Dust Off the Old Mallet and Head for Central Park

No one mentioned Jeter or Rodriguez on this warm, cloudless weekend in Central Park. No banners advertised beer or athletic equipment, and no championship-level players hoped to score multimillion dollar endorsements. No spectators with painted faces and replica jerseys heckled from the stands.In fact, there were no stands, and the players in this weekend’s Osborn Cup – an invitational tournament hosted by the New York Croquet Club – blended together in a white mass. Men and women bronzed from summers in the Hamptons and winters in Palm Beach donned crisp white polo shirts bearing the subtle crests of elite country clubs in Greenwich, Locust Valley, Millbrook, Bridgehampton, and, of course, Palm Beach. White sunhats and visors topped white and graying hair.The recently seeded grass had received a fresh buzzcut, and a few of the rose bushes lining the greens were still in bloom. The sound of leaves rustling was broken only by the subtle crack of wooden mallet hitting ball, and occasionally, ball bouncing off cast-iron wicket.Yankees versus Red Sox, this was not.The annual Osborn Cup is one of two invitational tournaments played on the NYCC’s fenced-in Central Park greens, located off the pedestrian road at West 69th Street, just north of Tavern on the Green restaurant. About 40 players, many of them nationally ranked and ranging in age from around 30 to 70, gathered from across the country to compete in both singles and doubles matches held over four days.“See her?” Terry Colbert, the Club’s president since 1997,pointed to a slightly stooped woman with grey braids poking out from beneath her baseball cap. She pursed her lips and strode intently across the field, a mallet tucked under her arm. “We call her ‘Tiger.’ She’s lovely, but she can be tough, competitive, even irascible on the field. She’s our Russian princess.”“Tiger” is Lila Baitschova, an NYCC member since 1985. Ms. Baitschova tells people she is “4.5 billion years old, like the earth,” but Mr. Colbert guesses she’s in her 70s. “Tiger” became hooked on the game 20 years ago after watching the young John Osborn Jr. play. “He’s like a Baryshnikov in the grass,” she said.“Johnny” Osborn, 46, is a professional croquet player based in West Palm Beach, Fla., and the son of the sport’s sainted patriarch, Jack Osborn. He is small and springy with an athlete’s build and concentration, and has won the Osborn Cup 10 times since its inaugural year in 1988. He makes his living giving lessons and directing tournaments like the one bearing his name.During this weekend’s tournament, Osborn paced in soiled boat shoes around the field where his father is buried. When Jack Osborn died nine years ago, his ashes were divided into five containers, each of which was placed at one of the original clubs of the United States Croquet Association.The NYCC was founded in 1967 by 48 men, including the elder Osborn, a wealthy Central Park West resident who also helped establish the United States Croquet Association in 1977.The USCA now has 300 member clubs and 3,000 members nationwide. With its 130 members, the NYCC is the largest private club in the nation.While the meticulously maintained greens remain the public property of Central Park, they are used exclusively by two private clubs, the Croquet Club and the Lawn Bowlers. During croquet season, from April to September, club members are given 24-hour access to the greens and to the nearby clubhouse, which houses 130 lockers, a refrigerator, restrooms, and a fully stocked equipment box.The club offers free introductory clinics to the public every Monday night at 6 p.m. during croquet season. Clinics focus on the basics of competitive croquet, which differs significantly from the backyard leisure-time activity. Rules are intricate and the game requires the same angling skills and strategizing used in billiards and chess. Since picking up croquet 15 years ago, Mr. Colbert has stopped playing tennis and golf. “Croquet makes golf look like child’s play,” he said. “It’s such a more challenging and sophisticated sport.”Croquet is also one of the few sports – if not the only – to ignore distinctions of gender and age when grouping players for competition; the sexes are judged equally on handicap and 70-year-olds regularly best players 40 years their junior. According to Mr. Osborn, the NYCC tries to recruit younger players, but members admit difficulty because of the sport’s complexity. “You need to invest time up front. You can’t just go out and play on weekends,” Mr. Osborn said.Prospective newcomers are invited to attend two free clinics before deciding whether they wish to join the NYCC, in which case they receive application forms and schedule interviews, which Mr. Colbert insists are “just a formality to make new members feel they’re part of something special.” Mr. Colbert claims never to have turned down an applicant.Despite this egalitarian process and relatively low annual dues of $225, the NYCC remains a bastion of the old guard. “The people who are attracted to croquet are wealthy,” Mr. Colbert said, though he attested that, as an Upper East Side architect and industrial designer, he is not among the rich. “The game retains its elegant nature. It has panache.”While the club draws some strangers who approach the fence to ogle, most members began playing as youngsters at expensive country clubs or private estates. “We do not gather up the Budweiser people, the beer-drinking jocks,” Mr. Colbert continued. “The club’s membership includes elderly ladies and teenagers, but their common trait is an appreciation of civility.” This year, the NYCC welcomed its first black member in Mr. Colbert’s 15-year history with the club.Late Sunday afternoon, players collected their commemorative NYCC towels and hurried to catch flights out of town before the championship matches were played. Johnny Osborn relaxed on a bench and smoked a cigarette. He hadn’t made the finals this year.The Osborn Cup came to a close as Norris Settlemyre, a Manhattan resident and New York club member, beat veteran player Doug Grimsley, a retail furniture store owner from Virginia, 22 to 11. Osborn excitedly described the match as “high-risk, [with] unorthodox maneuvers and strategy.”As Settlemyre posed for pictures with a big silver trophy, “Tiger” Baitschova busily ran down the field to help collect flags and balls, her grey braids swinging like a schoolgirl’s.“What’s your next tournament?” one player asked.“I’m going to Egypt to compete,” another replied, adjusting her knee brace.“See you in Palm Beach!”

Dust Off the Old Mallet and Head for Central Park

Dust Off the Old Mallet and Head for Central Park

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