CROQUET COACHING: Remote Pioneers CROQUET COACHING: Remote Pioneers 5 February 2005
Nottingham Board
by Leo Nikora
| Richard Dickson |
To quote Kieth Wylie p.25 "Peeling 4b before 2b or 3b, with yr pioneer escape ball down at 4b should be reserved for friendly games." He goes on to say that Cotter has other opinions, I don't have the book. [I cannot find any opinions on this matter in C.P.E. Cotter's Tackle Croquet This Way.] I think that Wylie revised his book in 1991, has opinion altered amongst you experts in the passing years? |
| Pete Trimmer |
It depends on how good you are are getting rushes and playing them. If you're just wanting a tp and have made 7 hoops without managing the first peel, you're probably not playing well enough to justify it. Get to the peg, let them miss and finish (if you're intent on winning). If you're playing well but have inexplicably made an error at some point and are starting from somewhere like hoop 5, you might know that you're playing well enough to give it a go. These days, on a good day, I'll have a go. Or in a match I don't much care about, regardless of my form, for practice.
When you're good enough to attempt sxp's, you'll be happy to take your peels when you're for 3b. I know Rob used to prefer to leave it to 3b rather than rushing to 2b, but may be changing his mind these days. Reg is always desperate to get his peels in ASAP; he'd probably want to peel 4b getting a rush to 1 if he got the chance... |
| Chris Daniels |
I guess it depends how much you want, or need, to complete the triple. Whilst the top players often use a ball at 4b as the 3b pioneer during a sextuple, it seems to me that using a ball at 4b as the 2b pioneer is fraught with risk. E.g. (a) possibility of imperfect rush position after the peel (b) lots more furniture in the way of the rush (c) leaving peelee near 4b and then failing 2b gives an easy start for the out-player. |
| Robin Brown |
On the other hand peeling before 2b has some distinct advantages over peeling before 3b. a) the obvious one that it is a hoop earlier so you have one more hoop to set up the penult peel before 4b. b) you are more likely to be able to peel 4b straight since you can stop the strikers ball in front of the hoop and not be hampered for the rush. c) It is much easier to get a rush in the direction you want out of 2b since you can run the hoop to the boundary. You can thus get away with a slightly more ragged position when appraoching the hoop. ( which, lets face it you are likely to have given where your rush starts from) |
| Martin Murray |
The point people seem to be missing is that most breaks develop into more and more delayed triples BECAUSE SOMETHING WENT WRONG. Exactly what went wrong (usually a failed peel), and exactly when it went wrong, will determine how much time is left to set up the next peel attempt. Trying to peel 4b before 2b is not a very clever idea if your 2b pioneer is already at 2b, which it will normally be if, say, you try the 4b peel before 1b. It is precisely this kind of changing plans in mid-stream which makes (imperfect) croquet such a test of intelligence rather than just a test of stroke execution. What is interesting is the development, particularly by Reg, of remote pioneers in mid-court positions, i.e. near neither the next hoop nor the peeling hoop, but allowing more flexibility in the |
| Robert Fulford |
Happy to try to peel 4b getting a rush to 2b if confident of having escape ball nicely placed roughly a yard west of 4b so peg is relatively out of play and close enough to 4b that getting dolly rush isn't hard. Can't say it's a case to rushing to 2b rather than 3b because I still leave my 3b pioneer near 4b. Used to be less agressive at getting earlier peels done so rarely had opportunity to be nicely set up for peel before 2b.
Still learning but following is the nearest thing to plan A for my sextuples currently for those who are interested. Peel 1b peel ideally right down to 2b after 2 getting rush to north boundary. Play split stopshot sending escape ball to besides 2b going to hoop 3 pioneer. At least jaws 2b getting rush to 4. After 4 leave pioneer behind just NW of 3b as escape ball, take off to peelee. Probably have hoop *Probably the most critical shots for me in the whole sextuple are getting the 1b peel through cleanly down to 2b and then placing the escape ball for the rush across to 4. Sending out escape ball from 28 yards and would really like to play 2b peel with straight stopshot so not much room for error. |