Vale - Tom Armstrong

Tom Armstrong
26 September 1908 -  22 January 2011

Tom Armstrong became interested in playing croquet in the 1960s after his wife Jean  took up the game when she stopped playing tennis. When he retired he was able to devote himself to croquet and brought his scientific enquiring mind to the sport.

In the early 60s there were very few men in the game and in some clubs they were not really welcomed. Tom dealt with this in his usual forthright way mixed with his salesman charm.

He reached a high playing standard, and represented South Australia at the interstate carnival in Hobart.  But he found that he did not enjoy the competitive world as much as he enjoyed teaching people how to play the game. 

In the 60s beginners largely learnt to play from other players, usually the old timers, many of whom played Aunt Emma and only had a vague notion of ‘putting a ball forward’.  

Tom and Jean developed a more positive structured approach based on learning the basic strokes, and playing breaks, leading to more attractive and enjoyable play. They developed an easy to understand way of coaching that explained the game and made it more comprehensible to beginners.  Tom was keen on using golf croquet as a quick and easy way of involving people in the game and learning the vital single ball strokes and thinking about strategy. This was in the days when golf croquet was not really taken seriously.

Tom had a proactive way to involve potential people in the game. He was famous for engaging passers by who paused to watch what was going on.  He would involve people in conversation and get them to jump over the fence. He wouldn’t try to explain the game, but he would leave the game he was playing and put a mallet in their hand and get them to run a hoop and without knowing it they got interested in this curious game.

He was very enthusiastic and when he had a pupil who looked promising he was famous for saying ‘You’ll be in the state team before long’.

Tom was an innovator of the sport, always thinking of new and better ways to do things and involve more people.  Tom and Jean introduced croquet to several of the private schools in Adelaide in the late 1960s and 1970s and organised an inter school competition which went on for several years.

Tom and Jean were regularly invited to go to country towns in South Australia to coach, and in the 1970s they were invited to go to Queensland to coach, and ended up spending each winter there for 7 years.

Tom invented new strokes to get players out of tricky situations – such as a scientific shot dropping the mallet head on the ball to impart spin when hampered by a hoop. He was also interested in how cannons worked and developed a new one called the one cent straight. He made a diagram showing the different sorts of cannons.

He liked challenging himself when he played and liked others to test themselves and think outside the square. He was always aware that people got mentally tired when learning croquet, or when playing a long break. He would have a break with a pupil and tell some stories and have a laugh.  The most common things Tom would say was “It’s a hard game” when something went wrong and the counter to that was “Keep your head down” .

Tom and Jean shared the editing of the Australian Croquet Gazette for several years in the 1960s and wrote technical articles and instructional articles which hadn’t been done before.

Tom and Jean were always a team in coaching, with Jean taking the women or the less talented people, requiring lots of patience, while Tom worked with the men or the people who had potential to develop, teaching them more complex things, including the triple peel. It hadn’t been taught routinely before and Tom was one of the first people to introduce developing good players to it, and now all aspiring players practice triples.

Many of Tom’s students have gone on to play for their state or Australia – but all  learned positive things from him. How to play the strokes, how to play the game in a positive and enterprising and attractive way and with a sporting attitude.

Tom was one of the first group people to be inducted into the World Croquet Federation Hall of Fame.

He taught people to enjoy the game and each other’s company. He thought winning was not as important as playing the game in the best way, with enjoyment for both sides.

Tom’s enthusiastic approach became known in the community and gave croquet a higher profile. Both Tom and Jean saw croquet as a game that husbands and wives, men and women could play together, by all ages, a game of exercise and mental stimulation for life, building communities, and able to be played competitively or socially or by someone on their own.

Tom gave a lot to the Brighton community through his involvement with his club, and he also helped establish the Marion club in the area.

Tom will be missed not only in the Brighton community but throughout the whole of Australia.   He was a highly respected player and coach throughout the croquet community.

We wish to give our condolences to Jean and family on the loss of Tom.