Category Archives: Events

CNSW 2022 Gateball Championships faces challenges!

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A record number of 25 contested the Doubles competition in 4 blocks, with semi finals played between the winners of Block A – the Kele Crew ( Cheryl & Steve ) 10 defeating
Redcliffe Three (Alan James & Crystal Carling) 8. The winners of Block C Canberra Whiteheads (Glen & Kristina) 18 defeating Redcliffe One (Geoff Morris & Paul Ekeberg) 6.

The final between Kele Crew and Canberra Whiteheads was a game of cat and mouse strategy with victory to the Canberra Whiteheads 14 points to 7.

After the match, Steve Kele conceded they had more to learn from this couple with their 20 years experience and had thoroughly enjoyed the competition.

An emotional Glen Whitehead dedicated the trophy to fellow Canberra CC Gateball player Andrew Davies. Andrew suffered a heart attack during the first round of the Doubles on Friday morning and died in the Albury Hospital.

Around noon on Saturday, Justin Clancy, MLA for Albury and son Xavier, hit balls through a gate to open the Tournament. 13 teams contested the Clare & Ken Poole Teams trophy in 2 blocks. Players in both Canberra teams wore black arm bands to remember their team mate.

In the Sunday semi finals matches, Hazelbrook were defeated by the Macs (combined team from Toronto and Epping) 12 – 10 and Kew defeated the Canberra Sparkers 15 points to 7. Around 50 people cheered on players in the final, with winners Kew defeating the Macs 14 to 9. 

In accepting the trophy from CNSW Board Member Rosie Landrebe, Philip Brown. the Kew Captain, thanked people for the organisation of a successful tournament under trying conditions and reminded everyone to treasure the friends they have made playing Gateball.

The host team, River Gateball, was awarded the trophy for the best new team

The event had faced many challenges. With three days to go a number of teams had to withdraw. Their withdrawal required the draw to be redone and further modified to equip games with referees.

Two days before the tournament, the venue managers confirmed the courts were unavailable due to pools of water which had not dried as expected. Plan B to move to an Albury Council soccer field was confirmed on Wednesday and worked well for the doubles on Friday. It required extreme effort from the few Twin City CC members to paint 8 courts, move chairs and all tournament equipment from the original venue – Albury Tennis Association Centre – 150 metres up the road.

Because the soccer field was unavailable for the weekend, Plan C saw the tournament moving across the border to Wodonga Tennis Centre. This was a fantastic venue with grass tennis courts providing a pretty true and slick surface for play. And we played each day in sunshine with clear blue skies. Many thanks go to our Venue Manager for quickly identifying alternate venues and managing all the logistics of the changes. Also to our wonderful Gateball players, who loaded up their cars and utes with gear, assisted with court set up and did not complain about the moveable feast of this tournament.

Story content provided by Judy Tier
NSW State Coordinator of Gateball

Vale Andrew Davies – a link to a recent CNSW Newsletter. 

Newcastle National Park Gateball Triples Carnival

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On a very cold weekend (4th and 5th June) our Gateball Triples carnival was held at Newcastle National Park Croquet Club.

Eight teams attended. Two from Hazelbrook, three from Newcastle and one each from Toronto, Canberra and Epping. It was played as a block tournament with finals at the end. 

The games were highly contested during the block matches with the teams securing a place in the finals being Newcastle Jades 6 wins, Hazelbrook Blue 6 wins and Canberra 5 wins. The fourth place went to Toronto after gate averages were taken into account from Newcastle Sapphires and Epstars who all had 3 wins.

In the semi finals Newcastle Jades 10 defeated Toronto 7 and Canberra 10 defeated Hazelbrook Blues 7. 

The final was hard fought to the end with Newcastle Jades  10 defeating Canberra 9. 

Congratulations to Alan Gray (capt), Philippa Rose and Chris Gill from the Newcastle Jades team on their win. 

Lynne Thomas
Newcastle National Park Croquet Club

SCC Invitational Gateball Teams Challenge

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The atmosphere at this inaugural Invitational Challenge on 14th May was electric and positive, especially as the sun shone during all of the games. It lifted our spirits after a week of mounting anxiety over the weather.

Strathfield Council employee, Ryan, charged with maintenance of our lawns, did a brilliant job to get the lawn ready, in ways above and beyond the call of duty. Petula Shun was chief organiser, ably assisted by Ann Shaddick and Ruth Bridger. On the day itself, all players participated fully in their playing and refereeing duties, and enabled the day to proceed without a hitch.

In all, there were five Gateball teams, Strathfield, Newcastle, Hazelbrook, Canberra and Toronto. It was the largest gateball gathering to have ever taken place at Strathfield CC.

Notably, this was the first time we had fielded a GB Team made up solely of Strathfield members, without forming a composite team with players from other clubs. At this evolutionary stage of our GB game code in Australia, while we may not be able to field a full team of our own, it is still possible to join another club’s team even at state or interstate level. For example, at the recent National GB Championship in Runaway Bay, Queensland, Petula Shun played for Canberra CC, and Ruth Bridger played for Southport Stripes. Their host clubs were so welcoming and happy to share their knowledge. This resulted in bonds being strengthened between our clubs. What invaluable experiences they brought back to their home club.

The SCC Invitational Gateball Teams Challenge was held to thank those clubs who in very recent years, have continued to support SCC’s Sunday gateball sessions. We will, of course, remain indebted to those other croquet clubs, Eastwood, Epping, Lithgow and Jamberoo, who helped our fledgling SCC gateballers, gain valuable experience as part of the Epstars Team. The clubs invited on Sunday helped carry on that tradition of support to SCC.

Play between teams was very close, and games were heavily fought. As we all know, there is that time in a game when suddenly the opposition runs away with the game. Nevertheless in many games it could have gone either way.

Toronto was the eventual winning team, and it was a well-deserved win.

Many of our recent participants in the club’s first foray into GC Division 3 Pennants volunteered as members of our catering team. It was good to see that inter-game code collaboration. What a splendid display of food was on offer.

The event marks another special occasion in our club’s proud sporting history by not just keeping a newish game code alive, but helping it thrive. To see new players from elsewhere better able to help develop gateball at their own club is also a welcome development.

Thank you all.

Ruth Bridger
On behalf of Strathfield Croquet Club

Australian Gateball Championships 2023, 7th to 10th September.

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The venue and time for the 2023 Australian Gateball Championships was announced at the end of our recent Championships

The event will be held from the 7th to 10th September 2023 at the Twin City Croquet Club, Albury, NSW

The Twin City Croquet Club plays on the lawn courts at the Albury Tennis Association, near the border of NSW/Victoria.

https://www.alburytennisassociation.com.au/

The club can set up twelve ‘A’ croquet courts so can accommodate any number of gateball courts on lawns at required grass length. The  greenkeeper is Shayne Ried. Shayne Ried, has worked on the courts at Wimbledon has being custodian since September 2004.

This overview shows us what an ideal venue this is.

Gateball Australia’s Championships is a biennial event, in 2023 we resume our usual pattern of holding the event in the odd numbered years. This is so that in the even numbered years we can send teams to World and Asian Gateball Union Events.

 

 

 

 

Australian Gateball Championships. Day 2

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https://gateball.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2022/04/

Saturday’s program saw the first few rounds of the teams event and the doubles finals.

At the end of the day, the Macs from NSW were leading pool A with 4 wins while following close behind were Moreton Bay and Southport Red with three wins apiece. In pool B, Canberra Mavericks and Kew share the lead on 4 wins apiece.

The doubles semifinals and finals saw quality games. The final was between Glen and Kristina Whitehead of Canberra and the Macs pairing of David Hughes and Ruth Mulvaney. David described their game as follows:

“In a game which saw two doubles pairings soldier through the knockout stages, the final game was a clash of skill and fierce tactics which came down to the final shot. In what could be considered a game of who could keep control of Gate 2 longer, Glen and Kristina assumed control early, only to lose control soon after from a bit of luck (thanks to the lawn) with a long touch. The middle stages of the game were a see saw affair and required us to keep our focus and cool in order to maintain control and solidify our line 2 strategy in front of Gate 2. As always when playing such high quality opposition in Glen and Kristina, the game was a thrill and Ruth and I were lucky to escape and hold on to win the inaugural Australian doubles championship.”
 
While Glen and Kristina’s view was:
 
Kristina and I had a good start winning the toss and getting ball 1 in front of gate 2. However, two long shots by David, one early and one late, kept us at bay. On our last turn we had a chance to put 5 on the goal pole and equal the scores but we also needed 6 off the court, as it had a certain gate 2 on the final turn. We weren’t able to quite make the bombard. Congratulations to Ruth and David on winning a very enjoyable final.
 
Spectators ageed it was a thrilling game!