Try Croquet Before You Retire

Thinking about retirement? Learn how Beryl found her passion for croquet before she retired, setting herself up for an active and social future.

Croquet Queensland Media

Aug 2, 2025

Retirement catches a lot of people off guard. You spend years thinking about how to get there, but not much time thinking about what you'll do when you arrive.

Then suddenly the calendar is empty. Monday morning, nothing scheduled. Some people spend months working out what to fill it with.

Others start earlier. They find something while they're still working, so when retirement comes, they're stepping into a life rather than out of one.

That's what Beryl did. Years before she was due to retire, the Southport Croquet Club member started thinking about what she actually wanted her days to look like.

Her mother had played croquet, so the game was already on Beryl's radar. The problem was fitting it in while she was still working full-time. Her solution? Find a version of the game that matched her schedule.

“The only code that I could play at that stage was gateball because they played it Tuesday afternoons and Saturday afternoons,” she explains.

This was a deliberate first step. She was building her future social life while still working. When her retirement day arrived, she already belonged somewhere. The passion was already growing.

Croquet gave Beryl what she was after: something to think about and people to share it with.

What started as a way to fill Tuesday afternoons turned into a second sporting life.

The game matters, but the friendships matter more. That's what keeps people coming back.

Nearly two decades later, croquet is still central to Beryl's life. She's travelled nationally and internationally for competitions. She mentors new players and helps run the club. All because she started before she retired.