Croquet attracts Sports Media participation

The Toronto Cricket, Skating and Curling Club was host for the 24th annual golf croquet championship recently. The event that attracted players from as far away as Florida, as young as 19 and as old as 85. We even had Sports Media Canada representation among the competitors and it is a tournament where women and men compete against each other.

Sports Media Canada's Alec Bollini -- in action?

 

The event is divided in two tiers. The top players in Tier 1, the rest in Tier 2. The two Sports Media Canada members, Dianne Leggatt and Alec Bollini, found their level in the second Tier. Two other media types competed, Paul Cook of 680 News Radio and his wife Stephanie, who toils for CP24.

 

Sports Media Canada longtime Board of Directors member Alec Bollini started the competition with two wins — but full of misplaced confidence, succeeded in losing the rest of his matches. Dianne Leggatt failed to reach the final round, but did boast an exciting win over the eventual Second Tier winner, Paul Cook.

 

One of Canada’s top croquet players, Patrick Little, finished near the top. Now there’s a man dedicated to his sport. There are four balls in croquet, blue, red, black and yellow. Patrick plays day one with with long blue socks, day two with red socks, day three with…well, you get the idea. He also can be seen with striped pants with the same four colours.

 

Britain, Australia and New Zealand and the Southern U.S.A. are the hot spots in the croquet world. Yet, some of the world’s very best come from… yes, Egypt. I guess we have Queen Victoria to blame for that.

 

No date yet for next year’s Canadian Croquet Championship but sports journalists are taking a new interest in the competition, it seems.

…. by Alec Bollini