CROQUET NEWS:  It's More Than a Game

Croquet Club Members Need Precision, Planning to Win

4 September 2006
Puget Sound Croquet Club, Kirkland, Washington, USA
story by Erica Hall in King County Journal, Bellevue, Washington, USA
photo by Matt Brashears in King County Journal, Bellevue, Washington, USA

Swinging through a shot, Al Happer of Duvall frames his wife, Linda, with his legs and mallet last Monday at the Puget Sound Croquet Club in Kirkland.

Just about everyone is familiar with backyard croquet, but for some the genteel sport is more than just a casual game.

The members of the Puget Sound Croquet Club are among those who are hooked on croquet as an elegant, strategic, extraordinarily competitive pursuit.

"It's more than a game. It's interesting, there's a lot of tactic and strategy. It's more on the order of pool or something," club member Karelina Reswick said. "And there's a physical component, which I like."

According to the United States Croquet Association, about 10,000 people play croquet competitively in the U.S. on about 600 fields.

	A ball caddy is emptied to begin play. The 30-member Puget Sound Croquet Club, founded nearly 20 years ago, is the only club in the area registered with the United States Croquet Association. A new club is planned for Seattle's Woodland Park area.

The Puget Sound club is the only croquet club registered with the USCA in the Seattle area, though Carl Uhlman , a member who plays competitively and helps to teach beginners the sport, is working on starting a new club in Seattle's Woodland Park. The Puget Sound club has a membership of about 30 with about 20 of them playing regularly.

Some play for recreational purposes, but others play more seriously, training year-round for tournaments across the country.

The rules aren't difficult, but their simplicity belies the strategic complexity of the game. Fair play involves lining up a ball for a clear pass through the wicket, blocking others' shots, and knocking others' well-placed balls out of the way. In short, croquet requires precision and a mean streak.

"You want it to go 25 feet, not 20 feet or 30 feet, and you want it to go in a straight line," Uhlman said. "You also need some chess-type skills. You have to be thinking ahead ... four, five or six moves ahead sometimes."

The Puget Sound Croquet Club was founded in 1987 by a group of local croquet enthusiasts. Some are still involved with the club, but they're getting older now and don't play as often.

Three years later, the group purchased the three-acre parcel where the club is located and had the field leveled to create three manicured, regulation lawns.

Linda Happer, right, covers food with a mesh umbrella to keep bees away Monday evening during a potluck to start the evening's gathering at the Croquet Club. Her husband, Al, center, and Bill Roche of Kirkland enjoy Linda's homemade blueberry and lemon meringue pies.

Club members had hoped to convert a house on the property into a clubhouse, but the club's membership never grew large enough, Uhlman said. The club rents the house to generate some extra revenue to pay for maintenance and equipment.

Now almost 20 years old, the PSCC's modest, pleasant lawns still provide an arena for a few people to enjoy a dignified old sport.

Spectators can sit in plastic chairs under a tent and sip sodas or beer purchased on the honor system, while the clunk of mallets striking heavy balls ricochets through the air. On a sunny summer day, the breeze stirs the tall grass that borders the far edge of the field.

On Monday evenings, members head up to the courts after work with food and wine and beer for a potluck dinner. They eat and visit, and play croquet until the sunlight wanes.

Uhlman said things will start to wind down in September as the days get shorter and the temperatures cooler. But there are some who will keep playing, to practice for tournaments, to blow off steam and to stay in touch with new friends in a cordially competitive
way.

"I get out my aggressions this way," Uhlman said. "There's etiquette, but it's always OK to pound the other guy out of the way, to be mean so he doesn't make the wicket."