On a recent warm summer's Monday evening, I met Louis Nel, club founder and current president for a game and plenty of instruction. * * * "It's a game with a magical touch," says Nel, a retired Professor of Mathematics at Carleton University with a PhD from Cambridge. "When I first saw the game, I was enchanted. My reaction was very similar to when I fell in love. There's a real kinship between croquet players who feel this. And it is definitely a different experience than meeting another toothbrush user." When he started playing croquet, Nel "knew nothing about the game at all. For me it was just an image out of Alice in Wonderland." But when the soft-spoken South African -- who is now a Team Canada player and ranked 18th in North America -- bought a toy croquet set for his four children from Canadian Tire, he was hooked. "The children moved on and thought of it as nothing more than a good game, but I saw that there was a lot more to croquet than a toy set. So I went to nearly every sports store in Ottawa and no one knew anything about the game." Nel pursued his passion for a real croquet set and once he'd found one he drove all the way to Toronto just to look at it. He didn't even buy it. But when he did finally buy a set, it had a copy of a croquet magazine in it and that was the lead he needed that set him on the path to founding Croquet Ottawa. For a year, Nel drove to Montreal once or twice a week to play at a Westmount club, but he realized that it was no long-term solution. He needed a club nearby and he realized that they only way to get it was to create it himself. * * * Nel tells the story of a bunch of lawyers who came to play at the club for an office outing. As one young man lined up with a glint in his eye, he hit his opponent's ball to the far side of the court. "So sorry, Boss," he said with a huge grin. This captures the essence of the game. Croquet can be highly competitive and really quite nasty, but at the same time it's lots of fun. Copyright 2003 CanWest Interactive Ottawa Citizen July 26, 2003 Saturday Final Edition SECTION: The Citizen's Weekly: Style; Pg. E3 LENGTH: 1391 words HEADLINE: Serenity on the green: Croquet is all grown up and making its presence felt in Ottawa SOURCE: The Ottawa Citizen BYLINE: Hattie Klotz BODY: At the noisy corner of Bronson Avenue and Gladstone Street, where trucks thunder by and a film of city grime and street dirt covers almost everything, there's an oasis of calm. Sparkling like an emerald in the dust, the smooth, green lawns of the Central Lawn Bowling club form a square, bounded by chain-link fences, at this busy intersection. It's here that Croquet Ottawa makes it home. Croquet, you say? Yes, that childhood game that entails hitting a ball through a hoop, once played on lawns and at cottages across the country, has some serious players right here in Ottawa. While the rules of the game vary according to geography (there's a North American version, an international version, a version that is most popular in Egypt, a cottage version), three times a week, the members of Croquet Ottawa gather at the club on Gladstone or at Elmdale Lawn Bowling club where they also have playing privileges, to enjoy a game or two. Croquet is the perfect way to pass a couple of hours. On a recent warm summer's Monday evening, I met Louis Nel, club founder and current president for a game and plenty of instruction. As soon as club members measured out the correct distances on the court -- croquet is nothing if not a game of precision -- and hammered in the hoops, two games got underway side-by-side. We played Golf Croquet, a version of the game that was new to me, but proved simple and easy to grasp. There were plenty of exciting moments during our fast and fluid game. And I found that as I concentrated on each of my plays and their consequences several turns down the line, everything but the game faded into the background. I didn't notice the noise from the street. I couldn't imagine that I was in the middle of the city. It was enough to be simply playing croquet. The sound of mallet on ball and the satisfying thud when struck cleanly and correctly, absorbed my attention. I realized croquet is more than a game for children and elderly aunts. It is a game of strategy. It is a mental game, somewhat like a cross between snooker and croquet. It's a game for the soul too, as there's a serene, timeless quality about playing as the sun sets and the lights come on around this small square of green in the middle of so much concrete. There's a certain contemplative side to croquet, since it's not athletically demanding. And it's always played in beautiful surroundings on velvet-smooth lawns. "It's a game with a magical touch," says Nel, a retired Professor of Mathematics at Carleton University with a PhD from Cambridge. "When I first saw the game, I was enchanted. My reaction was very similar to when I fell in love. There's a real kinship between croquet players who feel this. And it is definitely a different experience than meeting another toothbrush user." When he started playing croquet, Nel "knew nothing about the game at all. For me it was just an image out of Alice in Wonderland." But when the soft-spoken South African -- who is now a Team Canada player and ranked 18th in North America -- bought a toy croquet set for his four children from Canadian Tire, he was hooked. "The children moved on and thought of it as nothing more than a good game, but I saw that there was a lot more to croquet than a toy set. So I went to nearly every sports store in Ottawa and no one knew anything about the game." Nel pursued his passion for a real croquet set and once he'd found one he drove all the way to Toronto just to look at it. He didn't even buy it. But when he did finally buy a set, it had a copy of a croquet magazine in it and that was the lead he needed that set him on the path to founding Croquet Ottawa. For a year, Nel drove to Montreal once or twice a week to play at a Westmount club, but he realized that it was no long-term solution. He needed a club nearby and he realized that they only way to get it was to create it himself. Croquet Ottawa was formed in 1994 with founding members Ken Shipley, a co-team Canada member who stills plays at the club -- his Team Canada sign remains above the door in the clubhouse -- and Robert Armstrong, who has now moved to Northern California, "but who gave me the nudge of encouragement and was a constant spiritual presence and enthusiasm," says Nel. "When you're starting something like this, you need some luck and for me, Ken has been a real shot in the arm. Another is Dean Chamberlain, a very gregarious man who has recruited many players." Chamberlain is vice-president of the club and Shipley began playing 10 years ago when he played at a garden party and, "had bad knees from tennis so was looking for something else to do," he says. Croquet Ottawa now counts approximately 10 regular players among its members. They make up a snapshot of Canadian demographics. There are a couple of Canadians, a South African, an Englishman, a Ukrainian and an Italian. The evening I played, our foursome consisted of me, a Brit, Stuart, a Canadian, Louis, South African and Marco, an Italian. Only in Canada could this happen. They don't play croquet in Italy. "I was looking for a summer sport," explained Marco, "as I snowboard in the winter and I just didn't know what to do. A friend suggested I try this and ..." Well, four years later, Marco plays at a competitive level, with a glint in his eye and a killer instinct. But in spite of the opportunity for really vindictive and venomous play that croquet presents -- it's all too tempting to hit another player's ball for six -- "everybody is very relaxed and at peace in the club," says Nel, "and we've never had a moment of strife." Nel tells the story of a bunch of lawyers who came to play at the club for an office outing. As one young man lined up with a glint in his eye, he hit his opponent's ball to the far side of the court. "So sorry, Boss," he said with a huge grin. This captures the essence of the game. Croquet can be highly competitive and really quite nasty, but at the same time it's lots of fun. Before the birth of Croquet Ottawa, there were other traces of the game in the city, "principally on the lawns of private homes in Rockcliffe," says Nel. But there's also a croquet court in Rockcliffe Park. Directly opposite Ashbury School, the lawn is a hidden gem. Enclosed by eight-foot tall cedar hedges, it has a newly refurbished clubhouse, flowerbeds overflowing with day lilies, picnic tables and benches under fruit trees and scattered pieces of stone sculpture. "It used to be a lawn bowling club," says Brian Murray, "that saw it's heyday in the 1950s and '60s. It was a very busy part of Rockcliffe social life. But it became primarily a croquet club in the 1980s," due to the enthusiasm of Patrick Murray, former Mayor of Rockcliffe Park. "He had the lawn specially seeded and mowed. We measured it out to international standards and brought in experts from Saratoga, New York and West Palm Beach in Florida. We played tournaments with these clubs and we used to have a diplomatic tournament. There's even a huge trophy. It's a giant croquet mallet, about 10 feet tall." But with the amalgamation of Rockcliffe with the City of Ottawa two years ago, the club died. "The minute Rockcliffe lost its autonomy, the city really didn't have the funds to put into the upkeep of the lawn," says Murray. Now, during the winter the land is turned into a skating rink for children, which means that the grass is destroyed come spring. Croquet is a game that is dear to many people's hearts. It's easy to grasp and can be played at many levels. It's a welcoming game and so are the members of Croquet Ottawa. While we're playing, a man and a small boy stop their bikes and peer through the fence. "What are you doing?" chirps the boy. "We're playing croquet," someone replies. "Ah, yes," sighs the man, "I used to play when I was a child." A couple of minutes later the pair have cycled around the fence to the club gate. They lean their bikes up against a bench and watch for a moment. Within minutes, Ken Shipley has given the pair a hoop, a mallet and a brightly coloured ball and they're practising happily at the end of the court. Croquet Ottawa is holding an Association tournament at the Elmdale Lawn Bowling Club on July 26 and 27. Information on the club can be found at http://www.magma.ca/ [tilde] acna/co.htm Hattie Klotz is an Ottawa writer. GRAPHIC: Photo: Chris Mikula, For Style Weekly; Canadian champion croquet player and president of Croquet Ottawa, Louis Nel lines up a difficult shot. 'It's a game with a magical touch,' he says.; Photo: Chris Mikula, For Style Weekly; Canadian champion croquet player and president of Croquet Ottawa, (Louis Nel) lines up a difficult shot. 'It's a game with a magical touch,' he says.