Author Archives: John Park

Toronto Introduce Gateball to Port Macquarie & Thanks to Maggi Williams

Posted on by
2

Introduction to Gateball On Saturday 16 July most of the 27 members present had their first encounter with gateball. Four members of the Toronto Club, Marion Davies, HelenChalmers, Ruth Mulvaney and Jenny Willsher, introduced us to the game.
Gateball is a mallet sport that is very different from the games of croquet that we know.

It is a team game that can be played by four or more players.
With two courts set up we were gradually taken through the skills and the development of the game.

After a sausage sizzle, cooked by Peter Drinkwater and Tony Earle, a 3 player team and then a five player team game was played. We really appreciate the help of the members of the Toronto club. They are also a Club Hub and, with the help of the money from Croquet NSW, we strive to improve the enjoyment and skills of our players and encourage new members to this game that we love.

We were able to buy a Gateball set and pay for Marion’s accommodation from the $5,000 that we have already received from Croquet
NSW.

Thank you very much to Tim, our Club Hub coordinator, for arranging the day. At the next committee meeting we will work out our way forward with the introduction of
this game.

More pictures are available here:

 
Apologies to Toronto and Port Macquarie for the rather late posting of this story. A few communication glitches!
 
FINALLY: Thanks to Maggi Williams for all the posting she has done for us for a number of years. Maggi played in the Blue Mountains and Lithgow and when she retired from the game, she offered to keep posting stories for us. She probably did this for about 7 years! Maggi’s participation in the game will be remembered not only for her willingness to take on roles but also her encouragement and support for local disability groups. For many years, she was the driving force behind fortnightly sessions for local disability support groups. 
 
Thanks Maggi

 

A New National Coordinator of Gateball Australia

Posted on by
10
 
Gateball Australia is pleased to announce that the ACA Board has selected Ros Crowe as its next National Coordinator of Gateball. 
 
Ros  started playing in 2016 with Redcliffe and was part of their team for the 2018 World Gateball Championships in Brazil. In 2018, she was President of the newly formed Deception Bay Gateball Club (now Moreton Bay Gateball Club).
 
She  joined Pine Rivers Croquet Club in 2019 to introduce Gateball and played in the Jinxi Cup in China that year with players from South Australia and Pine Rivers. When she retired in 2020, she moved to her local club, Eildon, and currently represents them and Gateball at the Brisbane North Region Sub-committee.
 
She is a Level 2 Gateball coach, a Level 1 Gateball referee and has been learning Golf Croquet. She  recently managed the Gateball CAQ Centenary Pennants and really loved the challenge of developing and introducing the new format.
She tells us that Gateball has provided awesome opportunities to meet fantastic people and to travel locally, interstate and internationally. In her  new role, she  looks forward to meeting more players and continuing to grow the Gateball community.
 
Before signing off, retiring National Coordinator, John Park, stated that he would like to acknowledge the growing recognition and engagement by the ACA with Gateball. When he first became NCGB, ACA Board contacts were Croquet players who, at best, tried to listen. His three recent contacts on the Board have been GB players who have understood the issues and made sure that Gateball’s  voice has been heard. Thanks Graeme Thomas, Jeff Crook and Barbara Northcott. Current ACA President, Jim Nichols, also deserves thanks. He has not only attended the 2019 and 2022 Australian Championships but has played in those events as well! His game of choice is AC, but like over two thirds of Gateballers, he enjoys playing other codes too.   
We look forward to a bright future for Gateball being led by a competent younger woman within a mutually supportive mallet sports community!

Workshop Summaries from the 2021/22 Australian Gateball Championships

Posted on by
2

Refereeing workshops:

At the 21/22 AGC a number of referee workshops were held. Supporting resources clarifying roles were handed out and are available as follows: Basic Interaction between Referees A and B, Duties of the Assistant Referee, Duties of a Linesperson, Duties of a Recorder, Referee Role A&B and the Scoreboard Keeper.

Other clarifications were presented as follows: Example Record Sheet, Rotational Doubles Record Sheet , Monitoring Player sequence for Doubles and Referee Hand Indications

A final group worked through the Gateball Australia Referee Accreditation and Reaccreditiation Framework using a series of questions.

All referees are reminded that attending sessions like these help them meet their reaccreditation requirements and can be noted on annual reaccreditation cards that need to be handed to State Referee Coordinators each year. 

Coaching Workshops

Five sessions were planned which coincided with three levels of the Gateball Coaching Framework. More advanced sessions were presented on Managing the Endgame ( and notes!)  and Holdback The development and presentation of  scenarios like these is a major component of the Level 3 coaching program

For competition players sessions on Openings and Ladders & Cross court sparking were presented. Activities like these are presented as part the Level 2 coaching program which aims to develop the skills players need to become good competition players

For first time competitors, the usefulness of skills cards was demonstrated in preparing for competition participation.  Skills and drills for less experienced players are part of the Level 1 coaching program

Anyone wishing to train as a coach needs to make an application through their State Coordinator of Coaching.

Stroking Advice

One observation made at the event was that several of our experienced croquet players seemed to cope better with the playing surface. An email asking them how they felt their particular stroking style enabled them to cope with the conditions produced several responses which have been posted below. The comments made, emphasise for us all that we need revisit “Level 1” skills when faced with challenges

Peter: In GC you use more backswing to get more power (an Egyptian will often have the mallet vertical behind him before slamming a ball down court).

I didn’t see many GB players doing this – instead, to compensate for the heavier conditions, most tried to accelerate through the swing.  This does produce more power, but tends to pull you off line, which is part of the reason so many shots missed target (the lawn also had a lot of deviation as well, so even if you hit straight there were no guarantees).  Hitting balls that had been pressed into the grass during sparking didn’t help – I’ve never seen so many jumps in GB, many of which were cruel!

Many GB players also jab, which is OK at short range, but to hit a target at any distance you need a bigger action – some backswing for power and a good follow through for direction.  Pedants will point out that you’ve already hit the ball before the follow through, but the follow through shows you where you’ve sent the ball, so a good follow through action will help you send it where you want.  The trick for many players is to keep a bigger action, but to slow it down to accommodate a shorter distance.  Slow, flow & follow through is the mantra.

Barry: I find a backswing as short as possible & an almost over exaggerated follow through gives me the best accuracy. That was certainly the case on the challenging lawns we have just played on.
It was still a bit of a lottery but I found that if I tried for extra power by increasing my backswing, my accuracy suffered.

Greg: I did notice a lot of Gateball players were not stalking the ball or using a lot of follow through. One way to address this is to teach/refresh the routine for stroking.

The Routine: Players should develop a consistent routine in preparation for every stroke.

A stroking routine could be:

Take your grip

Stalk the ball

Take your stance/position

Keep your eye on the ball

Keep the body still

Backswing is controlled

Hit the ball in the centre

The swing is fluid

Follow through

See the grass under the ball

Ok – so maybe this just exposed something we can work at. Maybe at a future event we can include a stroking workshop? 

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

Posted on by
7

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.

 

 

 

 

Kew win the 2021/22 Australian Gateball Team Championship

Posted on by
2

It was fitting that the final of the Australian Gateball Championship was  between a Southport Red team from  the host state, Queensland, and the runners up in the last Australian Gateball Championships, Kew from Victoria. The Southport Red Team had won the QLD Gateball Teams Championships in September 2021.

The teams that played in the Grand Final. Back Row is Southport Red while in the middle and front row is the Kew Team.

Like many games in the competition, the final was closely fought, with Kew winning 11 – 9. A late agari scored by Elaine Coverdale clinched the game.

The analysis of the game from Philip Brown, Captain of Kew -“The final was a tense tussle. Kew had the red balls and strategically protected gate 2 longer than you normally would, deliberately declining attempts on gate 2 in the second round. Much of the mid-game was jockeying for position. Both teams attempted touches of opponent’s balls, rather than scoring attempts. Towards the end of the game, ball 9 made gate 3 from some distance and just missed the goal pole. However, an excellent long-distance touch from ball 1 allowed 9 to be sparked Agari. This gave Kew a solid 4 point lead. At the call of time the game was still live – though it would have required a superb cross-court touch from gate 2 to gate 3. In the end, the Agari of ball 9 proved decisive.”

Speaking at the end of the game, Philip Brown acknowledged the late Trish Watts and Kerry Seipolt, who has recently been unwell. Both had been important members of previous Kew teams. The biggest smile was on the face of Gilon Smith, as this is the third time he has played in a winning team at Australian Gateball Championships. 

Kew- Winners of the Australian Gateball Teams Championship for 2022