CROQUET NEWS:  New Croquet Court is Dedicated in Sorrento

31 July 2008
Sorrento Point, Sorrento, Maine, USA
by Jacqueline Weaver in Ellsworth American, Ellsworth, Maine, USA

Nationally-ranked croquet player Ben Rothman swings his mallet after helping to dedicate a croquet court in Sorrento.

“To the people of Sorrento, go forth and make wickets,” intoned Larry Stettner, founder of the Mount Desert Island Croquet Club, as the coastal town dedicated its first croquet court July 24.

Located at Sorrento Point and bordered by tennis courts on two sides, the Sorrento court is said to be the second largest in the area.

The Sorrento Croquet Club came about three summers ago following a casual conversation between local residents Sturgis Haskins and Fordy “Fofy” Van Winkle.

“I met Fofy at the post office and we were talking and she told me she had started playing croquet over the winter and I said I had started, too,” Haskins said.

That fact established, the two — with a growing group of enthusiasts in tow — began playing wherever they could.

They took their balls and mallets to Woodlawn Museum in Ellsworth before there was a court; an athletic field in Surry; the Blue Hill Country Club; a former tennis court turned rudimentary croquet court at the Chafee summer home in Sorrento; Stettner’s private court in Manset; a private court in Brooksville, and the Blue Hill Country Club.

“We promiscuously invited ourselves to other people’s courts,” Haskins said. “Everyone was extraordinarily nice.”

He said croquet is known for its camaraderie, the strategy involved (“it’s been compared to chess on grass”), the pretty settings where the courts are located, and the chance to wear whites.

“It’s the whole package,” he said.

Croquet is played in singles or doubles. Competitors use wooden mallets to hit balls through hoops, called wickets, in a certain order. Games are timed at 75 minutes.

The ribbon at the new court was cut by Richard Curtis, president of the U.S. Croquet Association, which has nearly 300 clubs and 3,000 members.

Curtis then played a quick round of informal golf croquet with Ben Rothman, an MDI resident who is considered one of the top-ranked players in the country and who conducted a clinic in Sorrento last week.

Dede Schmitt helped organize the dedication and also planted 150 yellow day lilies on one side of the court. She said future projects will include more flowers, a pavilion and a small building to house the lawnmower.

	Richard Curtis, president of the U.S. Croquet Association (left), and Ben Rothman socialize before playing a casual game of golf croquet.

Explaining her enthusiasm, she said, “Croquet is intellectually challenging, very strategic, and the better you get, the more fun you have.”

The croquet court is the creation of the Sorrento Village Improvement Association (VIA), which also owns and manages tennis courts, a swimming pool, a golf course and a yacht club in town.

The VIA owned the land and spent about $35,000 on the project, said Schmitt.

How the game was first invented is unclear. One theory is that someone from Ireland observed shepherds in the French countryside using their crooks to hit balls through hoops made of willow branches.

A regulation size court is 105 feet by 84 feet with six rectangular wickets that are only one-eighth-inch wider than the ball.

The sport was inaugurated in Hancock County with construction of a croquet court at the Claremont Hotel in Southwest Harbor, followed by the “Claremont Classic,” a national tournament that enters its 32nd year this summer.

Stettner, the founder of the MDI club, then had a court built at his home. He sponsors “The Big Lobster” national tournament every other year.

Other courts followed in Southwest Harbor, Brooksville and on the grounds of the Woodlawn Museum and Historic Black House in Ellsworth.

Croquet has an organized handicapping and ranking system like in golf and tennis. And, like other sports, it has its own vocabulary — bentgrass, roquets, deadness, four-ball breaks and bisques.

The key to a good croquet court is flat ground and healthy turf, said Clif Staples of Somesville, the turf consultant on the Sorrento court.

He said the bentgrass turf is the highest quality available and popular on golf courses because it can be cut very low and requires little fertilization.

Loam is important — he used loam from Rick Duerr in Gouldsboro — as well as irrigation. The irrigation system was installed by Williams Irrigation Systems.

“You need the right soil, the right grass, and the right maintenance practices,” Staples said.

He said the goal is to be eco-friendly, or “culturally correct,” while keeping the turf maintenance within a reasonable budget.

And, Staples added, turf is turf and grass is grass. “Grass is what sheep eat,” he said.

[More pictures can be found at Downeast Maine in Photos.]