Our first annual Corporate Challenge is aimed at provided a fun and social competition for all-comers, with or without previous Croquet experience. It coincides with the celebration of the 400th anniversary of Royal Tunbridge Wells and the re-laying of our three lawns and provides a way for families, small companies and other organisations to participate in the Royal Tunbridge Wells 400 year long event; as larger companies and organisations are doing directly. It is supported by a grant from Tunbridge Wells Borough Council.
The Corporate Challenge will run in the early evenings (6-8pm) during our Croquet in the Park week - from Tuesday 29th August to 1st September in Calverley Grounds in the centre of Tunbridge Wells. The Semi-Final Round is on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday evenings, with a Final on Friday evening. The event is for teams of two, with an organisation able to enter multiple teams, and each team can choose which of the three Semi-Final days to play on.
Each Semi-Final evening will be a self-contained mini-tournament with the first four teams from each of the three days participating in the Finals. Each team will play four games each evening, with supervision (and perhaps a little verbal assistance) from our experienced club players. Prizes will be awarded to the winners on each day of the Challenge.
Detailed rules for the version of the game we'll be playing (Golf Croquet) are here. Some more information is referenced here.
At the beginning of each evening we will be introducing you to everything you need to know about the game (this takes about 10 minutes), so you don't need to know anything at all before you turn up. If you can make it a bit earlier we'll be running these introductory sessions from 5:30pm and you can then get some practice and a head start over those who turn up a little later!
All the equipment you need will be provided (mallets, balls and hoops), but all players MUST be wearing flat-soled shoes or trainers. There are no special requirements for clothing for this event (White is NOT mandatory!), although team uniforms would look really great. Ladies: long skirts or dresses make it difficult to take a proper swing at the ball.
For those who are keen on learning a little more about the game and getting more practice in before the event starts we're laying on a Corporate Challenge Teaching Session on Wednesday 23rd August from 6-7:30pm. If you're planning to come to this Teaching Session please let us know, preferably on your entry form, so that we can ensure there are enough coaches available on the day.
We've also got an Open Day on Bank Holiday Monday 28th August. If you're free why not come along then, see what it's all about and perhaps even get some coaching or practice. We'll be glad to accept your entry as late as the 28th August, but obviously we can't guarantee there will be space for late entrants.
We'll be making the allocation for days of the week on 14th August based on your requests, so please do get your entries in before then. We'll email you with the draw and put it on this website also.
Note: Players must be over 12 years old (under 16s must be accompanied by a parent/guardian/teacher).
If you are or have been a member of a Croquet Club please contact us first before entering this Challenge as we're prioritizing entries from teams made of novice players. If your entry is accepted, we reserve the right to give you a handicap to try and ensure fair play!
If there are more entries than we have space for then we will accept entries in the order in which they are received, subject to our reserving the right to limit the number of teams entered by any one organisation (but if we do this any organisation will be able to enter at least two teams to allow for a little internal competitiveness).
We'll do our best to give you the day you've requested to play on, and also that of other teams you've requested too, but obviously can't guarantee this since we can only accommodate a maximum of 16 teams per day.
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