VCC hosted the Vic verses Vic A Tournament at Cairnlea this weekend on the 16th and 17th August along with the Victorian Selectors invitation and an AC training day.
Despite the predicted forecasts we had very little rain and players dressed for the cooler weather and enjoyed their weekend of play.
The Victorian team were presented with their caps and badges by Kate Patrick Vic Croquet President on Sunday morning and the attached photo below shows all the players representing Victoria this year. Due to work and time constraints some of our star players have not been included in the team but these players attended at the weekend to help the State side train. Thank you to all players both those pictured and those who attended to provide support for all players and contribute to the State side training. This year Claire Keating is Captain with Vice Captain Damien Hadfield.
On Sept 10 to 14 the Interstate GC Shield will be held in the Hunter Valley, with lead up tournaments being the Croquet Australia Gold Medal (Felix Gelman White from Williamstown will be the Vic representative) and the Australian Men’s and Women’s Championships. We wish everyone well for these upcoming events and remind everyone that these events are planned to be hosted in Victoria next year (2026).
The Selector’s Invitation consisted of 9 players who played a Round Robin Tournament. These are up and coming Victorian players who competed at a very high standard. Game results do not show the true standard of play with many 7/6 games and the final winner not being clear until the final round. Victoria should be very proud to have such a depth of GC players. Players came from Warrnambool, Belmont, Drysdale, Quarry Hill, Ivanhoe Park and Williamstown.
Winner was Julie Ware from Quarry Hill with 7 wins followed by 4 players on 5 wins separated by only 13 hoops. Runner Up was Rob Young from Ivanhoe Park with Dominic Moss from Williamstown in 3rd place by one hoop over Kim Collins (Belmont) and Cheryl O’Dwyer (Warrnambool 4 hoops behind).
The AC training day was run by Stephen Forster, and all players seemed to enjoy their time and experience being able to spend a lot of time on the court. It was lovely to see the 2 disciplines being able to share a venue and mingle throughout the weekend.
Below are the photos of the State side and the 2025 August Selector Invitation players.
