Croquet is a game that has been around since the 13th century. While it started out as a game that French peasants played before changing into a game the royalty of Ireland and England enjoyed, it’s a fun sport that anyone around the world can enjoy. With a mallet, a ball, and a few wickets, players can get together and have a fun afternoon.
Croquet can be good exercise and provides many health benefits. Players get a chance to be outside in the fresh air, spend time with friends, and use their minds to add the right precision in getting their balls through the wickets. Walking around the croquet court can provide health benefits too.
Playing the game of croquet is relatively simple and easy to do. It can also provide you with several health benefits you don’t want to miss out on. This article will take a look at how the basics of croquet can help you have better health and improve your physical and mental wellbeing.
What Is Croquet?
Croquet is an outdoor lawn game. Each player will use a mallet to knock their ball through the wickets to score points. Croquet courts can be designed in any manner the players like. A traditional croquet court is set up as two double diamonds inside a rectangular field. The measurements are often 50 feet (15.25 meters) by 100 feet (30.5 meters).
The point of this game is to be the first player to knock your ball through each wicket. The end of the game happens when you strike the final stake, a thin, striped pole that is placed a little beyond the final wicket.
Though this was first played by the peasantry in France, croquet became an upper-class game in Ireland and England during the 1800s. Now it’s a game that many can enjoy worldwide. In fact, many fans of the game can tune into croquet tournaments and follow it in many newspapers.
The ideal croquet court will be done on short-cropped grass. This makes it easier for the ball to roll well and not get caught in thick grass. However, you can choose to play the game on any surface you have available.
Check out our How To Set Up A Croquet Court article for a free diagram print out to help you set your court up.
Most games will end when the first person gets to the final stake. However, there are also timed matches where players may not make it to the final stake before time runs out. In these games, the winner is determined by how many wickets each player knocked their ball through. One point is rewarded for each wicket.
The standard mallet for playing croquet is 2.5 feet (0.75 meters) long. The ball is similar in size to a softball while being heavy enough to prevent it from going airborne after being hit.
Physical Health Benefits of Croquet
Croquet has numerous physical health benefits. Here are some of the most important:
Gets You Up and Get Moving
Croquet is a great way to get up and get moving. It involves standing, walking, and moving around with your friends. Just being active and getting outside often enough will help you feel better and can improve your strength and endurance, even as you age.
Can Help With Weight Loss
While croquet may not be directly linked to drastic weight loss, a few of the activities you enjoy while playing could contribute indirectly. Croquet helps you get out of the house and move. Instead of spending your time watching television or searching online while eating a lot of junk, you get to spend your time in the fresh air and bright sun.
Croquet also helps you to walk around quite a bit. While the field isn’t huge, it is big enough to allow you time to walk around it to get the ball through the wickets. The combination of walking, concentrating on the game, and getting out of the house may help you lose weight and improve other aspects of your health.
If you add 30 minutes of brisk walking to your daily routine, you could burn about 150 more calories a day
https://www.mayoclinic.org/healthy-lifestyle/weight-loss/expert-answers/walking/faq-20058345 (source)
Good for the Heart
Since you get a chance to get up and walk around, croquet can help improve your heart. It is not intense exercise. But the fresh air, the time standing and walking around, and the time spent with friends can all be good for your heart.
Here’s a quick video showing the excellent health benefits of playing croquet.
Mental Health Benefits of Croquet
Gets You Outside
One 2011 study found that being outside was able to decrease your depression, anger, confusion, and tension. In another 2010 study, it was found that a simple five minutes of exercise outside on a green space is enough to improve your self-esteem and mood. Croquet can offer you both.
Challenges Your Mind
Croquet is an interesting game. It helps to combine some critical thinking skills as you maneuver through the wickets with physical activity. You need to work on skills, including soft touch and precision, to win in this game, and that can help make the mind work hard.
Croquet involves a certain level of strategy to maneuver your ball around the course, taking advantage of your opponents position and bonus shots.
Helps You to Socialize
Croquet is a social game. It isn’t much fun to play it on your own. It is also easy to get several people together to play this game. Getting outside and playing croquet helps you to meet new people. You can choose to join a croquet club that will mix people up and assign partners when doubles are played. This helps you to meet new people and socialize more.
Most of the people playing croquet at clubs and such, are some of the most down-to-earth, nicest people you’ll ever meet.
Emphasizes Good Sportsmanship
Croquet helps provide camaraderie between players all around the world. Even if you vacation in a new country, you will receive a warm welcome if you spend some time in a local croquet club. The rules also promote good sportsmanship, and losing your temper is not permitted. Even if your strategy does not work out, croquet can be a fun way to spend the afternoon with friends and new acquaintances.
Improves Self-Esteem
Any sport can help raise your self-esteem. If you enjoy the sport and get into it, then setting goals in that sport and achieving them will help improve self-confidence. Croquet is a great sport to experiment with and have a little fun. You can try a few different techniques on your own and bring them to the next game you play with friends.
Mental Benefits
Research shows that you can get a lot of mental health benefits when you get involved in sports and leisure activities. When you put your attention and focus on being precise while hitting the croquet ball, it helps clear your mind, relieves you of stress, and can help your mental capacities get stronger.
Conclusion
Croquet is a fun game that anyone can enjoy. With just a few pieces of equipment, you can get outside and have fun playing with friends. It is beneficial to your physical and mental health in many ways. Being outside, moving around, and spending time with friends while concentrating on the precision and your plans in the game can benefit your life.
Helpful Links: