PLAY UP
DAVE FULLER Croquet Sports Journalist
The following year, in the 2024 AC Opens, I got to play Reg in the block and put a Duffer Tice at least four yards short of H6. 'I'm enticed' said Reg and that was that. But that was another good thing: I was nervous and I will be less so now. The next game was against Stephen Mulliner who missed three 13 yarders for a +26 for me. As we discussed at lunch, anyone can miss those. Stephen was, as he has been many times since, very generous with his advice. Amongst other things, he suggested practicing Sextuples to improve (gulp!). Then I picked Rob Fulford's number out of a bag for the quarter‐finals. Cool, although the 'I'm coming for you Rob' look didn't seem to have much effect if I am honest. Rob didn't save his best for me and made four errors in our two games, enough for me to do some damage if I was in top form! But I was wasn't, sadly, again being a bit nervous. But the best bit was having lunch with Rob, discussing those clever non‐lift leaves. He won't be so lucky next time, with my newfound knowledge. My point is: so what if you lose a few games against the very best? Around scratch and better, many games are completely one‐sided and we just have to say well done and move on. Isn't it much better to do that and learn stuff as well? And then there is the opportunity to actually have a game recorded on the live stream. OK, so that is a double edged sword in that some unkind people may get the chance to laugh at rank shots, but surely the chance to see how bad your stance is only a chance to improve? For some reason the cameras have avoided my matches thus far, but I look forward to the chance at some stage. Of course, this is all just as valid at all handicaps and whether playing AC or GC. My club colleague Claire Hunt plays off GC 9 handicap but is playing in a 4+ tournament at Budleigh soon! Go get 'em I say! So there we are. I hope that my arguments are compelling. Take every opportunity to play in tournaments where the top players are competing. Play Up! After all, there is always the plate._ STOP PRESS: Claire got to the final, albeit losing narrowly, at Budleigh thereby completely validating my argument! So there!
Court Correspondent
Well there I was casually reading the comments in The Hit Inn WhatsApp Group and, would you believe it, there was an intelligent comment! I sat up immediately to read Nick Parish's concerns over the AC Opens entry numbers in recent years. Obviously this was news to me being the young chap (in croquet terms) that I am, but Nick's comments were very interesting. The basic thought was that it is the players around scratch, give or take, who are not turning up to play so much these days in the big tournaments, and that this trend only encourages others in a similar position to give it a miss. Of course, some higher‐level tournaments can be long, and not everyone can afford the investment of a week's holiday or time away from family, but it you can, then I think that there are good reasons to play. I hope that you will excuse me from talking on my favourite subject (ie me!) for a bit, but I would like to think that I am in a good position to comment as I have been looking to improve over the past two years, and playing very strong players seemed a good way to learn. I believe that we should all take the chance to 'Play Up' a little and mix it with the best players. In the 2023 Western's, playing off 3.5, I was paired with Mr. Maugham himself in the first round, best of three. I learnt a lot that day, particularly that even the best in the world can't hit every 12 yarder, but also when not to peg out your second ball missing the first pegging out (David helped me understand a better way later over a glass of Red). We also had a discussion on better leaves. I am pleased to say that I did take a game off David that day (Court 5 was very bumpy at the time and local knowledge helped a lot) resulting in 'Slasher' Alison cutting me to 0. Revenge indeed! But seriously, a great outcome for me.
www.croquetengland.org.uk | 29
Made with FlippingBook - PDF hosting