CROQUET NEWS: Croquet, Anyone?

Strategy, skill and regulation whites are mandatory for players who wish to take the game out of the backyard.

5 July 2007
Wilmington Country Club, Wilmington, Delaware, USA
story by Karen Murtha James in News Journal, Wilmington, Delaware, USA
photo by Suchat Pederson in News Journal, Wilmington, Delaware, USA

Mark Blundell prepares to strike a ball during the 24th Annual Delaware Invitational Croquet Tournament, held at the Wilmington Country Club over Memorial Day weekend.

You're at a backyard barbeque and someone pulls out the croquet set. You're in. It's a simple enough game, you tell yourself: Just hit the ball through the wickets a few times and you've pretty much mastered the sport.

But for those who go beyond the backyard, croquet is a game of strategy and skill.

"It's very much like playing pool on a 100 foot by 80 foot table," said Barry Gibson of Little Falls Village. "It's a thinking game of recognizing the possibilities [for hits] that both you and your opponent are capable of."

	Mark Blundell strikes the ball at the 24th Annual Delaware Invitational Croquet Tournament, held at the Wilmington Country Club over Memorial Day weekend. He won first place in the championship singles and second place in the doubles.

Gibson first experienced croquet like most people — he was at a backyard barbeque party and eight couples faced off in a croquet competition. He liked the game right away. What he wasn't too fond of was the surface they were playing on — grass that was six inches high and hadn't seen rain in weeks. That's when he decided to see how the game could be played on better turf.

Gibson was a member of the Lawn Bowlers Association at the DuPont Country Club, and he convinced the staff there in the late 1980s to open up their grounds to croquet players.

In May, Delaware Croquet Club members and their friends met at the Wilmington Country Club to play in the 24th Annual Delaware Invitational Croquet Tournament.

Croquet requires players to be able to hit a ball through a narrow wicket with 1/16 inch clearance.

Jim Hughes, of Mendenhall, Pa., said he enjoys the game because it's "warlike." "You protect your Army — your men — and you leave no troops behind."

It's a thinking game, said Wilmington resident Tom Hughes, Jim's brother and a co-founder of the croquet club. "You have to have the skill to pass the ball through a wicket that has 1/16 of the inch" clearance between the diameter of the ball and the interior diameter of the wicket.

The only thing that a game of backyard croquet and professional croquet have in common is that both are played with the intention of winning for fun.

Other than, they're worlds apart.

	Michael Todorovich wears the regulation white hat, shirt and trousers at the tournament.

Backyard croquet is played between two sides — the blue and black balls vs. the red and yellow balls. The object is to maneuver the balls through the course of wickets and into the finishing stake. The side which first does so with both its balls wins the game. Many backyard games are more of a free-for-all, with many players enjoying hitting their opponents' balls out of the way and also with rules that vary from family to family.

American croquet is a bit more complicated. According to the United States Croquet Association, the players play each turn in the order of blue, red, black and yellow. A player is initially entitled to one shot in a turn, after which the turn ends unless the striker ball has scored a wicket point or hit another ball. When a wicket is scored, the striker is entitled to play one additional or continuation shot. When another ball (whether opponent's or partner's) is hit by the striker ball, the striker is said to have made a "roquet" on that ball and the striker ball is entitled to two extra shots and becomes "dead" on that ball.

There are other more notable differences: The timing of a game, the dress code and the weight of the mallet.

In professional croquet, players play each turn in color order: Blue, red, black and yellow.

"A professional game takes an hour and a half," said Gibson. "A backyard game can either take five minutes — or you can play for hours until it gets dark."

The other big difference is how defensively the game is played. "At the end of your turn [in a pro game], you try not to leave it so that your opponent can hit your ball," Gibson explained. In the backyard version, much of the game is played with teams intentionally trying to knock each other's balls out of the way or through a wicket, noted Gibson.

But in a pro game, "you can't step on the ball to stop it from going out of bounds — like the street or someone else's yard," he said. Players must go back to the start [in a pro game] if they hit it out of bounds, Gibson noted.

	American croquet rules allow players to use defensive tactics that can restrict the opposition's progress through the wickets. The team that is the first to score 26 points wins.

The rules are tighter with pro croquet, Gibson said. "The degree of difficulty is harder too. There's a rigid rotation of the colored balls and the wickets are regulation size."

The dress code difference is as literal as black and white. In a pro tournament or game, players must wear whites. White shirts, pants, shorts, skirts or shoes. In a backyard game, there's no uniform.

In the backyard game, just about anything goes when it comes to the equipment. "You could use a coat hanger as a wicket" in backyard croquet, Gibson said. The same thought holds true for the mallets. "You could play with a 12-pound sledgehammer if you were so inclined — as long as the two ends were parallel at a 90-degree angle," he joked. "Of course, nobody in their right mind would use a sledgehammer."

Anne Morris keeps the time and the score during the croquet tournament at the Wilmington Country Club.

"Croquet is like a combination of golf and chess," Gibson said. "You have to have the skills of putting and the thinking strategy to stay ahead of your opponent."

RESULTS

24th Annual Delaware Invitational Croquet Tournament

CHAMPIONSHIP SINGLES: Mark Blundell, first; David Ekstrom, second; David Lyon, third.

CHAMPIONSHIP DOUBLES: Barry Gibson and Tom Hughes, first; Mark Blundell and Larry Moore, second; Jim Hughes and Craig Smith, third.

FIRST FLIGHT SINGLES: Hope Harmon, first; Lee Hanna, second; Martha Ekstrom, third.

FIRST FLIGHT DOUBLES: David Lyon and Polly Moore, first; Mary Tatnall and Anne Morris, second; Michael Todorovich and Lee Hanna, third.

FYI

The Delaware Croquet Club offers free croquet lessons at 9:30 a.m. Wednesdays and Sundays at the DuPont Country Club, Rockland and Blackgate roads, Rockland. Participants must wear sneakers; white clothes are not necessary. All equipment is provided. Barry Gibson, 633-4024

AMERICAN CROQUET RULES

Object of the game is to be the first team to score 26 points. Each side should use offensive or defensive moves that restrict the progress of the opponents. Defensive tactics include separating the opponent's balls, thus forcing long shots to croquet other balls, or knocking the opponent out of position to make its next wicket.

BACKYARD CROQUET

Less formal game, designed to be simple and quick to play. The court should be long enough for players to hit the ball the entire length. There are nine wickets, two stakes and four or six balls. Each player needs a mallet, although they can share one as well.

Source: www.croquetamerica.com