When a dozen Navy midshipmen come to play croquet on the grand green of St. John's College tomorrow, the stakes are high.
The Johnnies team of 12 will be ready for Annapolis' version of Athens versus Sparta, and they have a winning record to uphold dating to 1983, when it all began.
Part of the fun of the friendly but intense "Annapolis Cup" is that, as crisp as the academy Mids look, they almost always lose to the shaggier Johnnies. This year, the St. John's team of free-spirited players just won the national college croquet championship when they weren't reading Hegel. For the record, about all the teams have in common is that both sides are almost all male, with one female player on each.
The spring showdown between the neighboring rivals, which starts at 1 p.m. and takes all afternoon, is a study of contrasting cultures in a small city. The nine-wicket contest is not one of strength, speed and endurance, but of technique, strategy and finesse. With beer and wine allowed on the sidelines, cheering onlookers are known to make their feelings known.
In croquet, each player uses a mallet to hit a wooden ball at a stake and through a series of wire wickets. And the college that wins the best of five matches (played by teams of four) rules the rivalry. When it comes to the end game of "poison ball," things get even more interesting.
"Croquet is the one thing that levels the playing ground between us," said Riley Ossorgin, a senior player at St. John's College. "They don't want to get beat by pencil-necked intellectuals."
On the other hand, Ossorgin reflected, "They'll have cool-sounding jobs when they get out."
The captain of the Naval Academy croquet squad, Adam Todd, 22, confirmed the will to win at a practice earlier this week on the St. John's campus. He and other mallet-swingers clad in whites were free, or "at liberty," to leave the Yard, as the academy campus is called.
Characterizing the academy atmosphere as "controlled intensity," Todd said, "We definitely do play to win. We take our croquet very seriously. We always try to be the best, and we definitely bring that over here."
Todd, a senior from Georgia who is slated to become a naval flight officer, said the croquet team members come from one company but from all classes.
"This [game] is like physical chess," he said. "You have to know the terrain."
