tourney wins: 2016 - GC Pat Apple Tournament (first) 2016 - GC Bob Riddell doubles runner-up 2017 - GC Scrambled doubles runner-up 2017 - GC Bob Riddell singles (first) 2017 - GC Bob Riddell doubles (first) 2017 - GC Nationals singles (first) first flight 2017 - GC Nationals doubles (first) first flight 2017 - GC Presidents cup singles (first) 2017 - GC Presidents cup doubles (first) 2018 - GC Nationals doubles (first) 2018 - GC Western Regionals doubles runner-up 2018 - GC Western Regionals singles runner-up 2018 - AC Nationals doubles runner-up—first flight 2018 - AC US Open singles (first) first flight (A)! Do you play other sports? Golf and water polo. Favorite sports teams: Seahawks and Auburn Pop culture favorites: Post Malone and Pitch Perfect 1 What is the best thing the USCA has done for croquet? Having the Lee Olsen Fund. What is the USCA’s greatest weakness? Publicity. What would you like to see happen in the sport over the next 10 years? More youth and a stronger push in the Golf Croquet format. What have you learned from croquet? Kids can be just as talented as adults; etiquette and patience. Quick croquet tip: Stay positive and be resilient.
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croquetamerica.com | 41
Where Will You Play Croquet This Winter?
How about a Stay & Play holiday at Mariner Sands in Stuart FL? • Play golf croquet, 6-wicket or 9-wicket on four beautiful Tiffeagle™ courts. • Stay in gracious Mariner Sands accommodations for 3 days and 2 nights. • Enjoy three lunches and two dinners in our clubhouse or poolside. • A player ambassador will help arrange games and be your host. • You also may play 1 round of golf on each of our championship courses, and play tennis and pickleball or use our Fitness Center and pool. • Tour the community and available residences with NV Realty. This package is just $499 per couple before taxes, and offered January 15 through April 30 subject to availability. To book or for information call 877-283-0203.
Come play at Mariner Sands Where the welcome’s as warm as the weather
877-283-0203 / www.marinersands.com/croquetstayandplay
let’stalktactics
Position Yourself for
SUCCESS By Bob Kroeger and John C. Osborn
Perhaps one of the most overlooked aspects of croquet deals not simply with just how we do things, or why we do them or even when we do them. While all of this is important, a subtle current that always lies behind good strategy stems from where such play begins, or, more importantly, where we have positioned ourselves to allow our opponent’s play to transpire. In other words: location, location, location!
Intermediate Level: Not wishing to leave the Black ball by wicket #3 for Red, one option would be to roquet Black and, as seen in Diagram 2, take off to the opponents. Tap Yellow, position yourself behind Red and, as seen in Diagram 3, rush Red to your wicket. You have now separated your opponents and scored (at least) another wicket. Nice job!
In this edition, let’s look at a situation that by its sheer nature offers many options. Without peeking further, take a glance at Diagram 1. Here we find a common looking situation. Blue has just scored wicket #3 and now, like Black and Yellow, is for wicket #4, and Red is the only ball still contending wicket #3. No deadness is on the board and Blue has a continuation shot available. And so, what would you do? What could you do? What are you capable of doing? Well, many good options exist.
Intermediate/Advanced Level: Looking for a bit more return for your efforts, roquet Black, but instead of taking off, roll both balls to your opponents (Diagram 4). Tap Yellow, position yourself behind Red and, as seen in Diagram 5, rush Red to your wicket. Make the wicket, destroy Red and return to wicket #4 for your Black, thus leaving Black a three-ball break. You have separated your opponents, scored another wicket and allowed your partner a great opportunity. Great job!
Beginner/Advanced Beginner Level: While you might notice the opponent’s balls situated along your path, perhaps you have some fear about the shots required to approach them. Fair enough, and because it is early in the game, instead of getting dead on partner with no certainties, simply retiring out of bounds might be your best tactic. If a similar situation arose later in the game with time running out and you are behind in score, such an opportunity would be more welcomed.
Championship Level: In this case, as seen in Diagram 6, let’s roquet Black and then split it to wicket #5 while approaching the opponent balls. This shot is easier than it may appear, and just to add some further insult to the injury you are imparting, let’s tap Red first and rush Yellow to wicket #4, thus having it available for future use by Black (Diagram 7). In this case, separating your opponents was not even a thought; getting the potential of a three-ball break
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for yourself (and eventually your opponent) was a game-winning play. (The potential of an immediate or delayed four-ball break was also present, but that thought is for another time.) One way or another, you win the tournament! No matter what level of experience you have in the game of croquet, a lesson is to be learned here that goes beyond the potential plays. Sure, once having made wicket #3 you might have played a somewhat dangerous scatter. Or simply gone out of bounds. But if you didn’t, it was because the opponent left balls that were within an accessible range. In the last three cases listed above, you went after the opponent balls because they were available. The why, when and how was inherent all due to the accessible location that the opponent offered you. Why were they even where they were? It is understood that sometimes we shoot at a ball and miss, and thus are forced to be joined up in a less-than-advantageous location. But, far too often, we see players choose to position themselves in areas far too accessible to the opponents than need be. Players go close to a wicket to make the game easier for themselves or to protect an area. But, in doing so, they are making themselves a target. Not that the opponent may plan on taking
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advantage of your situation, but because you are there, they just may stumble onto the opportunity. So, let’s look at Diagram 8. Assume that instead of joining up mid-boundary, Red and Yellow had relocated in corner 4. While still close to the wicket, this lessens the opportunities offered before, but still offers a threat. Ask yourself: given this situation, what would you do with that continuation shot that Blue had available? Our guess is that no matter what level of play you find yourself in, any aggressive play might result in less-than-successful results. Those many realistic options earlier available have disappeared. Usually, when we go out of bounds, it is either due to victory, despair or pure inability. In all these cases, don’t let emotion take over before a well thought plan has had the chance to hatch. While instinct might lead us to simply bang our ball near our next wicket, dependant upon the level of your opponent, this might prove to range from dangerous to downright suicidal. No matter what level of play you might find yourself at today… loving your corners is good strategy for almost every level. Bob Kroeger’s newly released USCA American Rules 6 Wicket Croquet Strategy Videos Series is available at https://bobcroquet.com/strategy_info.htm. For questions, email Bobkroeger@aol.com.
gcamerica
New Grand Prix for GC Players By Macey White and Cheryl Bromley
Golf Croquet (GC) is fun, fast and growing in the USA. New players are joining the sport every day and new tournaments and lawns are springing up everywhere. The United States Croquet Association (USCA) is proud to support golf croquet’s advancement in America and is officially rolling out a new service for GC players: the USCA Golf Croquet Grand Prix. The GC Grand Prix awards tournament players and tracks the progress of everyone who plays singles or doubles in a USCA sanctioned golf croquet tournament. Players earn Grand Prix points based on how well they finish in a GC tournament. Players’ points are based on where they finish in their flights (First, Second, Third, etc.), the strength of their flights and the importance of the tournament. The GC Grand Prix standings tracks a player’s best five performances in both singles and doubles play. In the past, GC results were included in the old USCA Grand Prix along with six wicket results, but due to difficulties in comparing handicaps between six wicket and GC, the GC results in the old system were never weighted as highly as the six wicket results. Now the “old” USCA Grand Prix will only track American six wicket results and the Golf Croquet Grand Prix will exclusively track GC results. Since January 2019, all USCA sanctioned GC games have been tracked, calculated and tested using a new algorithm and are included in the current standings (except for the 2019 States Shield, which is in process). Special thanks goes to Macey White, Jeff Soo and Cheryl Bromley for putting the new system together. The current GC Grand Prix Standings include everyone who has competed in a USCA sanctioned GC tournament and will be updated after each tournament and at the end of the year, the yearly standings will be published. The USCA plans to have these results uploaded to the website sometime soon. Technical Details The top five singles and doubles finishes in USCA sanctioned tournaments in the current year are used.
GC Grand Prix points are earned and based on both how players finish in their flights (F2), the strength of the flights (F1) based on the average grade of all players in the flights and the type of tournament (F3). GC Grand Prix Points per tournament = F1 x F2 x F3.
Avg Grade of Flight Flight 2700 2600 2500 2400 2300 2200 2100 2000 1900 1800 1700 1600 1500 1400 1300 1200 1100 1000 less than 1000
F1 200 169 142 120 101 85 72 61 51 43 35 31 25 22 18 15 13 11 2
Titled tournaments results are weighted (F3) more than regular tournaments. A regular USCA sanctioned tournament is weighted at 1.0, a regional and GC Eights as a 1.2 and a national as a 1.5. International championships played in the US are weighted as a 1.5. GCGP points for doubles are calculated the same as for singles except the “placement in flight factor” (F2) uses the number of teams for N (or the number of doubles players divided by two) and not the number of players. Simply put, placement in the GC Grand Prix is by accumulated Grand Prix points. The higher the number of GC Grand Prix points earned in a year, the higher the ranking. F1 is the strength of flight factor. It is based on the average grade of all players in the flight. F1 is calculated from an equation and below is a strength-of-flight chart, which shows how F1 changes with average Grade in Flight.
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N 3 4 5 6 7 8 10 12 14 16 18 20
P
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
7 9 10 11 13 14 17 19 22 25 27 30
4 5 6 7 8 9 11 13 15 17 19 21
2 3 4 5 6 6 8 10 12 14 15 17
2 3 3 4 5 7 8 10 12 13 15
1 2 3 4 5 7 9 10 12 13
1 2 3 4 6 8 9 11 12
1 2 4 5 7 8 10 11
1 3 4 6 7 9 10
2 3 5 6 8 9
1 3 4 5 7 8
2 3 5 6 8
1 2 4 5 7
2 3 5 6
1 2 4 5
2 3 4
1 2 4
2 3
1 2
2
1
Strength of Flight Factor (F1) = 2 x 10 ^ (avg grade / 1350)
F2 = ((N+6)*(1/p)+N-P)*2/3
F2 is the placement in the flight. F2 is based on what place the player ends up and on the size of the flight. Winning a bigger flight would earn more points.
F3 is the Type (Significance) of Event.
N = number of players in a singles flight or the number of teams in a doubles flight.
Regular Sanctioned Tournament: F3 = 1.0 Regional or GC 8’s: F3 = 1.2 Nationals: F3 = 1.5
P = place in flight (1 = 1, 2 = 2 ‌) st
nd
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9wroundup
2019 Nine Wicket National Championship By Macey White
Do you remember that backyard game with nine hoops and two stakes? Nine wicket croquet has been played in America for more than 100 years. The USCA holds regional and national championships in this historically backyard game. It’s played a lot like six wicket, but uses slightly smaller and lighter balls, more hoops and more choices of what to do when one roquets a ball. After a roquet, players have a croquet shot and a continuation shot, just like six wicket, but the croquet shot can be played in five different ways. It can be played in contact with the roqueted ball just like six wicket. It can also be played that way with either a hand or foot holding the striker ball in place. It can be played anywhere
within nine inches of the roqueted ball or even played from where it stopped rolling. With all of these choices, nine wicket can be a slightly more complex game than the six-hoop variety. This year the Nine Wicket National Championship was held at the Chesapeake Bay Croquet Club in Hartfield, Va. It was not played on the club’s eight laser-leveled lawns, but instead on yard-quality zoysia grass. The tournament attracted 17 competitors and lasted three days. All players started in the same flight and after a roundrobin, players were separated into two flights, Championship and First, for the playoffs. Of the 17 players, all were seasoned croquet players, but eight were playing in their first USCA sanctioned
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nine wicket tournament. First-timer, Lyle Browning, made it to the First Flight finals to face off with seasoned pro Gail Warlick. Warlick won the spirited battle to capture the First Flight crown. In Championship Flight, partners Macey White and John Warlick faced off for the singles championship. In a tightly contested match, where the lead went back and forth several times, White finally emerged as the winner in the end. Eight teams sparred for the doubles championship. The doubles was a round robin with the top four teams advancing to the
Championship Flight playoffs and the bottom four advancing to the First Flight playoffs. Brothers Carl and Conor Johnson bested Greg Clouse and Jane Koziol for First Flight Doubles honors and Macey White and John Warlick defeated John Priest and Gil Rocha for the doubles championship. Rumor has it that a nine wicket regional will be held in Louisiana in February 2020 and another at Chesapeake Bay in the spring with the Nationals being held in Louisiana near the LSU campus in the fall. More details to come later. CHAMPIONSHIP FLIGHT SINGLES 01. Macey White 02. John Warlick 03. Gil Rocha 03. Greg Clouse 05. Bryan Christiansen 05. Tim Hasty 05. Conor Johnson 05. John Priest FIRST FLIGHT SINGLES 01. Gail Warlick 02. Lyle Browning 03. Carl Johnson 03. Doug Murphy 05. Jill Murphy 05. Suzie Beer 05. Jane Koziol CHAMPIONSHIP FLIGHT DOUBLES 01. Macey White/John Warlick 02. Gil Rocha/John Priest 03. Gail Warlick/Doug Murphy 03. Bryan Christiansen/Tim Hasty FIRST FLIGHT DOUBLES 01. Conor Johnson/Carl Johnson 02. Greg Clouse/Jane Koziol 03. Suzie Beer/Lyle Browning 03. Pam Viens/Leo Viens
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eventreports
Big Oyster Tournament October 5, 2019 Hartfield, Virginia The 2019 Big Oyster at the Chesapeake Bay Croquet Club (CBCC) was a unique and interesting experience. This was Chesapeake’s first one-day tournament and turnout was good with 22 players total. Eight came from St. John’s College in Annapolis, Md., seven from West River Wickets in Maryland, five from Chesapeake Bay and two from North Carolina. This six wicket tournament was conducted in a modified-Swiss format. The Swiss is a non-eliminating tournament format. This tournament featured five rounds of competition. In round 1, competitors played opponents of similar estimated handicaps. In later rounds, players were paired based on win-loss records, and players did not play the same opponent more than once. Starting in the third round, a standard eight-person knockout was embedded in the Swiss, which was used to decide the top eight places. Players were selected for the knockout based on their performances in the first two games. Interestingly, seven of the eight were from the original top-eight seeds. The surprise was beginner and bottom-seeded Steve Thurston, who made it in with two victories and no losses.
The Swiss-system is a great format for a tournament that does not want to eliminate players when they lose, allow a wide range of handicaps and allow players of similar ability to play one another while still doing a good job of determining the overall winner. This tournament had five rounds of competition for the 22 players. Any player wanting to win the tournament simply had to win five games. All players were assigned four matches and given the option of playing a fifth. Other than the two players in the finals (who had to play a fifth) about half of the participants decided to play the fifth game, which counted for the overall standings. After each game, playing assignments were made for the next game based on win loss record, avoiding repeat matchups and minimizing matchups between players from the same club. It was a big task for the tournament directors to get these matchups made between games, but Macey White handled it, and everyone had a good time.
by Sean Miller (St. John’s), Carl Johnson (CBCC), Steve Thurston (CBCC), Rodney Lassiter (NC), Jared Bassmann (St. John’s) and Lee Jorde (West River and CBCC). In the first round of the embedded knockout, Jorde had a surprise upset over Balding in a game that featured several long breaks and few mistakes. Johnson bested fellow CBCC’er Thurston in a close match, Miller beat Lassiter by one point and Bassmann beat Darnell. So, in the first round, or the embedded knockout, the two favorites were defeated. In the semifinals, Jorde beat Johnson and Miller beat Bassmann by one point to set up the Jorde/ Miller final. The final game was a spectators’ delight with the lead going back and forth until Miller finally prevailed in the end.
After the second round, seedings were made for the embedded eight-player knockout, which decided the top eight finishing positions. Players who got knocked out of the knockout continued to play in the tournament like everyone else. It was no surprise that upcoming star Tom Balding from St. John’s was first seed. Local favorite Rick Darnell was seeded second, followed
Lee Jorde was the tournament director and he came up with the idea for the tournament. White was the assistant TD and created the pairings. The idea behind the one-day format was to attract players who are otherwise busy during the week. People who work, students and players who just didn’t want to tie up a whole weekend to croquet were happy with the format. In addition, it seems to be easier
One thing about this format is that there must be an even number of participants to make it work and all games need to start on time. Thanks go to all the players for helping to make this work!
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eventreports to encourage new players to play in a one-day tournament than in a longer tournament. This tournament had eight players who had never played a sanctioned six wicket tournament before. CBCC charged only $25 to enter the tournament and provided lunch. In the future, CBCC will probably charge $40 to allow for better trophies and have a discounted price of $25 for students.
In First flight, outgoing GGCC President Pat Richmond made her debut with just one goal: to make one wicket per game. While After Merion in 2016, Meadow this did not occur, she did make nine wickets over the course of her five matches, which Everyone had a great time, and all are Club in 2017 and New York surpassed her expected average. In First Flight checking their calendars to select another Croquet Club last year, the block play, local favorites Conrad Rugart date to do this again. The order of finish Mid-Atlantic Regional finally and Loretta Cooper reigned supreme. In the was decided by the embedded knockout stopped its tour to settle in at and then by win/loss record for those not in the Green Gables Croquet Club knockout, Webster Bull emerged victorious. the knockout. in New Jersey. Like last year, the Regional Association Rules tournaments are usually not Final Order of Finish Vice President decided to employ Stuart well known for their social activities, but for Lawrence as Tournament Director for another hosting its first regional tournament, Green 01. Sean Miller (Champion) exciting Singles Association Laws tournament. Gables wanted to do something special, 02. Lee Jorde (Finalist) With Green Gables’ three full-size lawns, while keeping a modest entry fee of $225. A 03. Carl Johnson expertly conditioned and rolled by greens nice opening reception was held at the home 03. Jared Bassmann (Top Finishing Rookie) supervisor, Tom Cooper, the format employed of Alyce Leonard in Sea Girt on Thursday 05. Tom Balding a swiss knockout for eight championship night. On Friday, Jodie and Conrad Rugart 05. Rodney Lassiter flight players and block play for first flight invited everyone into their home in Brielle 05. Rick Darnell players. Championship players who were and a fancy tournament dinner was held on 05. Steve Thurston (Second Finishing Rookie) knocked out of the first round enjoyed the Saturday night at the Spring Lake Bath & 09. John Lassiter Sea Girt Plate and all players could participate Tennis Club in Spring Lake. N.J. Simple 09. Ryan Eberlein in the Zed and a One-Ball Z. sandwiches were catered for lunch every day. 11. Susan Koepp 12. Doug Murphy 12. Jay Graham 12. Rodney Calver 12. Cynthia Chess 12. Noreen Rice 17. Isaac Hoke 17. John Rice 19. Angelika Alberstadt 19. Chris Musick 19. Jill Murphy 22. Mia Kablyski
USCA Mid-Atlantic Regional September 27-29, 2019 Sea Girt, New Jersey
While most players in attendance came from New York or New Jersey, some came from as far south as Virginia, as far north as Canada and as far west as Colorado. It’s nice that while not a lot of interest in association rules among players in New Jersey exists, per se, visitors will come from all over the continent to join us. Fortunately, the weather was exceptional during their visits. The event was held at the National Guard Training Center in Sea Girt, N.J. In the first round of Championship Flight play, Doug Grimsley, Stuart Lawrence and Tom Cooper all handedly defeated their opponents in two of three knockout games. After Leo McBride and Jay Hughes each took one game in the afternoon of the first day, a well-rested McBride made quick work the following morning to join the semifinalists. Both Lawrence and Grimsley continued into the finals after two games in the semifinals involving triple peels and other daring feats. After securing their positions, both players started their final test earlier than planned on Saturday afternoon. In between zed and one-ball games, Jim Erwin and Jay Hughes battled for supremacy in the Sea Girt Plate KO. Hughes, who also had the best record in the one-ball games, came out as the victor in the plate.
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A big thanks goes out to everyone who made this tournament possible, especially all of the hosts of Green Gables Croquet Club, including Pat Richmond, the Coopers and the Rugarts. During the dinner, Conrad Rugart enthusiastically asked if the Association Laws Regional could return next year. Keep an eye out for us next year as we return for an encore performance, August 21-23, 2020! Championship Flight Singles 01. Doug Grimsley 02. Stuart Lawrence 03. Leo McBride 04. Tom Cooper 05. Jay Hughes 06. Jim Erwin 07. Tim Rapuano 08. Jodie Rugart First Flight Singles 01. Webster Bull 02. Conrad Rugart 03. Ron Eccles 03. Loretta Cooper 05. Mark Ski 06. Pat Richmond
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In singles action, Dell won GC with Bo Prillaman of Virginia in second. In American six wicket, Lassiter took first and Joe Steinern from Tulsa, Okla., came in second.
Great food and fun were the story in Virginia for the 2019 Blue Crab Tournament. The Chesapeake Bay Croquet Club did its normal magic, making the tournament a hit. Wednesday was practice day with a courtside grilled dinner. Thursday was the start of the tournament with doubles in the morning and singles in the afternoon. Players could choose between golf croquet or six wicket singles and doubles and could mix and match. Thursday’s play was capped off with a trip to Olivia’s Restaurant in Gloucester. Friday’s play was the same great blend of competition and camaraderie topped with a Chesapeake Bay seafood buffet. Saturday finished the round robin play and players enjoyed pizza and beer in the clubhouse afterward.
GC Championship Flight Singles
September 19-22, 2019 Hartfield, Virginia By Macey White
01. Richard Dell 02. Bo Prillaman 03. George Fiegel 03. Doug Murphy
05. Corky Dell 06. Field Boatwright 06. John Boatwright 6W Championship Flight Singles 01. Rodney Lassiter 02. Joe Steiner 03. John Priest 03. Karin Karel 05. Cameron James 05. Marty Karel 05. Rich Watson 05. Conor Johnson
Sunday was the big day of playoffs with almost all the Waterford doubles players making it to the playoffs. First-time six wicket players Dick and Margaret Jefferies made it to the playoffs as did first-time GC players Vicki Okeeffe and Joyce Doehler. Doehler and Rich Watson won second place in GC doubles and the winners were Rich Dell and Doug Murphy. American six wicket doubles was won by John Priest and Cameron James with Rodney Lassiter and Marty Karel coming in a close second. croquetamerica.com | 51
eventreports GC Championship Waterford Doubles 01. Richard Dell/Doug Murphy 02. Rich Watson/Joyce Doehler 03. George Fiegel/Corky Dell 04. Lyle Browning/Field Boatwright 04. John Boatwright/Vicki Okeeffe 6W Championship Waterford Doubles 01. John Priest/Cameron James 02. Rodney Lassiter/Marty Karel 03. Karin Karel/Bo Prillaman 03. Dick Jefferies/Margaret Jefferies 05. Joe Steiner/Conor Johnson
Southeast AC Regional September 11-13, 2019 Hartfield, Virginia Ten players competed for the 2019 Southeast Regional Association Croquet championship on September 11-13. Two of the players, Cameron James from Ohio and John Priest from Virginia, were playing in SE Regional Winners L to R: John Priest 2nd in 1st Flight, Arthur Olsen 1st in 1st Flight, Macey their first ever AC tournament. All players White 1st Championship Flight, Lee Jorde 2nd Championship Flight went to a single round-robin, the top five went to a Championship Flight playoff and 03. Britt Ruby/Joe Yoder the bottom five went to a First Flight playoff. 2019 Midwest Regional American Rules 03. Matt Baird/Kevin McQuigg August 30 - September 2, 2019 Tulsa, Oklahoma 05. Conner Helms/Russell Dilley In Championship Flight, Gene Raymond beat Rodney Lassiter to make it to the semis 06. Merle Berkshire/Deborah Millican Championship Singles where he lost to Macey White. Lee Jorde First Flight Doubles 01. Matt Griffith defeated Rick Darnell in the other semifinal 02. Matt Smith 01. George Peterkin/Stuart Coco game. White bested Jorde in the finals. In First Flight, newcomer Cameron James upset Marty Karel to make it to the semis where he lost in a close game to John Priest. In the other semifinal, Karin Karel lost by one point to Arthur Olsen. Olsen beat Priest in the finals by one hoop. Championship Flight 01. Macey White 02. Lee Jorde 03. Gene Raymond 03. Rick Darnell 05. Rodney Lassiter First Flight 01. Arthur Olsen 02. John Priest 03. Karin Karel 03. Cameron James 05. Marty Karel
03. Britt Ruby 03. Conner Helms 05. George Cochran 05. Matt Baird 05. Mark Fields 05. Kevin McQuigg 09. Joe Yoder 10. Russell Dilley 11. Merle Berkshire First Flight Singles
01. Warwick Alley 02. George Peterkin 03. Ron Millican 03. Ellie Griffith 05. Harold Menzel 05. Linda Trifone 05. Joe Schulte 05. Michael Leaming 09. Deborah Millican 10. Ray Barrett 11. Jon Spaulding 12. Stuart Coco 13. Bob Baker 14. Carl Archiniaco Championship Doubles 01. Matt Griffith/Mark Fields 02. George Cochran/Matt Smith
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02. Joe Schulte/Ellie Griffith 03. Ron Millican/Harold Menzel 03. Linda Trifone/Warwick Alley 04. Bob Baker/Carl Archiniaco 05. Howard Holdsclaw/Lois Holdsclaw 06. Ray Barrett/Michael Leaming
2019 Northeast Regional Association Laws August 30 - September 1, 2019 Lenox, Massachusetts Championship Singles 01. Stuart Lawrence 02. Jodie Rugart 03. Webster Bull 03. Jim Houser 05. Brian Cumming 05. Tom Cooper 05. Jim Erwin 05. Patrick Little First Flight Singles 01. Loretta Cooper 02. Chris Loat 03. Conrad Rugart 03. Jim Turner 05. Mark Ski 05. Patricia Spratt
2019 Croquet Network States Shield Championship August 17-18, 2019 Tulsa, Oklahoma By Dylan Goodwin On a final day shortened by lightning strikes, Missouri rolled through Florida 6-0 to claim the 2019 Croquet Network States Shield title on Sunday, August 18, 2019, in Tulsa, Okla. Missouri had advanced to the championship final with relative ease after a 7-3 victory in the semifinal against Wisconsin on day one of the championship weekend. In the other semifinal matchup, Florida went to the final round against Colorado before claiming a 6-4 test win to advance. It was Vernon Pierce that got the test clincher with a 7-3 victory over Steve Berry. That projected out as a competitive championship battle on Sunday between Florida and Missouri. And it looked promising as Florida’s opening duo of Jim Teel and Pierce jumped all over Missouri's team of Matt Griffith and Matt Smith in the early stages of the opening round doubles game as they worked out to a 4-0 lead. Missouri stayed in it, though, and battled back to take a 7-6 win. From there, momentum and the scores all started to roll Missouri’s way.
Smith beat Pierce 7-3, Shield veteran Stephen Jackson beat Teel 7-4 and Griffith took down Hal Denton 7-1. That meant a 4-0 lead after two rounds for Missouri and the tone of the test had completely changed. The third round continued to tilt toward Missouri as clouds formed and the storm started to roll in. Smith took down Teel 7-2 and Griffith defeated Pierce 7-4 to clinch the test with the needed six victories. With lightning striking nearby, play was stopped, and the players agreed there was no point to wait out the storm to play the final games. Missouri claimed its third Shield title with a 6-0 win. In fact, Missouri has now taken the Shield in three out of the four years the event has been played. However, this one certainly had to be a bit sweeter. The 2019 Shield included 11 teams that narrowed down to the four teams that battled in Tulsa, Okla., while the 2016 and 2017 events were still in the formative years and included two and four teams respectively. More importantly, after being knocked out of a championship bid in last year’s Central qualifier with a last-round run of victories by Oklahoma, Missouri came into the 2019 event with plans to field its strongest possible team. The plan was modified as highest-
grade player Matt Griffith had to miss the June Quad Qualifier as he was playing in the British GC Open, but the Smith, Jackson and Ron Millican lineup came within one win of claiming the Central, falling to Colorado 6-5. However, the strong win total and second place finish was enough to get the team the fourth spot for the championship weekend as the lone wildcard team. Including the US GC Classic, the States Shield Championship weekend had 19 players participate and overall the States Shield event had a total of 49 players participate over summer and will certainly grow again in 2020 as the event is scheduled to expand to 16 teams. The 2019 Shield was played in three different cities over four different weekends, which is due to the efforts of many dedicated croquet players and supporters that continue to drive this event forward. There were of course support teams for all three of the Quads played in South Carolina, Illinois and Oklahoma earlier in the summer and we thank the quad directors: Damon Bidencope, Cheryl Bromley and Matt Smith for their efforts in managing those events. For the Championship weekend, many of the players on hand helped with both court setup and court teardown and are thanked
SHIELD CHAMPIONSHIP PLAYERS: John Steninger, Hal Denton, Ron Eccles, Drew Kennedy, Jim Teel, Lois Wesener, Vernon Pierce, Cheryl Bromley, Steve Berry, Matt Griffith, Matt Smith and Stephen Jackson (L to R)
croquetamerica.com | 53
eventreports advanced and played his semifinal against Wendell Thompson on Friday and took a comfortable 7-3 victory to advance to the final set to be played Saturday afternoon. Steninger also advanced through the quarterfinals, and in the semifinal on Saturday was set to face Colorado alternate Ned Sperry who had advanced from the quarterfinals with a hard-fought 7-5 win over Tulsa’s Jon Spaulding. The Colorado showdown went in Steninger’s favor as he cruised to the victory 7-2. In the final, a rested Baird took down Steninger 7-5 to claim the first annual US GC Classic title.
TEAM MISSOURI: Steve Jackson, Matt Griffith and Matt Smith (L to R)
for their efforts. We were working on the back foot for the entire Shield season as we did lose our primary championship venue in April. I would like to thank Matt Smith and the Tulsa Croquet Club for stepping in with short notice to provide a replacement championship venue to make the 2019 event possible. Jon Spaulding and Joe Schulte from Tulsa were critical to the event as Schulte provided the truck that allowed us to store equipment near the courts and Spaulding worked hard days on the markup, setup and teardown for the US GC Classic. Matt Baird made sure drinks were courtside as players battled the August heat.
2019 US Golf Croquet Classic August 16-17, 2019 Tulsa, Oklahoma By Dylan Goodwin As a companion event for the Shield Championship weekend, the US Golf Croquet Classic kicked off one day prior to the Shield semifinals on Friday, August 16, with two blocks of four in action in the morning. Tulsa, Oklahoma’s Matt Baird went 3-0 in A Block and John Steninger from the Colorado Shield team went 3-0 in B Block to claim top seeds in the afternoon quarterfinals of the main knockout. Baird
FINAL TEAM ORDER 01. Missouri (24-13) 02. Florida (20-16) 03. Colorado (22-18) 04. Wisconsin (20-18) 05. North Carolina (8-10) 06. South Carolina (3-7) 07. Georgia (5-8) 07. Oklahoma (4-6) 07. Illinois (3-7) 07. Kansas (3-7) 07. Indiana (2-7) 12. Minnesota (forfeit)
GC Classic Champion Matt Baird
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All players knocked out in in the quarterfinals moved into the Plate knockout where newcomers Anna Hanson and Mariah Chitwood showed a lot of oneday improvement as they battled more experienced players in the semifinal. After scoring just three hoops on Friday, Chitwood captured the spectators’ attention as she was up 6-3 on Spaulding. Spaulding battled back, though, and escaped 7-6 to go to the plate final. There he faced Harold Menzel from Dallas, Texas, who fended off Hanson 7-4 in his semifinal. They squared off in the afternoon heat for a tough game with Spaulding claiming the Plate title with a 7-5 win. FINAL ORDER 01. Matt Baird 02. John Steninger 03. Ned Sperry 03. Wendell Thompson 05. Jon Spaulding 06. Harold Menzel 07. Mariah Chitwood 07. Anna Hanson
Back row: L to R: Norm Pike, Rich Laging, Peter Bowers, Linda Pike, Sheila McLeod, Andree Bothe, Judy Dahlstrom, Leon Leither, Lee Jorde Front row: L to R: Sue Sherer (TM), Lloyd Hadden, Arthur Olsen, Anne Licursi, John Webb, Peter Sherer, Mike Romano, Rich Curtis (TD).
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Rochester Invitational August 16-18, 2019 Rochester, New York By Sue Sherer Even playing several games in the rain did not dampen spirits at the 6th Annual Rochester Invitational as players competed in both singles and high/low doubles on the lush lawns at the Grace & Truth SportsPark in western New York. Friendly competition was punctuated by delicious homemade food, famous local dishes and the great hospitality always shown at this
venue. Deviating from past awards, which featured limited edition watercolor prints, players received a tri-frame award with “Eat. Sleep. Croquet.� in gold foil, a photo of the tournament participants and a placeholder Rochester Croquet Club piece that could be replaced with an individual or team shot that was taken during the tournament to be mailed to them the week following. Championship Flight Singles 01. Arthur Olsen 02. Leon Leither
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eventreports 2019 USCA Western Regional American Rules 2019 USCA Western Regional Golf Croquet July 11-14, 2019 July 27-28, 2019 Windsor, California Seattle, Washington Championship Singles 01. Steve Scalpone 02. Patrick Sweeney 03. Gary Anderson 04. Carl Uhlman 05. Cameron Guernsey 06. Nick Gray
2019 Midwest Regional Association Laws July 18-21, 2019 Edina, Minnesota Singles 01. Tom Balding 02. Rick Sheely 02. Mike Weimerskirch 04. George Cochran 05. Russ Dilley 05. Ron Eccles 05. Michael Albert 08. Webster Bull 09. George Saad 10. Mary Rodeberg 11. Donna Dixon 11. Missy Ramey
The USCA Western Regional Golf Croquet Tournament was played the weekend of July 11-14 as 16 players from the west and east coasts competed in singles and doubles over four days on the historic courts at Sonoma‐Cutrer Vineyards under perfect skies and gentle breezes. Winners in the Championship Flight were Ben Rothman, repeating as champion, and Karl‐Heinz Kempfer, runner‐up. Rothman was also a winner with Janet Quarters in the doubles competition. First Flight was won by Helen Covington from Florida in her first sanctioned tournament. I know we’ll be seeing more of her. Runner‐up was Larry Lennox. Championship Plate went to easterner Bill Simmons and westerner Susan Wall, a continental split. First Flight Plate was won by Vicki Till, in her first tournament outing. Congratulations to all.
Doubles
Championship Singles
01. George Saad/George Cochran 02. Ron Eccles/Webster Bull 03. Tom Balding/Michael Albert 03. Mike Weimerskirch/Rick Sheely 05. Russ Dilley/Donna Dixon 05. Missy Ramey/Mary Rodeberg
01. Ben Rothman 02. Karl-Heinz Kempfer 03. Mile Orgill 04. Daniel Pilon
First Flight Singles 01. Helen Covington 02. Larry Lennox 03. Janet Quarters 04. Kathleen Marteny Doubles 01. Ben Rothman/Janet Quarters 02. Helen Covington/Andrew Heaton 03. Karl-Heinz Kempfer/Barbara Wills 04. Mike Orgill/Bill Simmons 05. Nancy Chapman/Larry Lennox 06. Susan Wall/ Vicki Till 07. Kathleen Marteny/Nelson Marteny 08. Jan Pilon/ Daniel Pilon Championship Plate 01. Bill Simmons 02. Susan Wall First Flight Plate 01. Vicky Till 02. Nelson Marteny
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usgrandprix
CARDO CLOSING IN With two big events still on deck at press time, Randy Cardo is still holding a strong lead in the USCA Grand Prix Open standings. Chris Patmore is still chasing, and certainly the National American Rules Championship and Seniors/Masters should play into the final result. The top four overall remain unchanged as Macey White holds third and Stephen Morgan follows in fourth place. Matthew Essick has surged from 12th to move into the #5 slot. FAST MOVER: Shane Hettler has jumped into the top 10 at #9 with 15,520 points. That’s a big jump up from the #77 position he held in the August standings. MEN’S RACE: Men still hold 17 of the top 20 spots in the overall race, which means the men’s race pretty much mirrors the open GP standings. Lynda Sudderberg ranks the highest for the women but has slipped from seventh to the #10 spot.
WOMEN’S GP: SUDDERBERG HOLDING ON In the Women’s GP, Sudderberg still holds the top spot with 15,510 points, but Beverley Cardo has again tightened the gap just slightly to 2,881. During the August check, that gap was 4,776 points, so the two November events could make for a great finale in the women’s race. In fact, last year’s champion Jodie Rugart is also making a move as she is just behind Cardo with only a gap of 691 points. That certainly makes it a threeplayer race for the title. FAST MOVERS: Dawn Jupin made the big jump as she went from 2,640 points to 6,210 to move up from ninth to fifth in the women’s standings. Jeanne Branthover also made some noise as she climbed from 19th to slip into the top 10 with 3,109 points.
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2019 US GRAND PRIX OVERALL TOP 60 # Player Handicap Singles Doubles Total Points 01 Randy Cardo -3 17500 10751 28251 02 Chris Patmore -2.5 15500 6785 22285 03 Macey W. White -2 11384 9552 20936 04 Stephen Morgan -2.5 10730 7605 18335 05 Matthew Essick -1.5 14610 3222 17832 06 Stuart Lawrence -2.5 15100 2400 17500 07 Danny Huneycutt -4 12525 3908 16433 08 Sherif Abdelwahab -3 10640 5480 16120 09 Shane Hettler -1.5 13520 2000 15520 10 Lynda P. Sudderberg -1 8075 7435 15510 11 Matthew Griffith -2 9740 5052 14792 12 Richard Sheely -2 11524 2446 13970 13 Richard Sullivan -1.5 9150 4770 13920 14 Brian Cumming -3.5 10200 3300 13500 15 Beverley Cardo 1 5438 7191 12629 16 Webster Bull -1 6686 5808 12494 17 David Ekstrom -1.5 8350 3830 12180 18 James M. Spoonhour -0.5 5290 6868 12158 19 Doug Grimsley -3 8100 3900 12000 20 Jodie Rugart -1 8130 3808 11938 21 David McCoy 0 2950 8050 11000 22 Zack Watson -0.5 9750 1200 10950 23 Thomas Cooper -1.5 6540 4320 10860 24 Chris Barley -1.5 8636 2014 10650 25 Mike Taylor -1.5 7261 3314 10575 26 Timothy Rapuano -1.5 8220 2100 10320 27 Bob Chilton -1 7650 2618 10268 28 Thomas C. Balding 3 7374 2557 9931 29 Simon Jenkins -1 6100 3700 9800 30 Preston Stuart -0.5 4112 5272 9384 31 Conner L. Helms -0.5 3560 4922 8482 32 Bob Worrell -1.5 7800 600 8400 33 Paul T. Bennett -2.5 7424 800 8224 34 Jeff Soo -3.5 5552 2507 8059 35 Richard G. Curtis -1.5 4400 3470 7870 36 Rob Byrd 0.5 4576 3108 7684 37 George Cochran -2 4123 3330 7453 38 Gene Raymond 0 4276 3160 7436 39 David Isaacs -1 3050 4298 7348 40 Scott Spradling -0.5 4980 2241 7221 41 Jay Hughes -0.5 5510 1560 7070 42 Kevin Hansley 0 4200 2538 6738 43 Loretta Cooper 2 3911 2680 6591 44 Mark Fields 0.5 3080 3452 6532 45 Horace W. Hayworth -0.5 2950 3536 6486 46 John C. Osborn -2.5 3600 2800 6400 47 Arthur Olsen -0.5 4820 1560 6380 48 Michael Albert 4.5 5552 732 6284 49 Conrad Rugart -0.5 4910 1338 6248 50 Norris Settlemyre -1.5 4700 1548 6248 51 Dawn Jupin 1 3870 2340 6210 52 Paul Neubecker 1 1610 4350 5960 53 William C. Rinaman 0.5 2400 3200 5600 54 Matt B. Smith -2 4000 1568 5568 55 Britt Ruby -1.5 4600 612 5212 56 Lee C. Jorde 4 4474 690 5164 57 John Young III -1.5 1400 3600 5000 58 Tom Hughes 0 3570 1261 4831 59 Bob Crouch 2 3216 1544 4760 60 Edward S. Roberts -0.5 2717 2036 4753 Updated November 4, 2019
2019 US GRAND PRIX TOP 30 MEN # Player Handicap Singles Doubles Total Points 01 Randy Cardo -3 17500 10751 28251 02 Chris Patmore -2.5 15500 6785 22285 03 Macey W. White -2 11384 9552 20936 04 Stephen Morgan -2.5 10730 7605 18335 05 Matthew Essick -1.5 14610 3222 17832 06 Stuart Lawrence -2.5 15100 2400 17500 07 Danny Huneycutt -4 12525 3908 16433 08 Sherif Abdelwahab -3 10640 5480 16120 09 Shane Hettler -1.5 13520 2000 15520 10 Matthew Griffith -2 9740 5052 14792 11 Richard Sheely -2 11524 2446 13970 12 Richard Sullivan -1.5 9150 4770 13920 13 Brian Cumming -3.5 10200 3300 13500 14 Webster Bull -1 6686 5808 12494 15 David Ekstrom -1.5 8350 3830 12180 16 James M. Spoonhour -0.5 5290 6868 12158 17 Doug Grimsley -3 8100 3900 12000 18 David McCoy 0 2950 8050 11000 19 Zack Watson -0.5 9750 1200 10950 20 Thomas Cooper -1.5 6540 4320 10860 21 Chris Barley -1.5 8636 2014 10650 22 Mike Taylor -1.5 7261 3314 10575 23 Timothy Rapuano -1.5 8220 2100 10320 24 Bob Chilton -1 7650 2618 10268 25 Thomas C. Balding 3 7374 2557 9931 26 Simon Jenkins -1 6100 3700 9800 27 Preston Stuart -0.5 4112 5272 9384 28 Conner L. Helms -0.5 3560 4922 8482 29 Bob Worrell -1.5 7800 600 8400 30 Paul T. Bennett -2.5 7424 800 8224 2019 US GRAND PRIX TOP 30 WOMEN # Player Handicap Singles Doubles Total Points 1 Lynda P. Sudderberg -1 8075 7435 15510 2 Beverley Cardo 1 5438 7191 12629 3 Jodie Rugart -1 8130 3808 11938 4 Loretta Cooper 2 3911 2680 6591 5 Dawn Jupin 1 3870 2340 6210 6 Sandra Knuth 2 1218 3158 4376 7 Patricia Spratt 4.5 952 3138 4090 8 Mary Rodeberg 0.5 1910 2124 4034 9 Vickie Johnston 3.5 2200 1520 3720 10 Jeanne Branthover 4 1827 1282 3109 11 Linda Huxtable -0.5 2100 500 2600 12 Audrey M. Wille -0.5 2080 500 2580 13 Yen Sullivan 5 735 1504 2239 14 Donna Dixon 0 1066 856 1922 15 Elaine Moody 3 1186 714 1900 16 Carla P. Rueck 7 538 902 1440 17 Roni Brazell 5 1010 364 1374 18 Jackie Jones -2 1363 0 1363 19 Arlene Stevens 8 291 1044 1335 20 Martie Ekstrom 6 530 774 1304 21 Victoria Albrecht 3.5 950 331 1281 22 Thelma Lyle 5 339 840 1179 23 Brett Stovall 4 1032 126 1158 24 Jane C. Helms 7 140 938 1078 25 Mijai Pagano 4.5 369 654 1023 26 Nancy Crouch 4.5 627 380 1007 27 Karen Heckman 7 277 631 908 28 Linda Trifone 6 484 392 876 29 Jane Simonds -0.5 840 0 840 30 Danna Huneycutt 6 562 209 771
US GP CHAMPIONSHIP B TOP 15 (3-5H) # Player Handicap Points 01 Thomas C. Balding 3 9931 02 Michael Albert 4.5 6284 03 Lee C. Jorde 4 5164 04 Richard Boger 3 4098 05 Patricia Spratt 4.5 4090 06 Jeff Morrison 3.5 3951 07 Vickie Johnston 3.5 3720 08 Lawrence R. Cranfield 3.5 3500 09 Jeanne Branthover 4 3109 10 Ronald L. Eccles 4.5 2917 11 Merle Berkshire 4 2799 12 Stephen P. Grassbaugh 3.5 2763 13 Leon Leither 3.5 2696 14 Edward Erlich 3.5 2625 15 Stuart D. Baker 4.5 2582 US GP FIRST FLIGHT TOP 15 (6-9H) # Player Handicap Points 01 George Saad 6 2160 02 David Kepner 8 1447 03 Carla P. Rueck 7 1440 04 Patrick Dugan 8 1385 05 Arlene Stevens 8 1335 06 Martie Ekstrom 6 1304 07 Quinn Reinhardt 6 1211 08 Jane C. Helms 7 1078 09 Hal Denton 7 980 10 Karen Heckman 7 908 11 Carl A. Archiniaco 7 905 12 Linda Trifone 6 876 13 George Peterkin, III 6 856 14 John Grabow 6 842 15 Karl-Heinz Kempfer 8 834 US GP SECOND FLIGHT TOP 15 (10-13H) # Player Handicap Points 01 Noreen Rice 11 679 02 Cynthia Chess 10 365 03 Christine Smith 10 319 04 Mary Cassidy 10 255 05 John Rice 12 223 06 Leanne L. Rodick 10 204 07 Jeanette Bair Tribby 10 185 08 Linda Pike 12 180 09 J. Clayton Kingsbery 10 169 10 Terry Cassidy 11 161 11 Bill Fraser 10 144 12 Rodney Calver 10 140 13 Mary-Stewart Regensburg 10 129 14 Peter Bowers 10 122 15 Peter Sherer 10 122 US GP THIRD FLIGHT TOP 10 (14-20H) # Player Handicap Points 01 Cheryl Bromley 20 609 02 Peter Carlin 20 457 03 George O'Neill III 20 375 04 Jim Teel 20 312 05 Todd Russell 20 234 06 Amr Hamdy 20 206 07 Blake Fields 20 172 08 Robert V. Clark 20 136 09 Paige Brown 14 106 10 Priscilla M. Flowers 18 98
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USCA 2019-2020 Sanctioned Events Entry forms to USCA events will now be emailed to members and can also be found on the USCA website at: www.croquetamerica.com/members/forms/ or call the USCA office (561) 478-0760 for a copy. For the most up-to-date calendar, please check www.croquetamerica.com/calendar/tournaments/
November
January
11/2/19 - 11/10/19
1/7/20 - 1/8/20
Grand Haven Croquet Club | Palm Coast, FL Joe Zilligan | 386-585-4499 | zilliganpeg@msn.com
National Croquet Center | West Palm Beach, FL Johnny Mitchell | 561-478-0760 | tournament@uscroquet.com
Grand Haven Club Championship | US Note: Members Only - Lowewst 10 handicaps to apply
11/3/19 - 11/9/19
USCA National American Rules Championship | US Mission Hills Country Club | Rancho Mirage, CA Johnny Mitchell | 561-478-0760 | tournament@uscroquet.com
11/13/19 - 11/15/19
USCA American Rules School | US
National Croquet Center | West Palm Beach, FL Johnny Mitchell | 561-478-0760 | tournament@uscroquet.com
11/14/19 - 11/15/19
USCA Golf Croquet School | GC
National Croquet Center | West Palm Beach, FL Johnny Mitchell | 561-478-0760 | tournament@uscroquet.com
USCA Golf Croquet School | GC 1/9/20 - 1/12/20
Florida Regional GC Championship | GC
Sarasota CCC at Wellfield Park | Venice, FL Johnny Mitchell | 561-478-0760 | tournament@uscroquet.com
1/16/20 - 1/18/20
National Croquet Club Singles Championship | US National Croquet Center | West Palm Beach, FL Tim McCormick | 207-329-5343 | tmccorm1@gmail.com
1/17/20 - 1/18/20
Sarasota CCC Handicap Adjuster | US
Sarasota CCC at Wellfield Park | Venice, FL Gillian Merritt | 203-492-6063 | gillianmerritt@gmail.com
Club Tournament
11/14/19 - 11/17/19
1/22/20 - 1/26/20
Sarasota CCC at Wellfield Park | Venice, FL Hans Peterson | 978-929-9000 | hpete8000@hotmail.com
The Beach Club | Palm Beach, FL Stewart Jackson | 917-215-5428 | lequipe@aol.com
SCCC Golf Croquet Invitational | GC
Beach Club Invitational | US
11/20/19 - 11/24/19
1/29/20 - 1/31/20
National Croquet Center | West Palm Beach, FL Johnny Mitchell | 561-478-0760 | tournament@uscroquet.com
National Croquet Center | West Palm Beach, FL Johnny Mitchell | 561-478-0760 | tournament@uscroquet.com
USCA Seniors Masters Championships | US
USCA Croquet School American Rules | US
11/22/19
1/30/20 - 1/31/20
National Croquet Center | West Palm Beach, FL 561-478-2300
National Croquet Center | West Palm Beach, FL Johnny Mitchell | 561-478-0760 | tournament@uscroquet.com
Croquet Hall of Fame Dinner
USCA Association Rules Croquet School | AC
11/22/19 - 11/24/19
1/30/20 - 2/2/20
Palm Beach Polo Club | Wellington, FL Rick Landry | 603-651-7337| landrytennis@aol.com
Sarasota CCC at Wellfield Park | Venice, FL Nancy Hart | 803-530-2035 | nh13sc@gmail.com
Citrus Golf Croquet Series 2019 | GC 11/29/19 - 12/1/19
National Croquet Club Doubles Championship | US National Croquet Center | West Palm Beach, FL Tim McCormick | 207-266-2055 | tmccorm1@gmail.com
SCCC Jones Invitational | US
February 2/4/20 - 2/8/20
Peyton Ballenger Invitational | US
December
Croquet Club at PGA National | Palm Beach Gardens Ann Licursi | 516-353-3311 | annelicursi@gmail.com
12/3/19 - 12/7/19
2/19/20 - 2/23/20
Mission Hills Country Club| Rancho Mirage, CA Rory Kelley | 602-686-3941 | rory.kelley@aol.com
National Croquet Center | West Palm Beach, FL Mike Gibbons | 917-873-0311 | MGibbons9577@gmail.com
US Open | AC
The Steuber Classic 2020 | US, AC, GC
12/5/19 - 12/5/19
2/27/20 - 3/1/20
National Croquet Center | West Palm Beach Johnny Mitchell | 561-478-0760 | tournament@uscroquet.com
Sarasota CCC at Wellfield Park | Venice, FL Gary Anderson | 352-568-5099 | gmaretired@gmail.com
Tournament Play School Golf Croquet | GC 12/6/19 - 12/8/19
USCA Club Team Golf Croquet Championships | GC National Croquet Center | West Palm Beach Johnny Mitchell | 561-478-0760 | tournament@uscroquet.com
12/13/19 - 12/15/19
SCCC Winter Invitational | US
Sarasota CCC at Wellfield Park | Venice, FL Nancy Hart | 803-530-2035 | nh13sc@gmail.com
SCCC 2020 Doubles Championship | US
March 3/10/20 - 3/12/20
USCA Croquet School American Rules | US
National Croquet Center | West Palm Beach, FL Johnny Mitchell | 561-478-0760 | tournament@uscroquet.com
3/11/20 - 3/12/20
USCA Golf Croquet School | GC
National Croquet Center | West Palm Beach, FL Johnny Mitchell | 561-478-0760 | tournament@uscroquet.com
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3/13/20 - 3/15/20
August
National Croquet Center | West Palm Beach, FL Johnny Mitchell | 561-478-0760 | tournament@uscroquet.com
8/21/20 - 8/23/20
USCA Croquet Week Golf Croquet Tournament | GC
USCA Mid-Atlantic Regional Championship AC | AC
3/14/20 - 3/16/20
Green Gables Croquet Club | Sea Girt, NJ Tim Rapuano | 551-207-0313 | midatlanticrvp@uscroquet.com
National Croquet Center | West Palm Beach, FL Johnny Mitchell | 561-478-0760 | tournament@uscroquet.com
September
3/18/20 - 3/22/20
9/10/20 - 9/10/20
National Croquet Center | West Palm Beach, FL Johnny Mitchell | 561-478-0760 | tournament@uscroquet.com
Pinehurst Country Club | Pinehurst, NC Mike Taylor | 910-986-3343 | mrtaylor1022@msn.com
USCA Tournament Play School American Rules | US
USCA Club Team Championships | US
NC State Singles Championship | US
3/23/20 - 3/29/20
9/23/20 - 9/27/20
Sarasota CCC at Wellfield Park | Venice, FL Gary Anderson | 352-568-5099 | gmaretired@gmail.com
Pinehurst Country Club | Pinehurst, NC Elaine Moody | 910-986-3343 | haliburton_2@msn.com
SCCC Singles Championship | US
30th Pinehurst Croquet Club Invitational | US
April
October
4/1/20 - 4/3/20
10/1/20 - 10/4/20
National Croquet Center | West Palm Beach, FL Johnny Mitchell | 561-478-0760 | tournament@uscroquet.com
Bald Head Island Country Club | Bald Head Island, NC Mike Taylor | 910-986-3343 | mrtaylor1022@gmail.com
USCA Croquet School American Rules | US
NC State Golf Croquet Championship | GC
4/2/20 - 4/5/20
10/7/20 - 10/9/20
Sarasota CCC at Wellfield Park | Venice, FL Hans Peterson | 978-929-9000 | hpete8000@hotmail.com
Pinehurst Country Club | Pinehurst, NC Elaine Moody | 910-986-3343 | haliburton_2@msn.com
SCCC Association Invitational | AC
PCC Club Singles Championship | US
4/16/20 - 4/19/20
10/11/20 - 10/17/20
Sarasota CCC at Wellfield Park | Venice, FL Johnny Mitchell | 561-478-0760 | tournament@uscroquet.com
National Croquet Center | West Palm Beach, FL Johnny Mitchell | 561-478-0760 | tournament@uscroquet.com
USCA Golf Croquet Eights | GC
May 5/7/20 - 5/10/20
USCA Southeast Regional American 6-Wicket Croquet Tournament | US Chesapeake Bay Croquet Club | Hartfield, VA Johnny Mitchell | 561-478-0760 | tournament@uscroquet.com
5/17/20 - 5/23/20
USCA Association Laws National Championship | AC Chesapeake Bay Croquet Club | Hartfield, VA Johnny Mitchell | 561-478-0760 | tournament@uscroquet.com
June 6/4/20 - 6/7/20
NC Open | AC
Pinehurst Country Club | Pinehurst, NC Mike Taylor | 910-986-3343 | mrtaylor1022@msn.com
6/6/20 - 6/6/20
USCA National Croquet Day
USCA National American Rules Championship | US 10/22/20 - 10/25/20
2020 Women's International Friendship Cup | GC
Chesapeake Bay Croquet Club | Hartfield, VA Macey White, Cheryl Bromley | 804-694-9771 | maceywhite@gmail.com
Women Only
10/29/20- 11/1/20
USCA Selection Eights | AC
National Croquet Center | West Palm Beach, FL Johnny Mitchell | 561-478-0760 | tournament@uscroquet.com
November 11/3/20 - 11/7/20
USCA Golf Croquet National Championship | GC Mission Hills Country Club | Rancho Mirage, CA Johnny Mitchell | 561-478-0760 | tournament@uscroquet.com
11/11/20 - 11/15/20
USCA Seniors Masters Championships | US
National Croquet Center | West Palm Beach, FL Johnny Mitchell | 561-478-0760 | tournament@uscroquet.com
6/10/20 - 6/14/20
Mountain Laurel Invitational | US
The Chattooga Club | Cashiers, NC Dawn Jupin | 828-743-1360 | dawnj@chattoogaclub.com
6/11/20 6/14/20
USCA Southeast Regional Golf Croquet Tournament | GC Pinehurst Country Club | Pinehurst, NC Johnny Mitchell | 561-478-0760 | tournament@uscroquet.com
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newmembers NEW CLUBS Peachtree Hills Place Croquet Club – Atlanta, Georgia Ginger Cove – Annapolis, Maryland Mid Atlantic Croquet Club – Frederick Maryland Wequetonsing Croquet Club – Harbor Springs Michigan River Oaks Country Club – Houston Texas
NEW MEMBERS CALIFORNIA
Oakland–Oakland Croquet Club
Logan Randolph Rohnert Park–Sonoma Croquet Club
Rich Gifford Janie Herring
COLORADO
Denver–Denver Country Club
Ned Sperry Denver–Denver Croquet Club
Gregory Anderson Donald Arnold
CONNECTICUT
Greenwich–Greenwich Croquet Club
Jonathan Asch Aileen Hutchins
FLORIDA
Boca Grande–At Large Member
James Hill Bonita Springs–Bonita Bay Club
Nelson Marteny Orlando–Country Club of Orlando
Peen Hardy Palm Beach–At Large Member
Joann Roemmele Palm Beach–The Beach Club
Craig Coats Michael Schaeffer Palm Beach Gardens–Croquet Club at PGA National
GEORGIA
NEW YORK
PENNSYLVANIA
Kevin Isakson Lauren Tash
Ian Danic
Tom Bown
Carrollton–Carroll County Croquet Players
New York–New York Croquet Club
Narberth–At Large Member
Irving deGaris Ben deGaris Bill Harrison
Tom Bayorek Elizabeth Fenton Lynn Heft Edith Salton
Charlotte Friedman Robert Friedman
INDIANA
NORTH CAROLINA
Mark Troiano
Jay Adams Dawn Conte Craig Donatucci Sharon Donatucci Pam Gillette Anne Hawes Steve Hawes David Sawyer Joe Snee Mary Beth Snee
Atlanta–Peachtree Hills Place Croquet Club
Fishers–Hawthorns Golf and Country Club
LOUISIANA
Baton Rouge–Red Stick Croquet Club
James Sells, Jr.
MARYLAND
Frederick–Mid Atlantic Croquet Club
Bryan Christiansen Galesville–West River Wickets
Lin Blackman Verity Britton Mimi Calver Paul Davignon Carol Davignon David Lewis Jennifer West Lewis Brian McNamara Cindy McNamara Linda Orff Shannon Plummer Amy Rand Bob Sima Tom Smith Sparks–Sparks Elementary School
Evan English
MASSACHUSETTS
East Sandwich–Sandwich Croquet Club
Clint Holland Rosemary Holland Patty Rottmeier Marion–Marion Mallet Club Inc.
Pat Lionberger
MISSISSIPPI
Jackson–Pocahontas Mallet Club
Buffalo–Buffalo Croquet Club
Bald Head Island–Bald Head Island Croquet Club
Cashiers–At Large Member
Mike Lochirco
Highlands–Highlands Falls Croquet Association
Margaret Fitzpatrick Dorothy Hourihan Highlands–Highlands Strikers Croquet Club
Brooklyn Ellenburg Lake Toxaway–Lake Toxaway Mallet Club
Craig Eyster Bob Graham Mimi Graham Bob Hamilton Mary Anne Hamilton Pat Roberts Tom Roberts Mary Smith Kent Smith Linville–Linville Ridge Croquet Club
Walter Mallard Rob Wilson Pinehurst–Pinehurst Croquet Club
Rumson–Rumson Country Club
Raleigh–At Large Member
Michael Jeary George McCarter
Maryann Davis Glenn Davis
Ponte Vedra Beach–At Large Member
Phil Emond Sue Emond Ponte Vedra Beach–Ponte Vedra Croquet Club
Denise Boyce Gay Cinque Trudy Crowetz Bob Finn Geri O'Neill Suzanne Pearlman Cami Russack Tate Russack
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MISSOURI
Parkville–Kactus Creek Croquet Club
Jim Ratzlaff
Spring Lake–Green Gables Croquet Club
Jean Corey Timothy Corey Nancy Nolan William O'Brien
SOUTH CAROLINA
Charleston–Bishop Gadsden
Charles Dixon Edith Dixon Dataw Island–Croquet Club of Dataw Island
Ray Barrett Jacqueline Bauer Margo Eld J. Wood Rutter Tega Cay–Tega Cay Croquet Club
TEXAS
West Palm Beach–National Croquet Club
Margaret McLarty
Jackson–The Country Club of Jackson
Alexandra Kittle Cody Kittle
Alan Offen
NEW JERSEY
Cathleen Mizak Jennifer Silliman
Watch Hill–Ocean House Mallet Club
Jeb Bell N. Reed Finney Misty Finney
Susan Conley Catherine Morgan
Palm Coast–Grand Haven Croquet Club
Chester Drake Cheryl Drake
RHODE ISLAND
Cashiers–Trillium Links and Lake Club
Alison Brown Paxton Brown James Case Beth Case Patrice Doherty Stephen Errickson Teresa Errickson David Jolley Barbara Marsh Urs Nater Burt Ozment Helen Ozment Mary Wilson Todd Wilson
Bucky Crystal Holly Crystal Tommy Thames Suzan Thames
Lafayette Hill–At Large Member
Houston–Houston Croquet Association
Patricia Baker Mary Craddock John Craddock James Helton Thomas Helton Terry Murphy Houston–River Oaks Country Club
Adrian Vivas
VERMONT
Dorset–Dorset Field Club
Sandra Sheppard
VIRGINIA
Hartfield–Chesapeake Bay Croquet Club
Bruce James Leo Viens Pamela Viens
WISCONSIN
Milwaukee–At Large Member
Andrew Kennedy
CANADA ONTARIO
Mississauga–At Large Member
Hisham El Zoghby
USCA CROQUET SCHOOLS Learn to play the USCA Way!
NEW DATES ANNOUNCED! AMERICAN RULES January 7-9, 2020 January 29-31, 2020 March 10-12, 2020 March 14-16, 2020
(Tournament Play School)
GOLF CROQUET
ASSOCIATION LAWS
December 5, 2019 January 30-31, 2020 (Tournament Play School) January 7-9, 2020 March 11-12, 2020
April 1-3, 2020
Instruction by USCA Certified Instructors
PRIVATE GROUP PROGRAM Groups of 6 or more players (of the same level) may arrange for a date (dependent on court and instructor availability) that is convenient for group’s participants
Classes are held at the National Croquet Center in West Palm Beach, FL Contact the USCA office for more information (561) 478-0760 or email tournament@uscroquet.com
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