CROQUET NEWS:  Local Man Following Unusual Obsession

6 September 2005
Lemont, Pennsylvania, USA
by Gordon Brunskill in Centre Daily Times

Ken Rosenberry knows he leads a life that would be a little on the odd side.

He doesn't care.

"Sometimes I give myself a funny look," he said. "Most friends know it's a bit of an obsession and they understand."

"It" is Rosenberry's world of croquet, and we're just living in it.

How deeply does his passion run for a game far more popular in other corners of the world than in this country? He was in England last month taking part in the world championships -- and he has his own court alongside his house to practice.

We're not talking the run-of-the-mill backyard layout, either. The court is half the size of a regulation croquet court and has the standard six wickets, a surface as flat as Iowa and bent grass mowed short just like your favorite putting green. Throw in lights, stone walls, an iron fence and flowers and the landscaping is quite impressive.

So is Rosenberry's passion for the game.

He is actually one of the top players in the country. He was on the eight-member U.S. team at the World Championships in Cheltenham, England, in August, he was also a participant in the worlds in 2001 in England and at the McRobertson Shield, also one of the world's most prestigious events, two years ago in Florida.

The obsession started on a trip with his wife, Maryann Curione, to Newport, R.I., in the late 1980s.

The destination that year was chosen because they liked tennis and Newport is home to the International Tennis Hall of Fame. It just so happened instead of a tennis tournament at the Hall, there was a croquet tournament.

The pair got hooked. They returned to Newport often, timing the trip to coincide with other croquet events, and they got into conversations with the competitors.

Soon friendships were struck with people in State College who liked the game, including Bob Potter of Boalsburg and George and Margaret Downsbrough, who have since passed away. With the help of turf management people at Penn State, a "poor man's" court was constructed on campus. Not long after, Rosenberry found a house with a yard large enough to accommodate a half court and they began construction -- and the obsession blossomed.

Steve Balkey and Ameron Construction did the work on the court, building it much like a golf putting green. It has several layers of stone, topped by sand and then grass, and special drainage. It actually has a perched water table thanks to the size of stone used on one layer, which keeps the grass moist, even with the dry summer, with very little watering. The grass is the same as that found on Penn State's golf courses and they consult often with the university's turf management people about attending to the grass, bugs, diseases and other problems. They aerate the court anywhere from one to three times a year and if there is trouble, Curione takes a picture and e-mails it for a consultation.

"I've become quite proficient in turf-management skills," said Curione, who used to be a producer at WPSX and considers herself a player on the "junior varsity" level, competing at some events.

They also keep the grass rolled and cut low -- the blade setting is at about 6/32nd of an inch.

Rosenberry will not say how much money they spend on maintenance, but combine that with the tournaments and travel, and the croquet budget reaches into five figures.

"It is definitely odd when you look at how much money we spend playing croquet and how much of my life I end up practicing," said Rosenberry, a systems programer for the last 25 years at the university's computer labs. "It's a bit unusual."

He also is glad his wife, whom he met while attending Penn State in the 1970s, likes the game.

"She's very understanding," Rosenberry said. "To play at the level I play at, sometimes I end up soaking up more of the funds than really is fair. She's understanding that there are goals that I have, to be one of the top players in the country and I want to stay there."

At the suggestion of a fellow competitor, Rosenberry was encouraged to apply to the U.S. national team, and it landed him one of the eight American spots at the worlds in 2001 and he went back this year.

Neither time did he advance out of the blocks of competitors -- similar to pool play -- to get to the knock-out rounds (match-play). In August he was fifth in his block, with the top four advancing, but he figures he has won better than a dozen other tournaments.

The game has helped build friendships with people from all around the world. The top competitors come from England, Australia, New Zealand and South Africa as well as the U.S. Rosenberry will only take part in three or tour tournaments this year but some years gets to as many as 10 or 11.

There are many variations of the game, though Rosenberry follows the international rules. He loves the similarities to billiards -- the ball is only a fraction of an inch smaller than the width of the wickets -- and the precision.

Sometimes he gets questioned why he doesn't step on the ball and knock a competitor into the shrubs.

"There's a lot of fun in that," said the 50-year-old Rosenberry. "But the fun I have is like the billiard player, getting the perfect position on the next ball or getting the cut just the way you anticipated it."

He figures he can be competing at a top level at least into his 60s, and he has little doubt he will always find joy in the game.

Even if some people think he's living on the fringe.

"It's kind of weird, really," Rosenberry said. "But I play it very seriously, I must confess. But yes, it's really kind of goofy."