Learning the Sport of Croquet
|
Croquet - three varieties of the same game
North Toronto Croquet Club is an excellent venue for learning to play croquet. In June, July and August, we teach beginners the basics of croquet shots and the rules of the game on Sunday afternoons from 2-4pm. Members and guests are welcome to use our lawns to improve their skills at the same time. There are three varieties of croquet, all involving six-hoops, a playing lawn, four different coloured balls, and 32 inch or more tall mallets. For each variety of the game, a large mallet (with a two-to-three pound head) is used to take a pair of croquet balls through the various hoops, first in one direction and then in the other. The player who reaches the centre peg first wins the game. |
A Little History
Croquet was originally derived from the French game of pall mall and came to England in the 1800s. It quickly became popular there and in the former British colonies of Canada, Australia and New Zealand. In the 1970s, a revised version of the game was played in New York and soon led to the development of the USCA and American croquet. There are now international competitions involving many top players, including several from our club.
Association Croquet
British or Association Croquet is the original game with rules formalized by the Croquet Association. Like American croquet, players take a pair of balls through six hoops, in two directions, until pegging out at the centre stake. Unlike American croquet, all the balls are "live" to each other after each turn. Association Croquet is an excellent version of the game and rewards players who have accurate shooting skills.
American Croquet
American Croquet seems very similar to Association Croquet - same lawn, same layout of hoops, same equipment - but plays very differently. In this version, a ball which hits another ball becomes "dead" on that ball until it goes through a hoop ... which can be a very long time, indeed. While this minor rule change may seem unimportant, it leads to the use of a "deadness board" and a great deal of complex strategy in the actual game. Players have equated American croquet with playing chess on grass.
Golf Croquet
Golf Croquet is the simplest version of the sport and a great game. Each player takes a stroke in turn, trying to hit a ball through the same hoop. The sequence of play is blue, red, black, yellow. When a hoop is scored, a point is won for the player or team that scored it, and everyone moves on to the next hoop. The winner of the game is the player/team who wins the most hoops. Golf Croquet is easier to learn than other versions of the game, and the best players have very accurate shots, but there is limited strategy. Many players start with Golf Croquet to develop their skills then move on to the more challenging American or Association games.
Why we never put a foot on a ball? Official answer - it's a fault in any form of croquet and you'll lose your turn. Real answer - if your 3-pound mallet head should actually hit your foot, you'd end up in hospital.
Why we never put a foot on a ball? Official answer - it's a fault in any form of croquet and you'll lose your turn. Real answer - if your 3-pound mallet head should actually hit your foot, you'd end up in hospital.
