Geoff achieves golf croquet placing
Five hard days of golf croquet in Melbourne in late February proved an exciting and beneficial experience for Geoff Gatchell of Dannevirke.
Geoff was selected to be part of an 18-person team to represent New Zealand at the Under 21 Golf Croquet World Championships, based on his ranking of 14th in New Zealand.
Depending on the draw each player played three or four games per day, initially in pool games.
There were six pools, each with eight players of mixed world rankings to ensure the best players did not meet until the semi-finals.
You had to be in the top four of your pool to progress to the semi-final.
Despite having the NZ No 1 and No 3, two strong Australians and the Egyptian No1, expected to be a title contender in his pool, Geoff qualified. His best performance came against the Egyptian, seeded No 1 in his pool, winning 7-6, 5-7 7-6, the last game coming down to a long shot from the edge of the lawn which eliminated the Egyptian player.
Geoff lost the first of the semi-final knock-out games and was relegated to the second tier competition in which he placed second (13th in the world).
Adapting to Melbourne conditions was a challenge, with Australian greens being cut very short and running fast. They played on Olympic greens in a club where membership costs $1200 per year.
To add to the challenge the Melbourne weather provided two days of rain then three days of heat up to 33 degrees.
Adapting to play from other countries was also a challenge. The Egyptian team hit the ball very hard. Geoff said he learnt a number of useful tactics which could also be applied to Association Croquet. Shortly after his return he won the Wairarapa C-grade Association tournament in a final against his grandfather Graham Raynal.
During the off-season, Geoff is still working hard training and playing the odd tournament to keep up his ranking.
He wants to be ready for the next world championships in 2019 rumoured to be in England, as he will still qualify in the Under 21 team.