WHEELCHAIR CROQUET
By Mike Littlewood
It’s now April 2026. A very wet winter has passed, but I didn’t think it was too cold at least not here in Driffield, East Yorkshire. Our groundsman has declared the lawn open and last week, on the 7th, our club season began. I was expecting to still be in the wheelchair and indeed this was the case, even though the planned operation on my foot had not gone ahead. Not because of industrial action or anything of that sort; the toenail that had been scheduled for removal (due to curling of the big toe) had mysteriously righted itself and was declared settled, so the operation no longer necessary. Although we don’t have any high tech to determine if the ground is too soft, the sheer effort of trying to propel the Bowls Royce wheelchair in a straight line told me enough. So, I applied common sense and sat back to watch the first game of the season. However, I did take the opportunity to get Peter T to test the two variations of ball I had purchased, to identify if they would be slower on a hard-court surface. Our club has two hard tennis courts with removable nets, so why not use one (when not being used for tennis) as a short lawn for croquet. The hard courts weren’t actually available, so he tested a regular croquet sized ball made of wood (8.2 oz) against a 9- ounce composite ball from the manufacturer Uber, as used by Croquet England. Both were subjected to the whack it and see how it travels test. The wooden ball behaved exactly as if it were a normal croquet ball. The 9-ounce ball was a bit too small to hit cleanly and (fortunately tested on a piece of side lawn) the resulting divot suggested that size was an issue. However, the ball when struck on the second swing did travel less distance. So the answer perhaps is less weight in both the ball and the mallet head. My memory of ‘A’ level physics suggests that this may resolve the problem. I’ve ordered a set of Uber 12- ounce composite balls, and we’ll knock up a mallet head of less than 3kg and see how that works. The plan now is to recruit more wheelchair players; we have to learn how to teach them to play. I was already a croquet player when I became a wheelchair user, so knew what I should be doing and why. How easy will it be to teach a non- player? I’m introducing two new sessions for the club this year and have already gained the approval from both the croquet players and the other members of the club committee, who continue to support me in this quest. We’re running a reduced mobility session and a separate wheelchair session at times when the club is barely used.
Reduced mobility includes all sorts of mobility issues from partial paralysis, peripheral neuropathy, also mental health etc, and involves use of a walking stick or frame. It’s not a sport which requires you to run, just take your time and make your shot. So, having said that, if you’re trying to improve your club and looking for grant funding then you would automatically tick the inclusivity boxes with most fundholders. Driffield did as soon as my wife Lesley and I joined in 2021, and that was just to reform the croquet section not for funding. So does the demon Artificial Intelligence help? Well for us it did! The 2026 promotional poster.
No, I didn’t design it, but fortunately some of the club’s tennis members understand these gadgets. I will keep you posted with how we progress and when we solve the hardcourt problem.
www.croquetengland.org.uk | 17
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