Southport Shield for Division 4, Mary McMahon's treble, Lee Wentworth's Gateball coaching, and Julia Tai's ricochet win

The annual Southport Shield which is for Division 4 players in Association Croquet was held over two and a half days. The players were all from the Gold Coast Tweed Region and many have benefitted from the coaching provided by Kathie Grant who is from our Club and is the Regional Association Croquet Coach. The winner was Rose McKenna from Coolangatta. Second place went to Peter Singh also from Coolangatta.

The winner, Rose McKenna, was presented with the Southport Shield by Elli Housden, Club President.

Peter Singh was given his prize by Beryl Phillips, Life Member and donor.

Despite the warm weather there have been plenty of competitions at the Club or attended by club members. Golf Croquet players in Division 3 are gaining experience in competing because the Golf Captain, Charlie Ernst, has organised on Sundays two competitions so far for those keen to improve. No doubt they are wishing to follow in the footsteps of Mary McMahon who has trained almost daily to attain her skill level and knowledge of Golf Croquet. In February Mary won the Australian ACA Women's Open Golf Croquet Eights. She followed this with winning the QLD Golf Croquet Women's Open Singles for the 3rd year in a row. A superb effort indeed!

Mary McMahon with the trophy.

Lee Wentworth who is a very successful captain of one of our Gateball teams attended a Gateball Coaching Course and received his Level 1 and Level 2 qualifications. His captaincy is the reason that Southport has achieved 2nd place in the Australian Gateball Championship last year and the Club has won the Suzuki Cup awarded for the best QLD Club in Gateball for 6 years.

Lee with one of his coaching badges.

Some of our players have ventured to Bribie Island and to the Darling Downs to play in events. Julia Tai was one of three of our players who played in the Bribie Island Ricochet Gala Day. She had a very successful time and won 1st prize. Julia is one of many of our club members who competes in all 4 codes.

Julia Tai with Gwen Connolly.

Julia will be playing Association Croquet at the Stephens CC in the Ernie Melville Competition. Her aim is to reach a higher Division. Her Coach, Kathie Grant, was a member of the QLD Association Croquet Team that played at Cairnlea in Melbourne. She had some good results personally in the competitions there both AC Women's Singles and the Eire Cup.

On Saturday 18th February we welcomed Ray Chapman and Robyn Poynting from the Cherry Street Croquet Club at Ballina to our Club. They played Ricochet in the morning but their main focus was to experience playing Gateball in the afternoon; the setting up the courts and the organisation of the games. They returned home full of enthusiasm which has since proved contagious because they have had good numbers attend their Gateball Sessions. Some of our Gateball players spent Sunday morning, 26th March, undertaking the very interesting and helpful course called "Think Like a Captain".

Southport Gateball players undertaking the "Think Like a Captain" course.

There have been quite a few birthday celebrations over the last few weeks but none quite like the day when our Life Member, Beryl Phillips, celebrated her 94th birthday. She still enjoys her time at the club playing Gateball. However she is always watching, analysing, commenting on and enjoying all of the other games from the sideline. You will note her favourite tipple in the photo was a gift from a member to help her celebrate.

Beryl Phillips celebrated her 94th birthday.

With autumn with us and daylight saving no longer an issue for cross border teams in our region the pennants season has begun. Our Golf players have two teams in the Division 1 and 2 teams in the Division 2 sections of the Gold Coast Tweed Region. Southport has one team in the Ricochet Pennant competition and one team in the Association Pennant competition. The Club members wish them every success in their games.

By Southport Croquet Club. From the Croquet Newsletter, March/April 2023, pages 29-31.