Gordon and Deirdre Giles compete at ACA President's Eights

Our Club was represented by Gordon Giles and Deirdre Giles, who participated in the ACA Golf Croquet President's Eights in February 2019. The event is held at the Victoria Croquet Centre at Cairnlea, in Melbourne, a purpose-built venue for major competitions. There are twelve lawns, all of which are easily seen from the very large clubhouse. It's a fantastic venue, for both players and spectators. Competitors came from all over Australia and the standard of play was very high.

Entries are "Invitation Only", with invitations issued by the Australian Croquet Association (ACA). There are 32 players in total, divided into three "Open" groups of 8, plus one Women's group.

Unfortunately this year, due to injuries, the Women's 8's were missing a couple of players.

Gordon and Deirdre arrived at the venue on the Thursday afternoon for Gordon to have a practice session and were met by the Tournament Manager, who asked Deirdre to play. She hadn't brought her mallet but was able to borrow one and played for the weekend against some of the best women in Australia, which was a major challenge.

It is a tradition at the President's 8's that a player receives a badge to mark their first time playing at the event. (Photo attached of Deirdre being presented with her badge.)

The eight players in each group play each other in a series of seven matches, each consisting of "best of three" untimed games.

There were some tough battles, with some matches lasting several hours. Three matches were played on the Friday, then two on Saturday and two again on Sunday.

Although not amongst the trophy winners, Gordon and Deirdre came home armed with new skills picked up over the three days, which they hope to pass on in coaching sessions to fellow members eager to improve their own skills.

Photos included show Deirdre receiving her badge from ACA Deputy Chair Mike Cohn, and the other team image is the Queensland players at the ACA GC President's 8's for 2019.