"It's chess on a lawn." But don't be fooled-though this is how Trey Farmer, DIV '96, describes croquet, it's not just for your backyard. You usually can't win a national title for playing in your yard, but Yale's croquet club team may do just that.
Yale's mighty malleteers have a record of 3-2 heading into the U.S. Croquet Association's Collegiate Division national tournament on Apr. 28 and 29 at Smith College. Though as many as 16 teams may be present, when Yale dons its all-white outfits it will only go head-to-head with four other teams over the weekend. Its sights are set high. "We expect to win all [four] games," captain Ben Kuris, BR '97, said. If Kuris' prediction comes true, it would give the team a shot at the league title, if it can rack up enough points.
According to Farmer, the team manager, the competition should be fairly even. "There are some very good wicket shooters and beginners, but there's no one who can run the court," he said.
This even playing ground ought to showcase the team's unique "Yale-style" strategy, developed by coach Michael Charrier,. Yale's croquet team, founded by Charrier in 1980, has long been a powerhouse under his tutelage, reaching the pinnacle of a World Cup championship in six-wicket croquet three years ago. Farmer said that it is the unparalled coaching of Charrier that gives the team a definite advantage.
Kuris concurred, "We learn it the right way, the classical way." This unique style of play involves all elements of the game, from a vertical hold of the mallet allowing more accurate shots to general strategic tactics. Quite simply, the name of Yale's game is that "we force them to shoot hard shots," Kuris said. Emily Owens, ES '99, had a more aggressive attitude toward the competition: "It's a game of strategy. It's a matter of us fulfilling [the coach's] plan to destroy the other team."
Unfortunately for the Elis, when nationals roll around, the team will not see the return of any veterans that helped them snag the championship a year ago. Yale's roster consists of 10 core members, all of whom are playing in their first year collegiately. Farmer said the inexperience has definitely been a factor in the team's outings this year. "Experience counts for a lot.... It helps you react better," he said.
This has contributed to a season that has revealed the team's great strategy as well as its youthful errors. A fall full of turbulent weather only allowed for one game, a forfeit victory over Harvard. After the winter's thaw, the Eli returned to action last weekend when they came out of Marion Cricket Club in Philadelphia with two wins, including an overtime shocker over Penn and another victory over an inexperienced team from Navy. But just when things were heating up, the tournament ended on a bitter note as the team lost a close match to Georgetown and then got its wickets whacked by an experienced crew from St. Johns.
Kuris attributed the inconsistency to a lack of endurance. "We weren't really focused," he said. "It was kind of heartbreaking."
The team has worked hard to overcome such shortcomings. "We knew we were going to come in inexperienced, so we really practiced a lot over the summer," Kuris said. Due to intensive practice sessions that he referred to as "two to three hours of meditation," the team of novices has been whipped into shape in a very short period of time.
In the end, the entire game comes down to execution. No one argues that it takes great physical brawn to succeed in croquet, just control. Owens remembers her high school days when "we used to just whack the ball through the wickets." But those days are over now. "If you have your technique, you can hit the ball anywhere," she said.
According to Kuris, the team's success depends on a high level of confidence. "You play as if you are going to make every shot," he said. "You turn your body into a machine that makes one shot."
And so next weekend these machines will set out to beat the competition in the final tournament of the season. Each is programmed for victory, but Owens said that no one ever loses sight of the ultimate goal: "It's always fun." Just like in the backyard.
Copyright 1996, The Yale Herald, Inc. All rights reserved.
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