Minutes from the 2013 Planning Meeting held Dec. 1, 2012, Pinehurst

President Mike Taylor called meeting to order. Those present were: Anne Boozell, BHI; Jeff & Eileen Soo, Stoneridge; Avril Nicholson, Etowah; Mike Taylor, Pinehurst; Bob Cherry, Pinehurst; Bob Roth, Fearrington; Becky Essick, Meadows; Bill Rinaman, Pinehurst and Paul Embry, Pinehurst.

We began by opening the discussion of the tournaments on the roster for 2013. Mike recapped the 2012 season by expressing to Anne, Eileen and Jeff thanks for a job well done in running The Solomon at BHI. It was a great success and Ann said BHI was open being available for more tournaments like that. (ie Carter Cup).

The Alternate Shot AC Coaching Tournament was a great success in 2012 and is a great way to start the season and get new folks interested in AC. It is scheduled for March 23-24 at Pinehurst with a 40 person limit.

The NC Open will again be Championship Flight & 1st Flight. April 11-14, with Championship Flight beginning on the 11th and the 1st flight beginning on the 12th with a 28 person limit. The NC Club teams will be July 25-28 in Linville. In 2014 we will either be 1 week earlier or 1 week later, as requested by Mieke Maloof as the 3 clubs hosting us also have their Member-Member golf tournaments during that week and it makes it difficult to accommodate our lunches and banquet. We also agreed to open up the Club Teams to having clubs from SC and Virginia/WV to play. Tega Cay was brought up as an example. They are just barely over the NC/SC line, yet 3-4 hrs away from any other croquet club in SC. Virginia/WV District clubs are also hours away from each other and this would give them an opportunity to play in a tourney with the unique setup of playing for your club rather than individual.

The NC State Singles will again be hosted by BHI Sept. 5-9. Ann Boozell recognized the one drawback was accommodations. In 2013, we want to make the tournament accessible to everyone. We will make sure everyone who needs a place to stay commits by Aug. 1st and she will find housing. If 4 folks rent a house together, the cost is that of a normal hotel stay. She will be the contact person for that.

The NC Golf Croquet tournament had a low turnout in 2012, with almost everyone coming from Pinehurst. Jeff and Mike opened the discussion of having it in the mountains at or near Lake Toxaway hoping to draw from the pool of over 400 members who play strictly GC. They had a meeting earlier with Gene Young and George Enoch from Lake Toxaway about having the NCGC Tourney up there. Lake Toxaway has decided not to host the NCGC, rather concentrating on their own very successful GC Tournament. We are looking into maybe Chattooga as a site in August. If that falls through, we will have it in November in Pinehurst. Dates yet to be determined.

Other tournaments not run by NC District, but that are of interest are the US National (Amer Rules correction: Association Croquet) in Fla April 29-May 4. SE Regional to be held in Pinehurst on May 15-19, and BHI Invitational will be May 28-June 2. The Pinehurst Invitational will be Sept 25-29. USCA Sr. AC Tournament, headed up by Bob Cherry, is tentatively scheduled for Oct 10-13 (to be approved by USCA) It was cancelled in 2012 after the low turnout, so every effort will be made to publicize it more. Avril’s Etowah Brickyard Tournament may be moved to Pinehurst this year, perhaps at the end of June. We do not have the dates as yet for the AC Select Eights in Fla or the Country Boys at Meadows Mallet.

Trophies for our tournament were a topic for our tournaments. We are looking into something affordable, but either functionable (totes, shirts, pottery) or artistic (make a nice piece to display) Several folks will be looking into that, hoping to come up with a standard trophy for all tournaments.

With no other business, the meeting was adjourned and croquet was enjoyed in the gloriously warm day at Pinehurst.

Becky Essick,
Secretary, NC District

Last modified on 18 February 2013