Wodonga to host 2023 Australian Gateball Championships

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Gateball Australia has confirmed that the 2023 Australian Gateball Championships will be held in the regional Victorian city of Wodonga. Wodonga Croquet Club located at the Wodonga Tennis Centre will host the event.

Twin City Croquet Club in Albury, NSW was originally chosen to welcome the country’s Gateball players from the 7th to 10th September, but with several international teams expressing interest in attending the event, it was decided to move to the larger facilities at Wodonga. Part of the NSW Gateball Championships were held at Wodonga in September 2022 so it is a familiar venue for Gateball players.

Gateball Australia is grateful for the support of the Wodonga Tennis Centre and the willingness of the Wodonga Croquet Club to take on the hosting of this event. This year, the Australian Gateball Championships have been extended to a four day tournament, and will deliver both a Doubles and a Team event. 

The last Australian Gateball Championships, held at the Gold Coast in April 2021, were delayed by several months due to COVID restrictions but still attracted Australian teams from four states. This year, the opportunity to welcome back international teams after a break of several years, is an exciting prospect for local Gateball players.

The event is open to spectators to come and watch the best in the country compete. You can find out more about Gateball at the Gateball Australia website at https://gateball.com.au/ or by emailing info@gateball.com.au.

 

 

Southport’s Gateball Triples

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The annual Gateball Triples Competition was held at Southport Croquet Club on Saturday and Sunday 15-16th April. Originally the event was planned as a one-day event. However the popularity of this version of Gateball has grown. Fourteen teams entered of which 7 were from Southport.  The competition was organised into two Blocks of 7 teams. Advertised as a one-day event, the organisers faced a good problem- that  of too many teams for a one-day event. How to complete the Round Robin in one day?

The Southport members of the 7 teams in the Gateball Triples

Julia Vickers came up with a solution and the Southport teams co-operated. A decision was taken to have the teams from Southport that were scheduled to play on the Sunday transferred to be played on the Saturday.  Only Southport players were required for the two days of competition. The visiting teams were required to play only on the Sunday. By 4:30 p.m. the Finals were scheduled to be played. Being a wonderfully sunny day the games were all held in bright sunshine and, for the most part, the competition went according to plan. 

Block A was a very tight result and was rather interesting when sorting out the 1st position. Both the Southport ALT and the Eildon Blue teams had won 4 games; both had gained 74 gates scored for ; and both had 58 gates scored against. The ranking order had to be determined by the results of the game when they played each other. Hence, Eildon Blue was ranked 1st because that team has defeated Southport ALT in their game. Block B was won by Southport Red Roulettes and 2nd place went to Moreton Bay 1.

The Final for the winner of the Southport Triples for 2023 was a good game played between Eildon Blue and Southport Red Roulettes. Thank you to the Referees – Margaret Barnard and Kathie Grant. The winning team was the local team of Peter Sweet, Michelle de la Mare and Matthew Xhilaga with a score of 14 gates whereas Eildon scored 11 gates.

The winners- Michelle, Peter and Matthew

Philip, Jules and Alan

The game to decide third place was between the Southport  ALT Team and the Moreton Bay 1 team. The Referees were Keith Chur-Hansen and Barbara Northcott. Again, it was a close result but Moreton Bay secured 3rd place with 12-11 victory.

The event was a very successful and the usual standard of good catering was continued. 

Third place went to Kaelyn, Emma and Warren

Moreton Bay Gateball Club event 11th -13th March 2023

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We had a wonderful weekend with all the players that joined us for our 1st ever Team and Doubles competitions. 

We had players travel from Canberra, Rockhampton, the Sunshine Coast and many from our local region to join us for our 3 day event. 

Congratulations to our Winners:

Teams Winner : Dolphins 

Teams Runners up : Eildon White (missing from photo are Grahame Bishop and Jules Churchward).

Doubles Winners : Kele Crew

Doubles Runners up : Em & M

There were many very close games that went down to the last second. 

It was lovely to see some new players. Welcome to the game David, John, Joanne and Mark. We look forward to see you at the next event. 

We thank you all for your support and we’ll see you all again in the future. 

Thank you 

Moreton Bay Gateball Club  

Submitted by Emma Mauceri

Beginner Gateball Captain Course at Strathfield Croquet Club

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14 NSW players participated in a Beginner Captains course at Strathfield CC led by John and Penny Park of Hazelbrook CC.

At an introductory session in the clubhouse, participants brainstormed the characteristics of an effective captain. These were then grouped into two aspects: the Team skills and Thinking skills required to captain a successful Gateball team. These were to be the focus of the course.
 
Participants then headed outside for practical sessions, exploring the different stages of a game of Gateball and strategic play for each stage.
 
 
 
To illustrate Stage One, the platform building stage, two activities were undertaken. One, called ‘Blitzkrieg’, involved players, after passing Gate 1, shooting for Gate 2. Consequences were discussed,  before moving onto an activity identifying alternative standard plays, for example the “Gate 2 side strategy”.  (All these were identified from old World Gateball Union manuals!)
 
The concepts of ‘Thinking Numerically’ and ‘Controlling Space’ were introduced and then  ‘Space Controllers’, such as slides, bridges and attack balls, were discussed and then put into practice through mini games played on quarter courts. The mini games were devised specifically to challenge players to see opportunities to attack their opposition.
 
Finally, the group looked at the End Game. Two scenarios were used. The time pressure was horrific – in one scenario there were a couple of minutes left, no balls were on the court, other than one sitting on the goal pole. “Referees” were used and had to caution players about waiting until they were called before playing. Tension was high! As with each stage of the game,  the group considered the necessary team or people skills and the thinking skills required to successfully captain. 
 
Star of the show was, we believe, the youngest ever participant in a Gateball event, newly arrived  daughter of one of the course participants. At only a few weeks old, her presence was celebrated! 
 
 
Gateball Australia has appointed a High Performance Manager for Gateball and has offered support for a Captain Development Program in May this year to be held in Queensland. This session at Strathfield complements that initiative by providing a course for beginner captains. 
 
John Park, Level 3 Gateball Coach

Brisbane North Region Gateball Pennants

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The Brisbane North Region Gateball Pennants was held on Saturday 25th February at Moreton Bay Gateball Club in Deception Bay.  Three clubs were represented, Eildon Croquet Club, Pine Rivers Croquet Club and Moreton Bay Gateball Club. Each club had five representative players. Clubs played a “best of three games” round consisting of a  team game, a triples game and a doubles game. All five players played in the team game and then the team split to play a triples game and a doubles game. The club that won the best of the three games, was the round winner.  Moreton Bay was the winner beating both Eildon and Pine Rivers in their club rounds. Eildon won the club round against Pine Rivers.

The Moreton Bay team will now progress to the Inter-Regional Final to be held at Rockhampton in May.

Eildon team: Denis Pitkin, Fran Buckle, Richard Bevan, Margaret Bevan, Robert Roose, Ros Crowe (reserve).

Moreton Bay team: Warren Dowse, Emma Mauceri, Kaelan Sweatman, Margo Porter and Darrell Porter.

Pine Rivers team: Jan Wellard, Karren Kimpton, Carol Guy, Tracey Wells, Judy Stringer.

A big thank you to Moreton Bay Gateball Club that hosted the event and provided wonderful catering.