Beryl started playing in 2009. She picked gateball (the Japanese croquet code) because it ran Tuesday and Saturday afternoons, and those were the only times she could play while still working full-time. She and her husband got involved, started travelling to competitions around Queensland, and within a year were in China representing Australia.
This is a short pull from her interview at Southport Croquet Club. Just the travel arc.
One minute twenty. Watch on CroquetVideos
How it started
"I started playing croquet in 2009 and I was still working. So the only code that I could play at that stage was gateball, because they played it Tuesday afternoon and Saturday afternoon. So my husband and I got quite involved in gateball. We enjoyed it and we started travelling to all the gateball competitions around Queensland. We ended up doing very well — we both travelled. We actually travelled to China in 2010 and played for Australia." — Beryl
She picked gateball because the playing times suited her work schedule. Inside twelve months she was playing for Australia overseas.
The world version
"You've got the opportunity to travel a lot. In my time I've travelled to Macau, China, Japan, all over Australia basically — playing different codes of croquet. And you get to meet heaps of people and make some really good friendships along the way." — Beryl
The line worth keeping
"One of the best things about croquet is, even if you're travelling in Australia — pack your mallet in and go to the local club where you're staying. And they'll welcome you with open arms to have a game." — Beryl
Pack your mallet. Croquet is one of the few sports where you can turn up at a club you've never visited before and have a game inside half an hour. Beryl learned it by accident and turned it into a habit.
One line to take with you
If you play croquet and you're going somewhere, pack the mallet. Beryl has been doing it since 2009.
On the cut
Beryl's interview runs 25 minutes. This is just the travel section, about 80 seconds of it. The "pack your mallet" line was an aside near the end of a longer answer listing places she'd played; on its own, without the country list around it, it carries more weight. The rest of the interview (Southport's switch to online systems, her thoughts on volunteer work) is good material that didn't fit one extract — those might come out separately later.