BREAK PLAY & ACCURACY

by

Bob Kroeger

In this Croquet Break, we will look at and listen to a narrated 4 BallBreak  and watch a video of consecutive 7 yard roquet attempts on YouTube (apologies in advance for any forced advertisements you have to suffer through until you see the Skip indicator). To view, please click on the underlined links. 

Let me share some specifics on each video.  The narration on the 4 Ball Break video will tell you what I think are important points to focus on.  This is targeted to players who may not be using break play as a tactic but are interested in starting or those who have started the break play journey and want a way to improve.

The 7 Yard Roquet Attempts video isn't narrated but has the audio capturing mallet/ball sounds.  What I like about this video approach is there is no cherry picking, only the successful shots ~ if there is a miss, video usually shows why this happened.  Some common reasons for missing would be the body position not being aligned to the swing line to the target, the dominant hand/arm (bottom hand) taking over, thereby steering the shot off line, and accelerating your follow-through leading to a mishit. I use my dominant eye (for me, my right eye) to get my body & mallet in line.  During my practice swings prior to placing my mallet, I only have my right eye open. Once I place my mallet, both eyes are open. I stalk each shot trying to establish a ritual I can count on for consistent accuracy.

With nearly everyone owning a smartphone having excellent video quality, it's a chance for players to do their own analysis or share it with an instructor who can help with analysis.  There are very affordable small portable tripods for smartphones available online.  When setting the phone up, it's very important to make sure the camera is in perfect alignment and on a chair, so your phone is protected from a croquet ball collision!!  Sometimes finding a level spot on your court can be challenging; you may have to try different spots.  You can set the striker ball at any distance you wish from the target ball (you can also use the center peg or the side of a wicket as a target if you don't have a stationary ball like the one seen here).

Bob Kroeger started playing competitive backyard croquet at age 11 at his home in Central New York State. Since 1984, he has been professionally involved with croquet instruction. His many competitive achievements include two National Championships as well as several Regional and Invitational titles. Bob was a member of the United States National Croquet Team from 1988 - 1993, competing in the prestigious Solomon Trophy Matches and the 1993 MacRobertson Shield event, then held in Australia. In 1999, he was inducted into the USCA Croquet Hall of Fame.