Contents...

• Golf Croquet Skills Assessment
  • Aim
  • Potential Purposes of GC Skills Assessment
  • Assessment Exercises
  • Supporting Files
  • Exercise Sessions
  • Notes on Order of Exercises
  • Scoring
  • Role of an Assessor
  • Who Can be an Assessor?
  • Assessors and Players
  • Equipment Needed
  • Less than Full-Sized Courts
  • Summary

Golf Croquet Skills Assessment

Aim

A standardised method of measuring a GC player's skills has been developed by Croquet England Coaching Committee. It is termed the GC Skills Assessment.

Potential Purposes of GC Skills Assessment

During coaching:

• To assist a player in identifying their strongest and weakest skills
• To establish a benchmark against which a player's progress can be measured
• To serve as a benchmark for the Duke of Edinburgh scheme croquet awards
• As a guide to setting an initial handicap (once a score to handicap table has been produced by Croquet England).

Assessment Exercises

An Assessment consists of 10 exercises, consisting of either two or three clearly defined scenarios each, conducted at different locations on a court. See the GC Skills Assessment Scorecard.

Each exercise requires starting ball positions on the court to be pre-marked to ensure consistency. Exercises have been designed to allow more than one to be conducted on the court at the same time (allowing more than one player to be assessed in parallel); however, players and assessors will then need to be mindful of balls being played towards them in other exercises.

The assessment can be extended by repeating each exercise and averaging the results. If exercises are repeated, it is better if the entire 10-exercise cycle is completed once, before any repeat as this better replicates a game when a specific stroke will rarely be repeated consecutively. However, the constraints of assessment delivery may militate against this approach.

Supporting Files

The following supporting files are available in this shared CqE OneDrive folder:

• GC Skills Assessment Scorecard
• Briefing
• Exercise to Hoop Mapping
• Exercise Set Up Guidance
• Exercise Scoring Guidance
• Exercise Target Area Definition
• Exercise Group Results Sheet

Exercise Sessions

In the supporting files, the exercises have been presented in two sessions:

• Session 1: Exercises 1-4 (as these cover more ground they take longer)
• Session 2: Exercises 5 to 10.

It is practicable to lay out Session 1 on Lawn 1, and Session 2 on Lawn 2.

Alternatively, if only one lawn is available, the Session 1 exercises can be laid out for the morning, and Session 2 in the afternoon.

Thirty minutes should be allowed to lay out a prepared lawn for a session.

Optimally one assessor can facilitate two players at a time, with a maximum of 4 players to one facilitator.

Eight players and 4 assessors can complete each session in approx. 90 mins.

To allow for comparison of results over time and between players, layouts should use the precise measurements supplied.

Notes on Order of Exercises

The order of the exercises has been arranged:

• To minimise clashes between exercises
• To avoid balls being sent firmly towards other players doing different exercises
• To enable exercises to be paired to simplify assessment
• To allow two sessions, with session exercise layouts being completed before each session.

Scoring

A scorecard is available for recording scores, supported by a spreadsheet.

An Exercise (e.g. Straight hoop running) consists of one or more scenarios (e.g. From 1 yard). A scenario is worth 1 point.

The total score for one turn per scenario is out of 25.

Final scores should be expressed as percentages, taking into account the number of times the exercises have been attempted.

A personal scorecard is available for reporting an individual's results.

Role of an Assessor

An assessor will:

• Identify the exercise/scenario to be played
• Witness the stroke
• Assess whether the success criteria for the scenario have been met
• Enter the appropriate score ('1' or a dash) on the scorecard
• At the end, total all scores, calculate % result and advise player outcome
• Notify Paul Francis the detailed scores with a photo of the scorecard. (paul.francis#croquetengland.org.uk)

Who Can be an Assessor?

An Assessor does not need to be a qualified coach. However, a qualified coach can:

• Use the exercises to reinforce tactical choices that they represent.
• Offer advice on how technically to achieve the exercise's goal.

Ideally, in the early stages at least, it is preferable that the Assessor has been on a GC Skills Assessment Workshop to experience how to run an Assessment.

Assessors and Players

The assignment of Assessors to players will be governed by numbers of both and the degree of experience of the Assessors.

One valid approach is to assign assessors to one or two Exercises and allow players to cycle through them.

A second valid approach is to assign assessors to a group of players as they navigate all the exercises. This is the more common.

Equipment Needed

Essential:

• A standard croquet court
• A minimum of 4 balls if balls are reused in each exercise
• A minimum of 12 balls if balls are pre-positioned
• A large number (50?) of ball markers
• Highly desirable:
  • Sports Training Cones (to identify the location of each scenario) x 25
  • two x string/camping pegs (to mark hoop 4-yard fans of success).

Less than Full-Sized Courts

The distances used assume a full-size court. For half-courts (or other non-standard courts) some positional distances (e.g. Exercises 1 and 2) need to be adjusted accordingly. While, arguably, this should be reflected in the points awarded, for simplicity the same point distribution is used. However, the overall score should be annotated to indicate the assessment has been undertaken on a smaller lawn than standard.

Summary

By using this standardised approved GC Skills Assessment, a player's ability to play the described strokes can be scored consistently.

Players can use their scores to identify skills requiring development and to assess their progress against their previous scores.

Once benchmarks have been established, the GC Skills Assessment could be used for Duke of Edinburgh Scheme awards, and, potentially, handicapping.