AC Association Croquet
GC Golf Croquet

This Tournament is a national competition organised by the Croquet Association and hosted this year at Watford. Schools or Juniors wishing to participate should contact the CA Office or the manager Dr. Eugene Chang.

National Schools & Juniors
Championships results by year:

Titles: AC National Schools Championship
AC National Juniors Championship
GC National Juniors Championship
Date: Saturday 9 - Sunday 10 October 2021
Manager: Dr. Eugene Chang (Sheffield club)
Secretary: Email: CAOffice click on link to send an email
Phone: 01242 242318
Address: The Croquet Association, Old Bath Road, Cheltenham GL53 7DF
Watford contact: Email: Simon Hathrell click on link to send an email
Phone: 01923 241582
Address: please ask, or log in and obtain it from the CA member's directory
Full details: See the Croquet Association Fixtures list
Notes:
  1. Lunches will be available for a small fee.
  2. Details of parking and other arrangements will be sent to participants before the event.

The 2021 participants

The 2021 CA Schools and Juniors Championships were contested at Watford Croquet Club over 9/10 October in glorious sunshine, a far cry from the cold wet conditions of 12 months previously:

  • AC Schools Championship (RBS Bowl and Schools Shield)
  • AC Juniors Championship (Charles Townsend Cup)
  • GC Juniors Championship (Musk's Cup)

Covid decimated the entry for the team event at <24 hours notice, which reduced the AC Schools Championship to a default winner - Winchester College, who have been regular contestants for a few years and are steadily improving. Their 4 competitors were both delighted and slightly bemused to win the two beautiful trophies without a ball being struck.

This left all 7 contestants free to compete in the two singles events: the AC Juniors Championship and the GC Juniors Championship.

With Saturday ably managed by Alison Maugham (Surbiton), contestants played 14 point games on half lawns in an all-play-all block. After the day's play, there were three players tied on 5 wins, one on 3 and three on 1 win. This led to a semi-final on Sunday morning and final on Sunday afternoon (the latter played as an 18 point game), which was won by Sam Cuthbert.

For the GC Juniors Championship, another all-play-all block of single best-of-13 games saw some upsets, as the Winchester students quickly warmed to golf croquet (after some rapid-fire coaching by Deborah Albertsen, Cheltenham). Nonetheless after 6 rounds, only two players were in contention Albie Willett (Norwich) and Harvey Smith (Cheltenham and The Bears) and were due to play each other in the final round. Thus they played a best-of-3 final directly in round 7, which was won by Albie in straight games, despite stiff competition from Harvey. Albie was delighted to have completed the clean sweep of Schools and Junior trophies in his final eligible year, having played in this event since 2014.

The CA President Quiller Barrett was on hand to present the trophies and thanked Watford (and Simon Hathrell in particular) for all their hard work in hosting the event, including prepping new hoop holes, organising catering, and preparing winners plaques.

There was considerable appetite for a GC Schools Championship next year, and it would be fantastic to see the CA begin to offer more competitive GC opportunities for junior players to play with and against each other.

Report by Eugene Chang
Click on photos for an enlargement

Results:

WINNERS
Winchester College,
Sam Cuthbert,
Albie Willett
Participants
Name Club AC
H'cap		 GC
H'cap
Albie Willett Ipswich 5 -1
Sam Cuthbert Cheltenham 6 2
Harvey Smith The Bears 10 4
August Deeming Winchester College    
Savva Grevtsev Winchester College    
Roger Holwerda Winchester College    
Taanvir Sood Winchester College    

National AC Schools Championship:

WINNER
Winchester College


Winchester won by default when other schools cancelled because of Covid cases.

National AC Juniors Championship:

Results vs.: SC AW HS RH SG TS AD WINS NET
POINTS
Sam Cuthbert   +7 -1T +13 +9 +12 +13 5 +53
Albie Willett -7   +8 +9T +14 +14 +13 5 +51
Harvey Smith +1T -8   +14 +14 +14 +13 5 +48
Roger Holwerda -13 -9T -14   +3T +2T +3T 3 -28
Savva Grevtsev -9 -14 -14 -3T   -1T +6T 1 -35
Taanvir Sood -12 -14 -14 -2T +1T   -1T 1 -42
August Deeming -13 -13 -13 -3T -6T +1T   1 -47
SEMI-FINALS FINAL WINNER
Sam Cuthbert Sam Cuthbert
(+12)		 Sam Cuthbert
(+16)
Harvey Smith
Roger Holwerda Albie Willett
(+14)
Albie Willett

14pt games played level on half-size courts (final: 18pt, full-size court).

National GC Juniors Championship:

Results vs.: AW HS SC RH AD SG TS GAME
WINS		 NET
HOOPS
Albie Willett   7-6
7-3		 6-7
 7-1
 7-0
 7-2
 7-3
 6 +26
Harvey Smith 6-7
3-7		   7-4
 6-7
 7-3
 7-3
 7-0
 4 +12
Sam Cuthbert 7-6
 4-7
   4-7
 7-4
 7-6
 7-2
 4 +4
Roger Holwerda 1-7
 7-6
 7-4
   7-3
 5-7
 5-7
 3 -2
August Deeming 0-7
 3-7
 4-7
 3-7
   7-5
 7-5
 2 -14
Savva Grevtsev 2-7
 3-7
 6-7
 7-5
 5-7
   7-5
 2 -8
Taanvir Sood 3-7
 0-7
 2-7
 7-5
 5-7
 5-7
   1 -18
WINNER
Albie Willett

All games 13pt played level.