A Game of Croquet

Even with all the hours of work we do outside of the 8:30am to 4:30pm time block, we still have time to relax and have fun. Last Sunday, this fun came in the form of croquet. Across the road from the dorms, there is a garden with a large green area and a pond. That green area, despite being a bit bumpy was a wonderful place to have a casual, but still pretty competitive game of croquet on a Sunday afternoon.

Before I get to our little game of croquet, I want to give some background on the sport because its not very well known. The first documented game of croquet was in the early 1850s, and the first set of rules were established in 1856. There is two theories as to first origin of the game, whether it came from France to Britain or from Ireland. But nevertheless, it is a very European sport. By the 1860s, it was a very popular pastime in England. 

I have two first memories of croquet although I'm not sure which one came first. With the majority of my maternal family living in the UK, I was a frequent visitor becoming very much immersed in the culture. I learned how to play croquet with my grandparents on the back lawn. I remember the game between my sister, Meghan and I becoming quite competitive as we tried to hit the others ball, so we could have the opportunity to knock their ball out of the intimate field of play, i.e. a croquet stroke.

My second memory of croquet is from the film Alice in Wonderland, in which the Queen of Hearts challenges Alice to a game of croquet involving, the cards as wickets, hedgehogs for balls, and flamingos as mallets.I'm including a video of this scene from the film below, to refresh your memories of how ridiculously funny and cute it is!

After that blast from the past, now to our little game at SERC on a Sunday afternoon. Five of us were playing: Mark, Dylan, Jessica, Stephanie, and myself. There was quite a competitive aura in the air. Dylan started out strong and kept it up, taking home the bragging rights as SERC croquet champion of the day. I got a few pictures of the game. On the left is Stephanie starting off. On the right are my little feet with my mallet and ball. I was green of course! Bryn Mawr class color pride! It was a very fun game.