Is croquet a sport, or more of a recreational activity for people to play in their backyards, or is it both a competitive sport and a recreation? Croquet was once played as a competitive sport at the Olympic Games. It began to become popular at the end of the 18th century, sharing courts or routes with tennis. Tennis eventually overtook croquet as the most popular sport, and croquet was dropped from the Olympics. Currently tennis is a very popular competitive sport, while many do not know what croquet is. However, croquet is making a comeback, once again becoming a national and international competitive sport.
Croquet spread throughout the world in the late 1800s by the British Empire. It was a new recreational and somewhat competitive sport that quickly gained popularity. With the turn of the century, it was added as a sport in the Olympics, only to be removed again by the subsequent Olympics. Croquet was eliminated from the Olympics because the countries could not agree on the rules. The American croquet associations played by different rules than the European associations played. This created some conflict over how the rules would be treated internationally. Croquet left the high-level sporting arena and was relegated to being carried out only by small clubs and groups of croquet supporters. It was also played for recreation in yards and parks.
In the 1960s and 1970s, croquet began to make up lost ground. Big croquet clubs on the East Coast of the US decided to compete with each other and agreed on some official rules. With the official rules established and the croquet association established to govern those rules, croquet was once again played as a competitive sport. Since 1980, croquet has grown from a sport played by a few professionals to several thousand professional croquet players in North America today. Local, national and international croquet tournaments are frequently held.
However, croquet is still little known to many people, especially as a competitive sport. Many Americans play croquet [http://www.playcroquet.com] for recreation in their backyards or in parks, outside of the fact that it is a professionally practiced sport; that there is a world governing body for croquet: the World Croquet Federation; there is the USCA, the United States Croquet Association; along with national croquet associations in many countries around the world.
Over time different rules have been developed for croquet. The kind of croquet many Americans play in their backyards requires different rules than those played professionally at clubs and tournaments. The grass is also trimmed as a golf course, four tournament and club games, while backyard players will play on whatever grass there is in the backyard. Different types of croquet set are also used for different styles of croquet. A game of croquet in the backyard can simply be a game of cheap croquet. Typically, backyard and recreational croquet games are nine wicket games ranging from four to eight players. Some professional croquet sets are six-wicket sets with elegant mallets and balls designed for professional play on well-manicured fields.
Croquet is both a recreational activity that anyone can play in their backyard and a competitive sport that is gaining more popularity even as you read this article. Soon some of those backyard croquet players, currently oblivious to the fact, will become the Michael Jordan or Tiger Woods of croquet, earning millions of dollars by winning tournaments and getting sporting and sports sponsors. Thousands will flock to his tournaments and millions will watch on television.
