Croquet in the North West

North West Federation of Croquet Clubs - for everything Croquet in the north west

You are here: Home / Archives for News

Only Few Croquet Places Left

by


There are now only a dozen or so places left on this season’s Northern Academy programme.  The places are spread over five courses as listed below:

 

Mind Games:Develop a Winning Croquet Mindset  –  Saturday 21 April 2018

Many successful croquet players maintain a good mindset can be even more important than tactics and technique in helping you play your best. This one-day course will explore blocks to a good mindset, how to overcome them, and how to set yourself up positively for successful croquet. The day is for both AC and GC players and for players of all abilities.
Cost: £35 (CA Premium members £30). Course leader: Derek Knight

Openings and Leaves  –  Sunday 22 April 2018

How can the first moves in an AC game be used to seize control? What opening moves are available, and what are the strengths and possibilities of each? If my opponent uses an unusual opening, how might I respond? What are the principles of a good leave? How can I set up a strong leave, when should I do it, and how might I respond when faced with one? This one-day course is for AC players wanting to refine their understanding of these two key aspects of AC and strengthen their competitive play.
Cost: £35 (CA Premium members £30). Course leader: Roger Staples

From GC to AC in One Day  –  Friday 27 April 2018

Let your Golf Croquet skills give you a head start in Association Croquet! This one- day course covers croquet shots, building a break and other distinctive aspects of the AC game. It offers a full introduction to Association Croquet and aims to help participants play with understanding and pleasure. The day will include a supported game and plenty of opportunity for individual help and guidance.
Cost: £35 (CA Premium members £30). Course leader: John Harris

Classic Golf Croquet Skills and Tactics  –  Saturday26 May2018

This one-day course is for GC players who know how to play but want to consolidate their game, want to develop their understanding of the basic tactical moves, and want to know when and how to play them successfully. The day will include the skills required, principles of tactical play, and classic tactical shots, then move towards the more advanced aspects of play.
Cost: £35 (CA Premium members £30). Course leader: John Crossland

Golf Croquet Strategy  –  Sunday27 May2018

This one-day course is for more accomplished GC players who are confident about when and how to play basic moves such as blocking, promoting and clearing shots, but now want to develop their strategic skills and include more advanced tactics in their thinking and their play. The day will also include when and how to make best use of extra turns in handicap games.
Cost: £35 (CA Premium members £30). Course leader: John Crossland

Visit the Northern Croquet Academy website for details of Bookings, Accommodation and Location
 
 

Croquet Matters for your Club

by

The National Development Officer Dave Gunn has launched an excellent new tool for use by any Croquet Club.  Whatever support, help or advice, any club needs – a great starting point will be Sport Englands “Club Matters” toolset. 

A recent conference called “Croquet Matters” was held on 31st March for Federation representatives and was very well attended – delegates found the workshop very useful as it gave them a deeper introduction to the proposed framework and to Sport England’s ‘Club Matters’ toolset in particular.  It also allowed them to give feedback as to what sort of support they would need to help them use it with clubs in their own Federations.

At the end of the workshop we agreed how we would respond to a positive show of interest from clubs around the country once Croquet Matters is formally launched in the imminent Gazette. The plan, simply put, is any early requests for engagement from clubs will come to me and/or the local FDO…and together will then agree a date to hold a workshop with the club to focus on the top priority issue they currently face, with any success arising being a catalyst for the club to move on to its next priority area. FDOs will have the offer of personal assistance from myself and small team of assistants at the first few workshops they run in their region and should become increasingly self sufficient after that.
 
Here are three initiatives available to clubs in the next few weeks:
– Guide to Getting your club onto Facebook – a guide written specially for clubs to wish to develop or improve their presence on Facebook.
– Club Website template – allows any club to easily build their own website or refresh their existing model – complete support and hosting provided free of charge.
– An ‘On-Line Forum’ to be launched aimed at Federation committee members providing an immense resource of support and advice.
 
Further details can be found in the launch article the April Gazette:
 
 
 

Changes to National Short Croquet Tournament Regs.

by

What a kerfuffle!!  The CA announce details of a new Short Croquet national tournament but with some very confusing rules.   Cue north west Fed officers taking up the cudgels – result – rules have been re-written.

The detail can be found on the CA website: https://www.croquet.org.uk/?p=tournament/caCalendar&TwOpen=y&CalendarEntryID=2850&pup=y

In Summary:

  • Clubs can enter several teams of four players each and initial matches will be drawn on a regional basis.  
  • Each match is eleven games, over three 75 minute sessions – round 1 is two singles and one doubles; rounds 2 and 3 are all singles.  So each player gets three seventy five minute games per match.  However, if Captains agree, the match can be sixteen games over four rounds of Singles, all play all!
  • Team players are restricted to Short Handicaps in the range 5 to 10, however, one player is permitted to have a Short Handicap which may not be lower than 3. 
  • The aggregate handicap of a team must be at least 25

Closing date for club entries is 30th April (to CA Office) with first round matches to be completed in May.

 

Find a Category

Webmaster – Chris Alvey (webmaster@croquetnw.co.uk)