The United States Croquet Association (USCA) fosters croquet in all its forms, from the familiar nine-wicket croquet game to the modern sport of six-wicket croquet. There are USCA-affiliated clubs and tournaments across the United States and Canada. The official rules of American Croquet are maintained by the USCA. The USCA is a member of the World Croquet Federation.
The USCA is headquartered at the National Croquet Center, 700 Florida Mango Road, West Palm Beach, Florida. It has a full-time office staff which keeps regular weekday hours. They welcome calls or e-mails requesting information on all aspects of croquet, including information on starting a club and on local contacts to instruct and advise you. They will also gladly offer advice, print resources, and consulting on lawn construction and maintenance.
History
In 1977, Jack Osborn organized five Eastern clubs (including the Westhampton Mallet Club, Croquet Club of Bermuda, Green Gables Croquet Club, New York Croquet Club, and Palm Beach Croquet Club) into the United States Croquet Association (USCA), and wrote a new rule book for an American version of the six-wicket sport called American Rules croquet.[1]
It was Jack Osborn's vision, marketing savvy, energy, and sheer dogged determination that brought together five clubs in 1977 to form the nucleus of the United States Croquet Association. Although the sport had long flourished in the Commonwealth countries, croquet had devolved to a backyard pastime in the United States, and there were no agreed-upon rules.
One of the first orders of business of the new association was to hammer out compromise rules acceptable to all five clubs - the Green Gables Croquet Club, the Palm Beach Croquet Club, the New York Croquet Club, the Westhampton Mallet Club, and the Croquet Club of Bermuda. Since then, the list has grown to nearly 400 member clubs with 3500 members, and the rules have survived with minor periodic adjustments. [2]