[<<] [>>] by Eugene Chang
6th March 2020 (CqE Official News)

Do you know of any young (U25) players at your club who would benefit from participating in a national programme?

Background

One of the CA's priority areas is to encourage younger players into competitive croquet. In particular, we would like to develop a programme targeted at this (very broad) group, and foster a network/community amongst these players, so they can learn and support each other.

An idea is to emulate the model of youth croquet development in New Zealand (we are in touch with the CNZ Development Officer): this sees over 200 school-age children per year compete in regional events at the tail end of a playing season, going through to a national event at the start of the next season and the best performers of that event being invited to join their Junior Squad.

The CA already organise a number of events for younger players including the AC and GC Student Championships, the AC National Schools and Junior Championships and the U25 Summer School, but we want to do more in this realm.

Details

I have obtained approval from across the CA to initiate a youth programme for 2020, and buy-in from leading young players who wish to support this. The initial phase is to work with U25 players who are already members of croquet clubs, rather than directly approaching schools or youth groups.

Existing U25 members and their parent clubs are invited to get involved. Once a group is established, I will set-up some regional meetups which are led by a leading young player or experienced coaches, and then build from there.

After 2020, the CA can review its success and decide whether to expand the programme further.

The proposed programme is not AC/GC-specific, although following the NZ model would suggest that aligning younger players to develop their GC game first is the way to go.

In the first instance, I need further details of u25 members who might be interested in joining this programme. I would like to know:

• name
• age
• club
• stage of life (school, college, uni etc)
• playing ability in AC and GC
• contact details for them

Please do obtain consent from the member (or their parent/guardian if U18) if you think they would be interested.

Happy to discuss further on etychang#gmail.com

Eugene Chang
Director of CA AC Students, Schools and Junior Championships
Chair, Marketing Committee
Member of Exec Board