Coaches' profiles
Ian Shore
Ian Shore has been playing Golf Croquet and dabbling in Association Croquet at High Wycombe Croquet Club since 2000. Winning the GC B-Level series events, rather to his surprise, in 2015, gave him the confidence to move into the coaching field, building on his experience as a coach in another sport.
From small beginnings, Ian has built up his coaching portfolio, focusing initially on GC beginners and improvers, with half-hour sessions, rules seminars and one-day courses. He has engaged with the CqE’s U25 Taskforce, involving the juniors from his club. In recognition of his contribution to croquet coaching, Ian was selected as the Coach of the Year for 2019.
Ian captains the Buckinghamshire Golf Croquet Team.
Ian joined the GC Rules Committee in 2020 and the CqE coaching committee in 2021 where he prioritises the needs of the higher handicap player.
Ian's ambition is, through the management of the Chiltern Croquet Academy, to contribute to developing a Croquet Centre of Excellence at High Wycombe.
Raouf Allim
Dr Raouf Allim played at Cambridge University for a few years 1979-82, then after a gap of more than 30 years, coming back to Association Croquet in Aug 2015. The following year he added Golf Croquet to his portfolio.
Chris Roberts
Chris Roberts is Chairman of the Southern Croquet Federation, Chairman of his first club Phyllis Court at Henley-on-Thames and is also a member at Roehampton.
He is a keen advocate of competitive sport and sits on the GC Selection Committee and GC Tournaments committee; under the latter's umbrella, Chris is Director of the GC National A, B and C-Level Series of tournaments and the GC All England Handicap competition. Chris also manages many tournaments for his Club, Federation and CA fixtures book events, quite often as a 'double act' with Frances Colman.
A keen sportsman in his youth, he discovered croquet 12 years ago and initially played only social GC, before realising there was a whole 'croquet world' in which to participate. He now plays and enjoys competitive GC and AC equally (he is higher ranked in the former) and can be found playing in a tournament somewhere nearly every weekend.
In GC, Chris' highlight was a third place at the European Championships of 2016. He has also won three English National Singles Championship (ENSC) qualifiers; the Cheltenham Open 2017, Sidmouth Open in 2016 and Roehampton Open 2012, and has qualified for the ENSC Finals ('Ascot Cup') on five occasions. He won the 2015 Sidmouth Open as well, but it wasn't an ENSC qualifier that year. Chris also plays in the British Open most years.
In AC, Chris is hopefully still on an upward curve and his high point so far has been appearances at four Selectors Weekends 2015 to 2018, and acceptance into the International Development Squad in 2015. With partner Frances Colman, Chris won the first AC tournament he entered, the 2012 Roehampton Handicap Doubles and more recently, in 2016 he won B-Level Tournaments at Woking and Hurlingham. He plays in South Africa each February and co-leads a croquet holiday to Corfu every two years and is a two-time Greek Open (handicap) Champion.
In 2019 he:
- won Budleigh May Week [AC] A-Class event.
- won Wrest Park [GC] A-Level Series tournament.
Ian Shore has been playing Golf Croquet and dabbling in Association Croquet at High Wycombe Croquet Club since 2000. Winning the GC B-Level series events, rather to his surprise, in 2015, gave him the confidence to move into the coaching field, building on his experience as a coach in another sport.
From small beginnings, Ian has built up his coaching portfolio, focusing initially on GC beginners and improvers, with half-hour sessions, rules seminars and one-day courses. He has engaged with the CqE’s U25 Taskforce, involving the juniors from his club. In recognition of his contribution to croquet coaching, Ian was selected as the Coach of the Year for 2019.
Ian captains the Buckinghamshire Golf Croquet Team.
Ian joined the GC Rules Committee in 2020 and the CqE coaching committee in 2021 where he prioritises the needs of the higher handicap player.
Ian's ambition is, through the management of the Chiltern Croquet Academy, to contribute to developing a Croquet Centre of Excellence at High Wycombe.
Raouf Allim
Dr Raouf Allim played at Cambridge University for a few years 1979-82, then after a gap of more than 30 years, coming back to Association Croquet in Aug 2015. The following year he added Golf Croquet to his portfolio.
Chris Roberts
Chris Roberts is Chairman of the Southern Croquet Federation, Chairman of his first club Phyllis Court at Henley-on-Thames and is also a member at Roehampton.
He is a keen advocate of competitive sport and sits on the GC Selection Committee and GC Tournaments committee; under the latter's umbrella, Chris is Director of the GC National A, B and C-Level Series of tournaments and the GC All England Handicap competition. Chris also manages many tournaments for his Club, Federation and CA fixtures book events, quite often as a 'double act' with Frances Colman.
A keen sportsman in his youth, he discovered croquet 12 years ago and initially played only social GC, before realising there was a whole 'croquet world' in which to participate. He now plays and enjoys competitive GC and AC equally (he is higher ranked in the former) and can be found playing in a tournament somewhere nearly every weekend.
In GC, Chris' highlight was a third place at the European Championships of 2016. He has also won three English National Singles Championship (ENSC) qualifiers; the Cheltenham Open 2017, Sidmouth Open in 2016 and Roehampton Open 2012, and has qualified for the ENSC Finals ('Ascot Cup') on five occasions. He won the 2015 Sidmouth Open as well, but it wasn't an ENSC qualifier that year. Chris also plays in the British Open most years.
In AC, Chris is hopefully still on an upward curve and his high point so far has been appearances at four Selectors Weekends 2015 to 2018, and acceptance into the International Development Squad in 2015. With partner Frances Colman, Chris won the first AC tournament he entered, the 2012 Roehampton Handicap Doubles and more recently, in 2016 he won B-Level Tournaments at Woking and Hurlingham. He plays in South Africa each February and co-leads a croquet holiday to Corfu every two years and is a two-time Greek Open (handicap) Champion.
In 2019 he:
- won Budleigh May Week [AC] A-Class event.
- won Wrest Park [GC] A-Level Series tournament.