Alan CottleMichael HagueOther Coaches

Academy Coaches

The Coaching team at the Academy have many years experience in coaching. On this page we have attached some personal details of many of our coaching team.

In addition to those listed we will be using many top coaches from the world of Croquet to supplement our resident team and to facilitate specialist coaching.
 

Bill Arliss

Bill was literally dragged into croquet back in 1989 by his wife Pam. His job as a consulting engineer on power plant automation took him all over the world and when he was at home, what better way to relax than to visit the East Brighton Golf Club. To try to ensure they both spent more time together (and it had to be sporty) Pam arranged a visit to an open day at the Sussex County Croquet Club. Something must have clicked during that visit as golf was given up four years later and eight years on he took on the Chairmanship of the Croquet Association. His first love was Association Croquet and he quickly got his handicap down to scratch and has been a regular member of the Sussex Counties team since the mid 90's. He completed his coaching training and became a Grade 2 association croquet coach and taught at the Summer School for many years.

After completing his two years as Chairman of the CA, he took a special interest in Golf Croquet as he believed it was the main avenue for expansion of croquet. He became Chairman of the CA's Golf Croquet Committee and has held that position since 2000 with only one years break. During this period he has represented England in the Golf Croquet World Championships in 2000, 2002 and 2004 and also directed the 2004 event which was held at his own club, Southwick.

To fill the odd gaps in his diary he also chairs the SE Croquet Federation, the Golf Croquet Selection Committee and the Golf Croquet Laws Committee with the added duty of training and examining Golf Croquet referees and running various coaching courses.

His wife sees even less of him these days!!!!






 

John Bee

Towards the end of a career working in the photographic industry I joined Watford (Cassiobury) Croquet Club in 1996 and was hooked from the start. However, it has to be said, progress was slow at first, but thanks to patient coaching from Margo Johnson and Michael Lester the penny eventually dropped. This period in my croquet career does enable me to empathise with others experiencing a similar problem. I now enjoy tournament play, have a handicap in mid single figures, and qualified as a Grade One coach in 2009. My other passion in life is dancing the Argentinian tango, which is simlar to croquet in that it requires total concentration.
 

Alan Cottle

Following a career in aviation Alan became a lecturer in Mechanical engineering at Northbrook College. In his spare time he has been a keen Bridge player and it was through this that he was introduced to Croquet.

Alan began playing croquet in 2001 and quickly developed to become an accomplished A Class player at both Association and Golf Croquet. He become a coach in 2003. Alan is a member of Sussex County Croquet Club where he currently serves on the committee and has responsibility for their lawn maintenance. Alan is a qualified golf croquet coach and referee and a grade 2 association croquet coach.

In addition to group coaching Alan can, on request, consider one to one coaching assignments.
 

Jack Davies

Jack arrived on the south coast in the mid fifties as a plumbers apprentice and so enjoyed the lively scene in Brighton that he has remained here ever since! Despite a busy business career he still had time to play a great many sports. Golf, snooker and particularly bowls have all been played at a high level.

Jack joined Sussex County Croquet Club a few years ago and took to croquet in his usual manner - methodical, keen to practise and to find out everything as soon as possible! He wanted to play the game at the highest level. It worked and he has now become a minus player with a high standard of expertise and sportsmanship. Jack has a grade 2 coaching qualification.


 

Daphne Gaitley

Daphne started playing croquet at Southwick in 1992, and soon began entering tournaments where her natural aptitude quickly led to successes in competitive events. Her enthusiasm led her to embark upon obtaining recognition as a coach, and soon thereafter she gained CA Grade 1 status. More successes in competitive matches saw a reduction in her playing handicap, which together with becoming an  croquet referee, allowed her to pursue and obtain a CA Grade 2 qualification. She is an active member of the South East Croquet Federation committee and thus visits other clubs in the Federation to conduct coaching sessions.

Daphne is Lead Coach on the highly successful international Summer School – now part of the Croquet Academy - a week long association croquet coaching course, which attracts many foreign students. She is also a CA qualified golf croquet coach and referee, and has now started up a similar weekend golf croquet coaching course for the Academy.

In 2003, she was awarded the CA's prestigious Coach of the Year award for her inspirational and enthusiastic approach and consistently high standards.
 

Michael Hague

Michael Hague was a professional soldier and like most infantrymen, spent much of his military service being trained or training others when not on operations. A keen sportsman, he attended courses and qualified as an instructor/coach for seven different sports and found that in doing so he developed a profounder knowledge and appreciation of each one of them.

He took up croquet on his retirement but early on realised that he did not possess the potential to become an A class player. However he did recognise that the instructional techniques he had acquired over the years could be applied to coaching croquet and indeed could be passed on to others. Once qualified as a Grade 1 Coach, he devised a two day Training Course for Coaches and in 2001 ran the first of a series of such courses repeated since across the country for both Association and Golf Croquet aspirant coaches. Michael is also a qualified golf croquet coach and examining referee and an association croquet referee.

Michael was Coach of the Year for 2002, officiated at the 2004 World Golf Championships and is the author of the much acclaimed book "Golf Croquet Tactics"

He has recently relinquished his role as the the SECF Coaching and Schools officer but continues to serve as the Federation's Development and Equipment officer.

John Hobbs

John first played garden croquet at a theological college in Oxford (he was only a lodger!) and then started again in 1985 at Newport in Essex, where he helped found their three lawn club. His first handicap was 14, awarded after  a week long coaching course at Loughborough and his lowest was 2. Anno domini and lack of play have brought it up to 4. He has been a coach for longer than he can remember and a referee for nearly as long. He intends to devote more time to playing, although he still has to stop to make his croquet mallets. 

 

Frances Low

First got interested in croquet about 13/14 years ago when a friend told her about an open day at Rottingdean Croquet Club. The delightful setting in the Kippling Gardens, and the friendly people seemed appealing, and to her surprise, her husband John seemed enthusiastic. They were taught Association Croquet by the late Alex Gerard on a half court, with Alex showing them the shots and explaining the tactics. They were hooked , and joined Sussex CC a few years later to improve their standard.

Frances has played on the tournament circuit, but now prefers to concentrate on coaching. As a retired teacher (Maths at Roedean), she believes she has the advantage of knowing how to present a topic and adapting it to her pupils! She qualified as an association referee 6 years ago, and is a Grade 2 coach. She has participated in many bronze and silver courses at Southwick and Compton, and has assisted at the Summer school.
 

 

Gene and Don Mears

Gene & Don first came into contact with croquet when they moved to Shoreham Beach from Burgess Hill in 1986. They were looking for a sport that they could both play, and in 1987 came across a poster in the local library advertising a croquet open day. They were welcomed to the Sussex County Croquet Club at Southwick by the late Lional Wharrad and were shown the rudiments of the game. They were immediately hooked and over the next few years became familiar with the game and played in club tournaments, and also travelled to outside events. They became coaches after a course run by Ron Welch in 1991 and have enjoyed helping players to become more proficient in their game ever since.

Gene is a grade 1 coach, and Don is both a referee and a grade 2 association coach. Don is also a golf referee and coach and since golf croquet has become more popular has found himself helping beginners at different clubs and venues.

In 2007 Don was awarded a "Lifetime Coaching Award" by the Croquet Association in recognition of his excellent coaching work

Bryan Teague

After a career in technical education he joined Worthing Croquet Club playing mostly Golf Croquet and started association later on that year when he also joined Sussex County Croquet Club.

He continued to play Association Croquet and quickly reduced his handicap.He qualified as a Grade 2 Association Croquet coach in 1993 and in the same year passed the Association Referees examination.He introduced formal coaching to both Sussex County and Worthing and has have been the lead coach and manager on most of the recent Bronze and Silver courses held at Southwick. He introduced the Improvers course for high bisquers. He has been instrumental in assessing many potential grade 1 and grade 2 coaches. He has taken part in coaching courses throughout the county and has tirelessly promoted the game. Bryan is also a golf croquet referee.

He was elected to the Sussex County Committee in 1995 and became Chairman in 1997, retiring from office in 2007.
 

Other Coaches

The Webmaster is hoping to include biographies and pictures of all our regular coaches.