24 qualifying teams from around the country will contest the 2019 NZ Secondary School Golf Croquet championship, 7 & 8 September at the United Croquet Club in Hagley Park Christchurch.

South Canterbury will be under considerable pressure to maintain their 3-year dominance of the national this year, with the region’s leading players now at University – most of whom are currently in England contesting the U21 GC World Championship.

Nelson College for Girls 2x semi-finalists Ellie Ross and Vienna  Van Heeswyck will head a strong title challenge alongside local title contenders Cashmere College, whose players have produced outstanding domestic tournament results during the past year.

From the North, Hawera and Matamata are likely to feature late in the competition with teams all comprised of NZ Youth Development Squad members. Wellington schools also look likely to feature but will be relying heavily on their experienced players to guide new team partners through qualifying stages of this year’s event.

Tournament manager Jenny Clarke has advised a format comprising five qualifying rounds for all teams, with the top 16 pairs progressing to a championship knockout. The 1st quarter final match will take place on Saturday afternoon with the semis and best of three final continuing through Sunday. Non-qualifiers for the knockout stages will contest the 2019 Plate event.

Head down to the Untied Croquet Club from 8.30am each day to cheer on your school team, admission is free. Or head over to www.croquetscores.com for live scores during the event. Updates and a live stream of the latter stages will be available on the Croquet NZ facebook page.  

Time limits of 60 minutes per game will apply at this year’s championship. An amended tournament regulation regarding the completion of a time limited games at the championship is as follows: 
 

EXPIRY OF TIME LIMIT
 

1.       GENERAL PROCEDURE

          A.      When a time limit has been imposed on a game, the players should arrange for an independent person or, failing that, one of themselves to be responsible for announcing audibly that the time limit has been reached.

          B.      For the sole purpose of determining whether the striker's turn ends before or after time is called, it is deemed that the striker's turn ends and the opponent's turn begins as soon as the striker's ball is struck.

          C.      After time has expired, play continues for an extension period of a further eight turns.

          D.      At the end of the extension period, the side that has scored the greater number of points is the winner. If the scores are equal, play again continues and the side for which the next point is scored is the winner (any points scored subsequently in the stroke are ignored).

Article added: Friday 19 July 2019