VA/WVA
Croquet Newsletter
March, 2003 - Issue 1
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Dear VA/WVA Croquet players:
Welcome
The weather is warming. Spring is here. Soon we’ll be out playing croquet again.
And so I say, Welcome to our first issue of the newsletter for and by members of the Virginia-West Virginia District
of the USCA. With your help, we plan to publish during the year three issues
(Spring, Summer and Fall) of information that we hope you will find useful.
To save mailing costs, the newsletter will be
e-mailed to everyone that we have an E-mail address for. Otherwise, you will
receive this by regular mail. If you have an e-mail address that we do not have,
please send it to: ce.haas@verizon.net.
What’s
our direction and plan?
Let me describe what is happening here in VA/WVA
in this newsy-letter format. We need involvement and participation from many
people to fulfill our mission, one that I trust you can readily agree with.
Our mission is to improve the participation,
enjoyment and quality of croquet in VA/WVA. Among other things, we intend
to use various forms of communication, like this newsy-letter, to be successful. Here
goes.
Organization. – With Ron Turner, your past president, needing to shift
his attention more to family activities, I was asked to be the district president. Ron,
thank you for your efforts during the past several years and also to George Barnes for his leadership before that. Scotia Synan of Richmond is our secretary and Robert Lankford of Norfolk, our treasurer. Scotia has 189 names and addresses on our mailing list. Robert
recently opened a checking account with the Bank of Hampton Roads in Norfolk.
We need a Vice President to help plan
and backup the president; a Tournament Director to manage our tournaments; a Webmaster to setup and maintain
a website; and a Newsletter editor to format and improve this newsletter. Will
you help? What talents and experience can you contribute, in whatever way and
amount possible? Can we use the concept that “many hands make light work”
to get many folks involved?
I have drafts of District ByLaws, Tournament
Regulations and a possible mentoring program in the works for someone to help review and edit.
Local clubs. Did you know that
we have eleven croquet clubs in the district? They range from a few to 20+ members,
all at various levels of activity. See the list below to contact them. Perhaps you can get some intra club games going? I’ll
bet that will be fun.
Charlottesville – Daley Craig – phone #: 434-823-4093
Country Club of Virginia (Richmond) – Thomas Williams – phone #:
804-288-2891
Crest Ridge (Mt. Jackson) – Bob Lanham – phone #: 540-856-8156
Fieldcrest (Williamsburg) – George Barnes – phone #: 757-253-2227
Great Falls (Vienna) – Carleton Ruthling – phone #: 703-759-5065
Green Gazebo Mallet Club (Alexandria) Randall Gillett – phone #:
703-7196929
Confederate Hills (Richmond) – Urchie Ellis – phone #: 804-272-5923
Westminster-Canterbury (Va. Beach) – Charles Nausbaum – phone #:
757-496-1682
Middle Peninsula (Glouster) – John Lee – phone #: 804-815-4205
Capital City (Annandale) - Randall Gillett – phone #: 703-7196929
Buckingham Court (Lewisburg, WVa) – Wayne Herkness – phone #: 304-645-1338
I wish to visit with each club in 2003 to learn about and support them. It seems to me that the greatest progress in promoting croquet in our states can be
made at the club level.
Intra Club Activity. The
first intra club activity is scheduled for Tuesday, April 22 at the Williamsburg Inn.
George Barnes has made arrangements with the Inn to let us showcase Croquet for the day (10 AM to 6 PM) and players
from Southeast Virginia are being invited.
Tournament scheduling. We are aiming
for three major events this year.
State Championships (singles). This fun event will be held again at Fulks Run, June 6,7, & 8.
See the attached flyer and registration forms to sign up. Deadline is
May 21.
Club Teams (doubles). Would you like to play in a Club Teams Tournament? Let’s
see who the winning clubs are in VAWVA for 2003. Fulks Run has offered to be
our hosts. Here’s your chance. Get your club ready and mark your calendar
for September 26,27.28. Registration forms will be included with the Summer
Newsletter.
CARVA.
Do you remember the CARVA (Carolina – Virginia) tournaments of years past?
We were the last winners and the trophy currently rests with Daley Craig. Our
friends in NC are challenging us to play them again, this time in Pinehurst. October
23-26 is scheduled. Let me know if you would like to play so we can put together
a team.
Website. Computers and use of the
Internet are increasing. This newsletter is going to 47 of 155 people (30.3%)
with an E-mail address. This should increase as new E-mail addresses are received. This medium offers another way for us to communicate with each other.
We need someone to create and maintain a VA/WVA
croquet website. A website will help us keep you up todate on a more timely basis
so you’ll know who is doing what, where and when. Contact me at ce.haas@verizon.net to discuss our needs.
Resources. Marie and I are willing to lend out
from our library number of books and videos. We just ask that they be promptly
returned for others use.
Books include Bob Kroeger’s Croquet:
How to Play the Perfect Game /with audiotape, his USCA Croquet Shot-Making Instruction Manual and John Riches’
Croquet Booklets (8) on international play.
Videos include all of the Bob and Ted series
and a Robert Fulford video, “The Art of the Sextuple” (Intl’l play).
We also have two 10-minute promotional videos
from the USCA called “Croquet: Serious Sport, Serious Fun”: They
are an excellent introduction for you to show prospective members individually or as a group.
We have done both.
Contact me if you would like to borrow any of
these items.
I’ll prepare a detailed list for the
next newsletter along with a list of websites and other resources. Hopefully,
you too have items to share and resources you know about that can be added to the list.
District
Plan. Attached is a copy that was reviewed by an advisory group consisting
of the Club Presidents and others namely, Daley Craig, Bubbie and Martha Grimsley, Robert Lankford Claiborne Minor, Scotia
and Wayne Synan, Ron Turner, and Bob Whitmore.
The plan is intended to be flexible while providing direction and adding some
structure to our efforts. We need your thoughts, ideas and action. Please review
and think about how we can improve it. Think about what you can do to make this
plan a reality.
So send me your suggestions and ideas by whatever means is easier for you.
Hint: “Stuff” via e-mail or on paper is easier
to keep up with.
I hope you have a great croquet season filled with thrills and much fun.
Sincerely,
Conrad Haas
