NSW Gateball Championships Head North in 2019

Taree Croquet Club on the Mid North Coast of NSW will host the NSW Championships for 2019. Taree CC has 3 croquet lawns, with a member base of 50 plus and currently do not play gateball. Along with the opportunity of hosting this event, Taree is hoping to enter a team and maybe add another code to their club.

6 experienced gateball players from Toronto, Newcastle National Park, Epping, Lithgow and Jamberoo headed to Taree on a very hot day to present a coaching and basic refereeing workshop. Taree CC was well prepared with one gateball court already marked.

Attendees came from Taree, Port Macquarie and Forster clubs, all very experienced croquet players eager to learn about gateball. Lots of laughs and some very unique stances developed as the drills session kicked in.

Sparking, as always was proving to be a challenge, but by the day’s end most had mastered the technique.

Several games were played with modified rules to ensure continued flow and interest in the game. During play some of the complex rules that govern our code were explained to our newest players.

Gateball will now continue to be played at Taree as the club has been able to borrow CNSW equipment through NSW Gateball Director Mary Dunn.

A brief meeting was also held with dedicated members to discuss the intricacies of gateball tournaments. This will see that this year’s Championship is one not to be missed.

So put September 20-22 in your diary, come for a few extra days and explore the Taree region as well.

Glenda and Manuel Gutierrez
Jamberoo Croquet Club

On the Hunt for New Referees

As is always the case in NSW we struggle for accredited referees in gateball. Sometimes draws have to be altered to accommodate the small number. With this is mind we have run another refereeing workshop, this time at Toronto Croquet Club.

On an extremely hot day with temps in the high 30s and with a great attendance from both Toronto and Newcastle National Park we offered a structured workshop for Level 2 potential referees.

The workshop consisted of hand signals practice, common fouls, duties of referees and officials, and what we could consider one of the most important aspects of refereeing, the correct positioning of referee A and B during play.

A rather lengthy and complex Q & A time showed that these players were extremely knowledgeable about our rather convoluted rules.

At the conclusion of the session, Helen Chalmers of Toronto CC sat her Level 2 theory exam and is poised to do her practical assessment at Lithgow’s gateball competition in March. Helen passed her theory exam quite easily and is now well on her way to being added to our referee numbers in NSW.

Manuel and Glenda Gutierrez
Jamberoo Croquet Club

Gateball Showcased at Nowra CC

Players from Nowra Croquet Club have shown an interest in gateball and for the past several weeks have been travelling to Jamberoo Croquet Club weekly to learn the complexities of the game. As interest has grown, Jamberoo decided to head south and open up the code to more of the members at Nowra.

6 experienced players from Jamberoo and Lithgow, joined quite a few interested Nowra players on the court as well as several spectators. A fun afternoon was had by all.

After a few short skill sessions with sparking, as always, proving a bit tricky, we played several games. Games started with no penalties for fouls or outballs. As the afternoon wore on most rules were applied and sparking fouls were minimal.

Nowra members remained very positive throughout the afternoon and are keen to adopt this code to their club. Making this possible is the ability to borrow gear from CNSW through Director of NSW Gateball Mary Dunn at nswgateball@gmail.com

Glenda and Manuel Gutierrez
Jamberoo Croquet Club