The Doubtless Bay Croquet Club hosted 32 young students from Herekino in the west to Oruaiti in the east, in an intermediate aged tournament last Thursday, with local commentator Peter Hartnall describing the turnout as a joy to see.
"Those in the community who believe that the youth of today are a lost cause should have been watching these students," he said, noting each team played four games over five lawns, and the standard of play was remarkable.
"Not only were there skills in simply striking the ball, but they clearly understood the tactics and strategy of the game," he said, noting the referees found the students played fairly and always accepted their decisions without question. Final placings were, Taipa 7 (Arthur Laws-Walker, Troy Wyatt) and Oruaiti 2 (Cooper Stone, Beau Marshall) 1st=; Taipa 3 (Sheree Lange, Tara Jones) 2nd; with Oruaiti 3 (Kendall Wyatt-Logan, Emma Pickard) and Taipa 1 (Aaliyah Harrison-Duval, Chloe Stacey) 3rd=.
"At the conclusion all these young people helped clear up, and showed that not only were they good croquet players, but also gave very nice 'thank you' speeches. There are definitely some very promising young players around."
