The official newsletter of the Canberra Croquet Club In This Issue President s canon Annual General Meeting Croquet News from around the club Coaching Tournaments Invention Hi everyone Welcome to the July Rocket. Just in case our glorious wins last month are a distant memory, we have even more to celebrate this month. Read more about these in this issue along with other activities of members including an introduction from our new club President, Peter Freer. I have redesigned the newsletter to make the information look more friendly and will in future only include a quick snapshot of club news instead of longer features so that it can be read more quickly and also just as importantly be put together more quickly. I hope that it continues to be a good resource for members. Happy reading. Georgia Bray Editor PRESIDENT S CANON Peter Freer On behalf of the new committee, thank you for your support and encouragement for the next year. I thank the dedicated efforts of the old committee particularly Elizabeth Mountain as the outgoing President, and Peter Tavender as the outgoing Treasurer both step down after serving on the committee for the last seven years, and both have done an excellent job as well as Stephen Richards, Tim Goodland and Daniel Casey. Thanks also to the Playing Committee: Stephen Meatheringham, Tim Murphy, Ben Freasier and Bob Gingold. I am relieved to have the ongoing support of club stalwarts like Stephen Meatheringham again and welcome Roger Timms, Stephen Richards, Yvonne Brereton, Tim Muphy and Jim Payne on the committee. In fact I'd correct Elizabeth's note in the June Rocket committee members are required to stand down after seven years, but they can serve again in future years, after a break. This may require some twisting of arms but is an option we may need to keep in mind. Next month I'll talk about what is coming up, but until then good roqueting.
ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING The club welcomed its new committee at the Annual General Meeting on Saturday 5 July. We are pleased to welcome these dedicated members to their new roles in the club and wish them every success: Club Committee President Peter Freer Vice-President Stephen Richards Secretary Roger Timms Treasurer Jim Payne Captain Stephen Meatheringham Committee Yvonne Brereton, Tim Murphy and Tim Goodland Playing Committee: Captain Stephen Meatheringham Vice Captain Greg Diprose Coaching Coordinator Bob Gingold Ben Freasier and Johanna Pask 2007 08 competition winners Recognising excellence in croquet and gateball playing was also an important part of the AGM. The competition winners were: 2007 08 competition winners Association Croquet Handicap Doubles Stephen Meatheringham and Bruce Edwards Handicap Singles Greg Diprose Veteran s Handicap Singles Chris Wilson Canberra Open Leo McBride (Canada) Senior Citizen s Handicap Singles Bob Gingold Margaret Reid Trophy Senior Bob Gingold Junior Ian Walker Club Championship Tim Murphy Presidents Day Senior Chris Wilson Junior Ben Freasier Women s singles Nerida Taylor Division Advanced singles Div 1 Stephen Meatheringham Div 2 Colin Wilcox Div 4 Eddie Kowalski Golf Croquet Handicap Singles Richard Meacock Handicap Doubles Senior Yvonne Grattan and Richard Meacock Junior Elizabeth Anstee Gateball Doubles event Glen Whitehead and Johanna Pask The winner of the Amy West Encouragement Award is Rodney Teakle. The recipient of this award is chosen by the Captain, and presented to the member considered to have made a major contribution to the club while having worked hard to improve their standard of play. Congratulations Rodney. 2
Life member Congratulations to Peter Tavender whose membership was elevated to Life Member at the AGM for his outstanding contribution to the club and to croquet. Early in his croquet career Peter became the National Director of Coaching, Croquet Australia Secretary and National Director. Peter also served as President of Croquet NSW and President of Croquet Australia. His extensive involvement in croquet has been publicly recognised in the Australia Day Honours List. In 2000, he was awarded the Medal of the Order of Australia (OAM) for services to the community in particular through the sport of croquet. Peter Tavender More quietly, behind the scenes, Peter has been a stalwart of the club for the last 24 years and has enjoyed being able to make a contribution behind the scenes painting the white lines, general repair work and more recently fulfilling the role of Treasurer. CROQUET News from around the club Subscriptions Name badges Membership subscriptions for 2008 09 are now due. Please forward your subscription to Jim Payne, the new Treasurer please. The club is about to produce names badges for some new members. If anyone else is in need of one, please contact Bob.Gingold@gmail.com or phone 6249 6453. Coaching John Riches A reminder that John Riches, National Coaching Director, will be conducting coaching classes for all levels at the Canberra Croquet Club from Saturday 9 August to Monday 11 August 2008. Cost is $20 per person to help cover John s expenses. Please indicate your interest and preferences on the sheet on the club notice board to assist in planning. Please contact Bob Gingold 6249 6453 if you have any queries. Stephen Meatheringham Thanks to Stephen and to all those who attended his afternoon coaching session in June. The session was well organised and fun and gave members a chance to improve their strokes and hoop running techniques. 3
Tournaments Champion of Champions The Champion of Champions event held at Tempe on 20-22 June and 28-29 June 2008 has been won by Canberra s Tim Murphy. The event is open to every club in NSW to enter their current club champion. This was Tim s fourth time running at the event but first time representing Canberra; previously Nowra twice and Queanbeyan. The field was divided into two blocks. For the first time the event was played with best of threes from the quarter-finals on; a welcome improvement to the competition. Champion of Champions Tim Murphy performing his first infield cannon. Photo by Geof McDonald. In a strong field of 14 players, 8 country and 6 city, Tim beat John Levick in the quarter finals and defeated Ken Edwards in the semi-finals. In the other semi-final Alan Honey representing Queanbeyan played against Alison Sharpe. Alan made a flying start in the first game and Alison made a good comeback but Alan hit in and finished the first. Although Alan played well in the next two games Alison was too strong and won the match 2-1. The quality of play in the final was high and the games tight. Each player committed less than 4 errors in the match. Tim beat Alison 2-0. Congratulations Tim. Beryl Chambers Handicap Singles Bruce Edwards won the Beryl Chambers Handicap Singles in Sydney in early June and had his handicap slashed to 16 in the process. Congratulations to Bruce and to Ben Freasier who was runner up. Canberra Regains Blackall Cup Our team has taken out the 2008 Blackall Cup competition against our neighbours in Queanbeyan. Although the final score was 7 matches to 1 it does not show the close nature of several matches. Blackall Cup Ben Freasier lining up a takeoff Some highlights from the second weekend include a 7th turn triple peel by Stephen Meatheringham as his opponent sat watching (with 9 bisques left!). Eddie Kowalski prevailed in a tight see-sawing tussle against John Smith, 19-16. Ben Freasier and Sarah O'Sullivan had a fascinating match with Ben making a third turn break of 7. Despite his whirlwind start when the bell went Ben led by 3 hoops with both players having one turn left. Sarah hit a long roquet and hit the front by 1 before missing a hoop. Ben coolly stepped up and hit a long roquet himself levelling the scores before failing to get in front of his next hoop and having to retire to partner. Sarah missed, Ben rushed the 21 yards to his hoop and made it to win +1 on time. 4
Congratulations and many thanks to the players who took part: Peter Freer (captain), Bruce Edwards, Ben Freasier, Eddie Kowalski and Stephen Meatheringham. We are already looking forward to next year's Blackall Cup. Blackall Cup spectators INVENTION This week we feature another interesting invention by Brian Thomason, the man behind last month s U-Tube Returnaball. Croquet and Gateball Mallet Swing Guide In a mallet stroke there are four major variables line of swing, mallet face alignment, height and speed. These begin behind you, where it is difficult to check any component, especially when it is vital to keep watching the striker ball. The idea behind the design of the swing guide was that a degree of control over line of swing and mallet face alignment would improve accuracy. Ben Freasier with swing guide and U-tube The swing guide comprises a channel 2⅝ inches wide, with sides that curve to follow a normal back-swing, a centre groove to help alignment, and pins to secure it once it is accurately aligned. It enables repeated trials of the same shot from exactly the same position speeding up the practice routine. The key principle is to listen during both directions of the swing a scraping sound means the guide is doing a lot of correction; a quiet swing either way indicates effective mallet control. With help from Peter Freer, Bob Gingold and Ben Freasier it took five tries to achieve effective operation. The latest version has been donated to the club and is stored behind the ball box shelves. It gives accurate roquets from five yards and makes running a hoop from three yards a snap, and works equally well outdoors or in a room on a carpet. With the addition of two spacing liners it doubles as a Gateball Swing Guide. Used in conjunction with the U-Tube it gives practice rates of six to eight strokes a minute. 5