LITHUANIAN CROQUET PRODIGY Followers of the Croquet England Facebook page won’t fail to have noticed a new name frequently appearing as a tournament winner this season – Gediminas Smolskas, better known as Ged. GEDIMINAS SMOLSKAS WAS INTERVIEWED FOR CROQUET GAZETTE BY BURY CLUB CHAIRMAN ROY SPENCER
Who is he and where does he come from? 37‐year‐old Ged is a member of Bury Croquet Club. Originally from Lithuania, he has lived in England for seven years and only took up croquet in 2020 during lockdown. So how did the now Wigan resident become involved in croquet? Simply out for a walk in Coronation Park Radcliffe with wife Gabi, they saw two Bury Croquet Club members practising. Whilst not allowed in the ground due to Covid regulations, they watched for a little while and became interested and took away details, then researched the sport on the internet.
sacrificing anything else – just working and playing croquet, and my wife comes with me otherwise I wouldn’t spend any time with her! Effervescent Gabi also acts as driver after a long day of croquet, advisor and encourager. Regarding work, Ged feels that his job as a land surveyor (which involves measuring and angles) helps with his croquet as they are an important aspect of the game. Croquet is not a sport played in his home country, except in gardens at parties. Ged played American pool for 10 years, and snooker – again a croquet connection. Ged’s favourite players are Reg Bamford and Matthew Essick, and one day hopes to play in the USA with the ultimate ambition of wearing a CqE England shirt! In the meantime, his plans for the 2025 season are to play ‘A’ class tournaments and win more trophies.
He then started to become involved in tournaments and this season has been traveling the country with wife Gabi resulting in winning 9 tournaments and achieving a zero handicap. His AC world ranking is 180 and England 87th. He has an attacking style of play and stated that he was pleased to end the season beating a minus 1.5 opponent. When asked how he found the time to take part in so many tournaments around the country Ged stated by
When play became possible after lockdown, Ged and Gabi joined Bury Croquet Club and attended coaching sessions with club AC coach Chris Alvey. It soon became clear that he had an aptitude for the game, particularly AC. He took part in club sessions and internal leagues, and also subsequently played in the club’s Longman Cup and Mary Rose teams, with ongoing coaching from Chris Alvey and also Paul Rigge.
Ged being presented with the Honeygrove Cup
www.croquetengland.org.uk | 6
Made with FlippingBook. PDF to flipbook with ease