AC World Teams Championships 2022

Nine teams are taking part in this event which means there are three tiers.
Tier 2.1
Wales, Scotland and Ireland will be joined by a fourth team, decided by a play-off on Monday 8th August between Sweden and Canada. When this event was last played in 2017 their match to decide the winner of Tier 2.2 was left unfinished. Therefore this play-off is to establish which of the two teams will be promoted into Tier 2.1.
Tier 2.2 and 3
The remaining five teams from Austria, Czech Republic, Germany and South Africa will be initially grouped together and then spit into tiers 2.2 and 3 halfway through, based on performance.

Player Profiles

Austria

Christophe Bergen

A Franco-American, Christophe is now enjoying life - and croquet! - as an Austrian resident in Vienna. Moving to Vienna, Austria in 2008, Christophe and his croquet-playing wife, Verena, were warmly welcomed to the “Wolkersdorf Croquet Club”where he perfected his AC and GC skills and strategy, competing with fellow club members in competitions in Hamburg, Geneva and Hurlingham. On a 4-year assignment in Florida, Christophe had the honour of representing Austria in the AC World Championships in Florida in 2016.

Heinz Hackl
Heinz, born 1962, discovered Croquet during England holidays. 2003 he was the founder of the Croquet Club Wolkersdorf (close to Vienna). Having played several tournaments in England, Germany, Switzerland and Czech Republic over the last years Heinz is now a typical B-class players. Heinz is also the greenkeeper and chairman of the Croquet Club Wolkersdorf. For more than 33 years he has been working for VELUX Austria as a Public Affairs Manager.

Martin Güntner
Martin started playing croquet in 2005. Visiting S ummer School in Southwick in 2006. From that moment I was in love with croquet. To understand the game getting better and better. I like to play Golf Croquet and Association Croquet. Travel a lot around Europe to play croquet tournaments. Winning some tournaments in the last years. So I am proud to be a part of Team Austria – playing the AC World Championship this summer.

Max Walderdorff
Max, born 1977, lives in Salzburg with his wife and son (8). He works at a 200 year old jewellery company. In 2007 he joined the local club Römergolf to play croquet in his off season since he has always been passionate about snowboarding in deep snow. In 2010 he was runner-up at the Italian GC Open and 2011 he won both AC and GC national tournaments. Since then he won both codes of a year four times 2011, 2013, 2020 and 2021 whereas AC only in 2016 and 2019. Representing Austria at the Rheingold trophy winning at Hamburg 2015 and other European team events he experienced the GC WC in Cairo 2013 and was part of the AC WTC tier 3 winning team in Southwick 2014.

Canada

Brian Cumming

Brian took up the game in the mid-1990s. He won both the Canadian and USA National titles. Due to what must have been a statistical anomaly he achieved 10th place in the world rankings for a nanosecond in 2008 !

Pierre Dunn
Pierre started playing 6-hoop croquet in 1978 and has fought time and space to find opportunities to get on a court ever since. During his wanderings across the globe, he's been a member of six clubs in three different countries, president of one, and has been on the boards of both the Japan Croquet Association and Croquet Canada. He's played in Belgium, Scotland, Turkey, England, Canada, and the US. He's been Oregon's champion at AC and US Rules, shared the Japanese doubles title, and been Japan's One-Ball title-holder. He's best known around British Columbia as the inventor of Snake-in-the-Grass, a variation of Golf croquet that is played by more players in the province than any other version of croquet. And he's had an abundant amount of fun along the way.

Nick Mitchell
I was born in England and raised in Canada. I have been playing croquet in one form or another for almost 40 years now with wildly differing levels of success. An avid cyclist and photographer I am also a lover of fine wine and good gin. I play croquet to keep my stress levels in peak condition and it seems to be working.

Jim Wright
Jim has been playing the triumvirate of croquet: Association, Golf and US rules croquet for about 15 years. Highlights include Team Canada winning their tier at the AC Worlds, and the national titles in US rules and GC croquet.

Czech republic

Miroslav Havlik

Age 45. Born in 1977, graduated in tourism. Works as an administrator of a business-technical centre and a freelance journalist. Likes to travel, to discover new manners and regions. plays basketball. Has been involved in croquet since 2005.

Stepan Hazdra
Stepan is the president of the Czech-Moravian Croquet Association. Croquet has been my hobby since 1992. My home club is Croquet Club Dynamo Telc, which is the only one in the Czech Republic with two full croquet lawns. In my everyday life I work as a project manager for the construction of fibre optic networks. My other interests are family, garden and pets.

Jan Kral
Jan lives in Horice and am a member of the Czech Country Croquet Club. My wife and I started to play croquet fifteen years ago with our friends. Some of us have played tournaments outside the Czech Republic, while we also play regularly matches at home. After working in IT during the era of mainframe computers I am enjoying my time as a pensioner with 11 grandchildren and 3 great-grandchildren.

Otakar Stankus
Otakar is a teacher. My hobbies are croquet, basketball, movies and computer games. I am a member of the Métis Croquet Club, which focuses on the education of young croquet players. Coaching children is my great hobby.

Stanilas Vorel
Stanilas started to play garden croquet at social events with my children and friends at the end of the last millennium. During the 2004 we founded a croquet sport club in Horice, and in 2008 we joined the Czech Croquet Association as Czech Country Croquet Club and started to play competitions in association and golf croquet.

germany

Bruno Hess

Bruno has been playing tournament croquet since 1999 and so far participant in several World and European Championships. He has won 12 National Championships Association Croquet, 6 National Championships Golf Croquet, 2 German South-West Open Championship, 13 National Doubles Championships in Association Croquet and Golf Croquet and 2 Belgium Open Doubles Championships.

John Swabey
John has been playing tournament croquet since 1978 and so far participant in several World and European Championships. He has won the Belgian National Champion AC title in 2004, 2009 and 2012, German South-West Open Champion in 2003, South of England Handicap AC winner 2014. He is a Committee Member of the European Regional Committee (ERC) of the WCF

Wolfgang Usbeck
Wolfgang has been playing tournament croquet since 1999 and so far participant in several World and European Championships. He has won 6 National Championships Association Croquet, 4 National Championships Golf Croquet, 3 German Open and 19 National Doubles Championships in Association Croquet and Golf Croquet.

Joern Vinnen
Joern founded the “Deutscher Krocket Bund” together with his friends in 1998. Since 1998 several times participant in World and European Championships. He has won 3 National Championships Association Croquet and 1 National Championship Golf Croquet

ireland

Sandy Grieg

Sandy has spent the last 15 years in Ireland and elected to play for Ireland at Croquet. He is the past Captain of Croquet and Croquet Director at Carrickmines Croquet and Lawn Tennis Club in Dublin. He has represented the Croquet Association of Ireland in matches against Scotland and England and played for Ireland in the Home Internationals in 2022.

Brian Havill
Brian has had a keen and active interest in sport all his life, particularly football and tennis. He took up croquet at the age of 50 after a series of knee operations and this will be the first time he has represented Ireland.

Alan Looney
Alan is past President of Carrickmines Croquet and Lawn Tennis Club and serve as current honorary secretary of the Croquet Association of Ireland (CAI) . I have represented the CAI on past occasions against Scotland (Appleton) and England (Mc Weeney) . This is my first appearance in a WCF event which I look forward to.

Jane Morrison
Jane started playing croquet in the back garden in Limerick and has been playing Association croquet for 35 years, along with the occasional game of GC. Now resident in Scotland, she plays at Balgreen Croquet Club in Edinburgh.

scotland

Lorna Dewar

Lorna started playing competitive croquet 5 years ago in Edinburgh. She now lives with her husband in Nottingham. She has represented Scotland in various tournaments both Nationally and Internationally. Her notable performances, winning the SCA Scottish Masters 2021 and the Scottish GC Open Championship 2018.

Chris Martin
If Francis Xavier Norton (aka Jack Norton) hadn't leafleted a very drunken party my parents attended in ‘60s Glasgow, advertising the local club at Pollok, I wouldn't be playing croquet now. While they introduced me to the sport at a young age, it wasn’t until 2014 that I went to the beginner’s course at the Meadows club in Edinburgh and became hooked. My development was aided by having the national coach, Alan Wilson, as my doubles partner until my handicap decreased too much.

Duncan Reeve
Duncan started playing croquet seriously as a student at Durham University, and in 1985 and 1986 was part of one of the few teams outside Oxbridge to win the Edmund Reeve Universities Croquet Challenge Cup, named after his great-grandfather.
In the following few years his achievements included representing GB in the Solomon Trophy, representing Scotland in the Home Internationals on a number of occasions, winning the Eastern Championship, and reaching the final of the Opens Doubles.
Having 'retired' for about 15 years to follow family pursuits, he eased back into the tournament scene around 2013, and soon got back to his previous standard.
Duncan recently moved to Devon where his home club is Budleigh Salterton.

David Warhurst
David took up croquet while at Manchester University, joining the nearby Bowdon club. Following a job move to Scotland he became a member of the Glasgow club for over 10 years. His greatest achievement while there was winning the 1987 Scottish Open.
He has represented Scotland once before at the 2021 Home Internationals.

south africa

Judith Hanekom

Judith's croquet playing career has been mostly local events, however overseas championships include: 2005 AC World Championships Cheltenham, 2009 European Championships Cheltenham, 2014 World AC Team Championships Carrickmines, 2012 World GC Team Championships Johannesburg, 2013 World GC Championships Cairo, 2014 Women’s GC World Championships winner Cairo, 2016 World GC Team Championships Surbiton, 2019 World GC Championships Southwick, 2020 World GC Team Championships New Zealand.

Nick Harvey
In Nick's early years he played at Pietermaritzburg Croquet Club on the Eastern side of South Africa, where he progressed rapidly to a 1.5 handicap, winning the Natal Open in 1989. In 2005 I moved to Woking in the UK where, thanks to a thriving croquet club with several strong players, I was able to take up croquet again and improve to a higher standard than I had previously achieved in South Africa. This resulted in me realising a dream of representing South Africa in the inaugural World Teams Championship in 2010 which, I repeated in 2014. I am honoured to represent South Africa again some 35 years after first picking up a mallet.

Andrew Hobbs
Andrew learnt to play Association Croquet at Somerset West Croquet club at age 13/14 where he was encouraged to try it by a friend, and learned alongside William Louw and Judith Hanekom amongst others. Since then he has played both forms of croquet AC and GC over the years. He has represented South Africa B vs Japan and my proudest moment was obtaining national colours and representing South Africa vs Ireland in 2000. He has also represented South Africa in the WCF world Championships in 2001, SA vs England 2003 and in the world team Championship in 2010 and now 2022.

William Louw
William Louw and his brother Wynand go back a long way in the history of Somerset West Croquet Club, starting the games as youngsters in Somerset West. He was taught by the legendary Jemima Benn, who encouraged a lot of the juniors at that time, including his brother Wynand. He has played for South Africa since 1995 just after he left High School. He plays and has represented South Africa, in both versions of the game (Association and Golf Croquet).

sweden

Simon Carlsson

When Simon Carlsson was a student at Chalmers University of Technology, he started a croquet-club together with some friends. This eventually led to the club joining the Swedish Croquet Federation and a more serious approach to the competitive side of the sport. After a few years Simon had managed to win the Swedish Championship several times, the Nordic championships a few times and once the European championship. Simon has also spent ten years as manager of the Swedish croquet team. During that time he introduced golf croquet in Sweden and also worked hard to spread knowledge of association croquet in the country. In this capacity Simon took part in most of the European championships and a few of the world championships for several years.

Joi Elebo
Joi Elebo, age 34, represents Sweden in the AC WTC for the fourth time. Joi competes in both AC and GC and has represented Sweden in several GC championships as well. Home in Sweden Joi plays croquet in his back-yard, where he has laid out a full-size lawn. To support his not very lucrative croquet career he works as a product manager.

Joakim Norback
Joakim grew up in Eskilstuna, Sweden where he, along with some friends, started a croquet club in 1992. Soon afterwards, he moved to Los Angeles to attend college. The stay in the United States lasted longer than expected and it wasn't until he returned to Sweden in 2007 that he picked up croquet again. Since then he has played both GC and AC regularly. His best tournament finishes to date are 1st place in the Swedish GC Championship and 2nd place in the Swedish AC Championship.

Lewis Palmer
Lewis grew up in England where he first started playing association croquet in 1985 and spent numerous years playing on the “croquet circuit” with the likes of Robert Fulford, Chris Clarke and David Maugham. He started playing golf croquet about 5 years ago and managed to get to the semi-final of the European Championships in his first serious competition. Since then he has won the Swedish Championship twice.

wales

Ian Burridge

Ian was born in Aberdare and began playing croquet as a 17 year old at school, when living in Colchester. He rapidly progressed becoming an AC International for Wales and Great Britain, playing in the 1996 MacRobertson Shield. Ian is the reigning Welsh AC Champion and has won the title on 17 occasions. More recently Ian has focussed on GC winning the English National Singles in 2016 and the First Eight in 2017. He is President of the World Croquet Federation and Treasurer of the Croquet Association. Ian lives near Grantham and plays at the Nottingham croquet club with his son Euan.

John Evans
John started playing croquet in 1970 and has represented Wales on numerous occasions. He has won the Welsh GC championship five times and the Welsh AC championship twice. Recently John has set up a new club near his home town in Llandovery and has also been responsible for laying and maintaining Championship standard lawns at the new Glamorgan club.

Angharrad Walters
Angharrad was born near Swansea in South Wales. She played in the Welsh teams that won the European Team Championship in 2007, Tier 2.1 of the AC World Team Championship in 2010 and Division 2 of the GC World Team Championship in 2012. Now retired after a long career in Finance Systems, Angharrad lives in Cheshire & is Secretary of both Bowdon Croquet Club & the NW Federation.

Rich Waterman
Rich first started playing croquet on college lawns at Merton College, Oxford in the late Eighties and like many had an extended break from the game returning in 2012 playing both GC and AC. I am known as the “croquet mindset guy” and have run numerous courses over the years including the current online version. I have provided mindset expertise for both the GC and AC International Development Squads, as well as serving as the AC International Performance Director for a short while.
I served as a member of the new CA council for a couple of years and am currently chairman of the Welsh Croquet Association. I focus predominantly on Association Croquet and reached -1.5 this year. I’m a -2 GC player and am proud to have represented Wales in both forms of the game. This will be my first World Team Championships and I am very much looking forward to the experience.

Chris Williams
Age 63 Chris was introduced to croquet whilst studying Physics at Magdalen College, Oxford and took up the game seriously when Dyffryn Croquet Club was founded in 1986. Five times Welsh Champion, Chris captained Wales to success in the WCF World 14 point Championship in 2000 and has been a member of winning Welsh teams in both the AC and GC Tier 2 WCF World Team Championships. Now retired from a career in Software Engineering Chris is perhaps best known as 'Statto' - the archivist of the CA and the WCF Association Croquet Ranking Officer. Chris is also a member of the WCF Hall of Fame and has been awarded the CA's Council Medal for services to croquet.

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