THE ROAD TO CARRICKMINES
By Sarah Clements
It all started on a dull January day when I was invited to make myself available as a contender for the third Women’s European Golf Championship 2026 to be held in Ireland at the end of June. At the time I ignored it thinking I wasn’t good enough to play for England. At the beginning of the season (the first GC tournament in April) I then played in the open series at Phyllis Court/High Wycombe and did better than expected. After speaking to Louise Smith and Chris Roberts they were both really supportive so I changed my availability to yes, not expecting a place. Within a short time I was selected and was very excited at the prospect of playing for England Women for the first time. It was amazing to get so many good luck
wishes from people at Chester Croquet Club, CqE, and further afield. The only issue I had was funding and luckily a Chester club member had spotted the advert in the Croquet magazine outlining the discretionary bursary awards that Croquet England could make to players. I filled in the application form outlining my croquet career so far, my voluntary efforts for the club and how I could save money by sleeping in my van and carrying my own food etc. I was thrilled to receive a bursary to more than cover the ferry, food costs and purchasing an extra England shirt and an England sweatshirt. Players are given one England shirt free and James Death was really helpful when ordering the extra kit as one shirt doesn’t last four days. I was immediately added to the full playing list of 28 and had to send my
player's profile. Compared to many of the players I had never played at such a high level so it took a while to compose the profile. Finally the day of the sailing came and I couldn’t believe it was the smoothest sailing across to Ireland that I had ever been on. I decided to check out the facilities at Carrickmines and it was out of this world. Clay courts, grass courts, indoor courts, all for tennis. A bar, gym, eating areas, saunas and huge shower rooms too. The croquet lawns were lush and green with amazing external and internal viewing areas. The day before the tournament started there was a briefing by a number of croquet, sports and political dignitaries and a welcome glass of fizz. Once the tournament did start it was very strange to me as I’m used to playing tournaments where you play continuously with no gaps. In this
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