QLD State Gateball Teams and Doubles Championships
This year the State Gateball Teams and Doubles Championships were held at Southport Croquet Club from 12th-15th August. Since it was a four day event, there was time for the teams to relax between games. When playing the Doubles Competition, it is good to have the time to recuperate because if a team is not playing, it will be doing Referee duties. Fitness is important factor in these competitions. Attracting teams from Qld as well as players from Adelaide, Canberra and Newcastle, there were nine teams competing. Compared to last year, there was an increase in participants with 18 pairs in the doubles competition.

A small burst of wet weather on the Saturday afternoon did not prevent players from giving their best in a close competition. The winning team was Macs from the Toronto Croquet Club in NSW which had two players from other clubs to form the team. Congratulations must go to them- being their first venture into the QLD Championship and finishing as the clear leader in the competition. The presentation was made by Mrs Fiona McAlister. Her mother, Lola Whyte, after whom the trophy was created and named in her honour.

The winning team- Macs- from Toronto NSW.

In contention for second place were three teams all with the same number of wins, but was given to the Grey Shirts, Moreton Bay, because of a better net points score.

In second place were the Grey Shirts from Moreton Bay.

The Competitors in the Teams Championship

There were two Blocks of 9 Doubles required to accommodate the number of entries. Then there was a semi final required to decide the winner.  The winner of Block S was the Ganbatte Team (Jenny Willsher & Geoff Crook) which played against the second placed team in Block T, the 2 Macs ( Ruth Mulvaney & John Park). The winner of Block T was Kele Crew (Robyn Brown and Steve Kele) which played against the second placed team in Block S which was L & J ( Lee Wentworth and Julia Tai). These were very exciting semifinals as would be expected. 

The final was played between the L& J team from Southport (Lee and Julia) and the Ganbatte team (Jenny Willsher from Toronto and Geoff Crook from Adelaide.) The game was won by Jenny and Geoff in an absorbing, tactical battle.

The presentation photo L-R
Lee Wentworth, JuliaTai, Robert Roose QLD Gateball Coordinator, Bruce McAlister, Jenny Willsher, Keith Chur Hansen QLD Gateball Referee Coordinator and Geoff Crook.

The Bruce McAlister Trophy is proudly displayed by Jenny and Geoff in the photo below.