News and Features
Big Lobster Croquet Tournament Underway
10/07/19
NORTHEAST HARBOR, Maine (WABI) – “This game here is more like your backyard 9 wicket game.”
The Big Lobster Croquet Tournament is underway.
Folks gather in Downeast Maine aiming to become the Big Lobster Champion.
“This is the oldest 9 wicket tournament in the country. It has been a good draw for a lot of people to see Maine and play the game here.”
Many of the players are top-notch croqueters from around the U.S. and Canada.
One participant has won the tournament twice and has also won the National Tournament.
“I practiced so much and got so good at it that I could beat virtually anybody, and that is what it takes to be a winner. I enjoy that. Winning is fun.”
The first two days of 9 wicket doubles are played at the Claremont Hotel in Southwest Harbor.
The tourney then changes to 6 wicket play at the Woodlawn Court in Ellsworth.
“It’s a consuming game. A lot of strategies involved. There is a lot to it, a lot more than what anyone can imagine.”
“It’s a precision game, I love precision. Being a retired dentist, I am a precision kind of guy, and so, I like the very nature of it being executed with precision.”
“I’m told that anybody of all ages can play croquet and here at the Claremont Hotel there is even a children’s court.”
“You don’t have to be in any great physical shape to play the game, just a desire to understand how to play.”
The tournament was started in the late 1990s and has been played every other year since.
I’m told there is no end in sight.
2019 Big Oyster Tournament Report
10/06/19
The 2019 Big Oyster at the Chesapeake Bay Croquet Club was a unique and interesting experience. This was Chesapeake’s first one-day tournament and turnout was good. 22 players total. 8 came from St. John’s College in Annapolis, 7 from West River Wickets in Maryland, 5 from Chesapeake Bay and 2 from North Carolina.
This 6-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 handicap. 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, there was a standard 8 person knockout embedded in the Swiss which was used to decide the top 8 places. Players were selected for the knockout based on their performance in the first two games. Interestingly, 7 of the 8 were from the original top 8 seeds. The surprise was beginner, and bottom seeded Steve Thurston made it in with two wins 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. In this tournament there were 22 players and 5 rounds of competition. Any player wanting to win the tournament simply had to win 5 games. All players were assigned 4 matches and given the option of playing a 5th. Other than the two players in the finals (who had to play a 5th) about half of the participants decided to play the 5th 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 did it and everyone had a good time.
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 of the players for helping to make this work!
Lee Jorde, was the tournament director and he came up with the idea for the tournament. Macey White was the assistant TD and did the pairings. The idea behind the one-day 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 to encourage new players to play in a one-day tournament than in a longer tournament. This tournament had 8 players who had never played a sanctioned 6-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.
After the second round, seedings were made for the embedded 8 player “knockout” which decided the top 8 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 1st seed. Local favorite Rick Darnell was seeded 2nd followed 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 KO Lee Jorde had a surprise upset over Tom Balding in a game that featured several long breaks and few mistakes. Carl Johnson bested fellow CBCC’er Steve Thurston in a close match, Sean Miller beat Rodney Lassiter by 1 point Jared Bassman beat Rick Darnell. So in the first round or the embedded KO, the two favorites were defeated. In the Semi’s, Lee Jorde beat Carl Johnson and Sean Miller beat Jared Bassman 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 Sean Miller finally prevailed in the end.
Everyone had a great time and all are checking their calendars to select another date to do this again. The order of finish was decided by the embedded knockout and then by win loss record for those not in the “knockout”.
FINAL ORDER OF FINISH
- 1 Sean Miller (Champion)
- 2 Lee Jorde (Finalist)
- 3 Carl Johnson
- 3 Jared Bassmann (Top Finishing Rookie)
- 5 Tom Balding
- 5 Rodney Lassiter
- 5 Rick Darnell
- 5 Steve Thurston (2nd Finishing Rookie)
- 9 John Lassiter
- 9 Ryan Eberlein
- 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
2019 USCA 9-Wicket Nationals Report
10/06/19
Do you remember that backyard game with nine hoops and two stakes? Nine wicket has been played in America for over 100 years. The USCA holds Regional and National championships in this historically backyard game. It’s played a lot like 6-wicket but there are slightly smaller and lighter balls, more hoops and more choices of what to do when you roquet a ball. After a roquet players have a croquet shot and a continuation shot, just like 6-wicket but the croquet shot can be played in 5 different ways. It can be played in contact with the roqueted ball just like 6-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 9 inches of the roqueted ball or even played from where it stopped rolling. With all of these choices, 9-wicket can be a slightly more complex game than the 6 hoop variety.
This year the 9-Wicket National Championship was held at the Chesapeake Bay Croquet Club in Virginia. It was not played on their 8 laser leveled lawns but on yard quality zoysia grass. The tournament attracted 17 competitors and lasted three days. All players started in the same flight and after a round-robin, players were separated into two flights, Championship and 1st, for the playoffs. Of the 17 players, all were seasoned croquet players but 8 were playing in their first ever USCA sanctioned 9-Wicket tournament. First timer, Lyle Browning made it to the 1st Flight finals to face off with seasoned pro Gail Warlick. Gail won the spirited battle to capture the National 1st 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 time, Macey White finally emerged as the winner in the end.
There were 8 teams that sparred for the doubles championship. In doubles there was a round robin with the top 4 teams advancing to the Championship Flight playoffs and the bottom 4 advancing to the 1st Flight playoffs. Brothers Carl and Conor Johnson bested Greg Clouse and Jane Koziol for 1st Flight Doubles honors and Macey White and John Warlick defeated John Priest and Gil Rocha for the doubles championship.
Rumor has it that a 9-Wicket Regional will be held in Louisiana in February 2020 and another 9-Wicket Regional 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.
2019 USCA 9-Wicket Nationals Order of Finish
Championship Flight Singles
- 1 Macey White
- 2 John Warlick
- 3 Gil Rocha
- 3 Greg Clouse
- 5 Bryan Christiansen
- 5 Tim Hasty
- 5 Conor Johnson
- 5 John Priest
1st Flight Singles
- 1 Gail Warlick
- 2 Lyle Browning
- 3 Carl Johnson
- 3 Doug Murphy
- 5 Jill Murphy
- 5 Suzie Beer
- 5 Jane Koziol
Championship Flight Doubles
- 1 Macey White & John Warlick
- 2 Gil Rocha & John Priest
- 3 Gail Warlick & Doug Murphy
- 3 Bryan Christiansen & Tim Hasty
1st Flight Doubles
- 1 Conor Johnson & Carl Johnson
- 2 Greg Clouse & Jane Koziol
- 3 Suzie Beer & Lyle Browning
- 3 Pam Viens & Leo Viens
Nine wicket 2019 Nationals, Hartsfield, VA
09/20/19
The Nine wicket 2019 Nationals, Hartsfield, VA were held September 15-17
Some photos of the event are posted here.
More news to follow …
USCA National 9-Wicket Championship at the Chesapeake Bay Croquet Club in Hartfield, VA, September 15-17, 2019 (entry time extended)
09/06/19
The time to enter the USCA National 9-Wicket Championship at the Chesapeake Bay Croquet Club in Hartfield, VA, September 15–17, 2019, has been extended by Macey White.
If you are still interested in attending, please let us know as soon as possible.
2019 USCA National 9-Wicket Championship (coming up soon)
08/22/19
One month to enter the 2019 Nine Wicket Nationals
What does an English Croquet Club look like?
07/14/19
The British Open tournament, the description of the Surbiton Clubhouse, and the differences in customs and practices of croquet in England are described. Sounds like Macey had a great experience.
Croquet Gossip - date unknown - Norwich CT
06/24/19
The new croquet grounds in Norwich CT were set on the Robbins lot, on Cliff street. The date of this article is unknown but is likely to be 1870s or so … and interesting read.
New Croquet club, Rockwell St, Norwich CT - March 2, 1891
06/24/19
Norwich Connecticut founded a National croquet tournament in the mid 1800s. This new club must have been done to meet the growing needs of the players of the scientific version of croquet – where croquet is played on smooth finely tamped down clay. Mention of Roque is also included this article when one court was built with rubber bumpers around the edge.
Round Hill Croquet championships - local interest is good
06/10/19
A tournament that was billed as the 9 wicket United States South East Regional may have begun a bit of a challenge between the South East and the Mid Atlantic regions. …
There was enough local participation during the clinic and tournament to encourage Round Hill to form a 9-wicket Croquet club.