9W Roundup

By Paul Bennett

The United States Croquet Association (USCA) has begun a new path in 2021 toward connecting and supporting you. We believe many croquet players do not yet have access to a finely-cut grass lawn and do not need it!

The game of croquet can be enjoyed in many different ways. Fun can be had wherever a suitable space can be found. Invite friends and associates to come together to play and to learn the game chosen to play.

The power of bringing a group together is unbelievably rewarding. Over the past two decades, I have developed life-long friendships, traveled to many different places and enjoyed my time both on and off the court. It truly can be more than just a game.

The USCA wants to connect with players and their clubs at all levels. Some may be interested in learning the rules, how to make shots, how to improve strategy, how to build clubs in numbers, how to build professional courts or how to host tournaments. The USCA can help with all those, but of most interest to the USCA, we want to know that people are getting together, playing croquet and, most importantly, having fun while doing it.

We would love to share photos of events and learn more about the game as it is played.

While we have a set of codified rules for 9-Wicket croquet, we believe Golf Croquet is also suitable for play on long-grass lawns, like what might be found in local parks and recreation areas.

I remember setting up a court alongside the Ohio River with my grandma and other family members. We would share a picnic on the grass and watch the barges move up and down the river by towboats. The game we played was one my grandma had learned from her husband, Pius, who made custom mallets with inlaid wood, rubber on one face and a hard phenolic face on the other. They used to play their game on regulation lawns set up on clay courts by Kentucky parks and recreation.

I learned more about the 9-Wicket clay-court game later in my life after, having played several tournament games on the grass courts that are cut down like a putting green. The old clay-court version of the game is not surviving and is not played in many places anymore. I rarely see it introduced to new players, the rules are often disagreed upon and support from a national sporting commission, such as the USCA, no longer exists. The last set of rules I saw published were dated in the 1930s.

Many backyard players adopt a set of ‘local rules’ to work out particular problems or issues with local lawns, like how to play around the big oak tree in the middle. And others have come up with some ingenious rules to try out on friends. Some become well-recognized variants of the game – the Oakmont being one popular one in the northeast.

I would like to learn more about Extreme Croquet rules and what types of futuristic developments may be coming for 2021.

And some folks just like to put on a grand old show for attending fans. The Navy/St. John’s annual event attracts thousands of dressed-up spectators. That traditional event has been going on for more than a decade. I am sure it is a great place to enjoy an afternoon party.

What will your club do this year?

I know that we are all on pause during this pandemic. Many events were postponed or canceled last year, and I suspect we will not return to normal for quite some time. It is currently difficult to plan a big event with any success. A few minor events have been held, but all of them have had substantially fewer attendees than usual. This is not a big surprise as many of these events require traveling to faraway venues.

Because of this, the volunteers of the USCA have been rethinking some of the things we do and the purpose of why we do them. Most of us are volunteers and we simply want to have more fun.

If you can think of new ways to get together and have fun, please let me know. I would love to hear how your club functions and what types of croquet are played. Maybe all that is required is an afternoon, some good friends and a picnic to share.

Paul Bennett is the Long-Grass and 9-Wicket Committee Chairperson