May 04, 2010

By Kelsey Lilley ‘12

Reprinted with permission from The Davidsonian, April 28, 2010

(l-r) Gilliland and Millard with their championship cup and mugs.

Mac Gilliland ’12 and Mark Millard ’12 recently traveled to Pennsylvania, where they won the Collegiate National Championship in Golf Croquet.

“The competition was intense, but we made it through,” Gilliland said. “All of our matches were close, including five wins by only one wicket. Mark’s go-for-it attitude and my experience at the tournament made a deadly combination.”

Gilliland began playing croquet his freshman year at Davidson, after being introduced to the sport by a friend. “His stories of national championships and infinite glory really inspired me to pursue it,” he said.

Millard, who has been playing for less than a year, was also introduced to the sport by friends. William Brown, director of the Alvarez College Union and longtime croquet mentor and coach, approached Millard and Gilliland about representing Davidson in the annual championship, and they have been practicing together since then.

Golf croquet is played with wickets which are wide enough to accommodate the ball with just about a dime-sized space on either side of it. The first ball through each wicket “wins” the wicket, and the team with the most wickets wins the game.

The championship was held near Philadelphia at the Merion Cricket Club in Haverford. Davidson won all five of Saturday’s round-robin style matches, which gave them third seed in Sunday’s matches.

Gilliland lines up a shot on the immaculate turf of the Merion Cricket Club.

On Sunday Gilliland and Millare battled three SUNY New Paltz teams before facing the US Naval Academy in the final match. They won every match on Sunday also to go 9-0 overall and win the championship.

“When Mark made the last wicket for the win, I could barely contain my excitement,” said Gilliland. “I felt like flying. This is probably one of the greatest moments of my life. It was awesome to go up there, go 9-0 and bring home the glory for good ol’ Davidson.”

Millard said he tried to stay focused on the “fun” aspect of the experience.? “Before the tournament started, both Mac and I said that no matter how well we did, we were going to try to enjoy ourselves. It just so happened that the more we won, the more fun we had!” he said. “The weather and the facilities were unbelievable, so that made it all the more exciting.”

Millard also cited his teammates’ positive attitude. “I give Mac a lot of credit because he was so steady and understanding throughout the whole tournament. I was basically shooting NBA three’s in every match, and would hit or miss by a lot. Mac stayed positive and kept a smile where a lot of other people might have gotten frustrated,” he said.

(l-r) Millard and Gilliland discuss strategy.

Davidson has a storied history with golf croquet. In 2006 David Orsbon ’09 and Douglas Clark-Brown ’09 won the same national championship.

Union Director William Brown, father of Douglas Clark-Brown, teaches the basics of croquet every year in a phys ed course. Millard encouraged all those interested in learning golf croquet to join Brown and other players on Smith Field.

“If the weather is nice, it’s just about the most relaxing sport there is,” he said. “It’s a really nice break from school and soccer for me—a way for me to really clear my head.”

Davidson is a highly selective independent liberal arts college for 1,800 students located 20 minutes north of Charlotte in Davidson, N.C. Since its establishment in 1837 by Presbyterians, the college has graduated 23 Rhodes Scholars and is consistently regarded as one of the top liberal arts colleges in the country. Through The Davidson Trust, the college became the first liberal arts institution in the nation to replace loans with grants in all financial aid packages, giving all students the opportunity to graduate debt-free. Davidson competes in NCAA athletics at the Division I level, and a longstanding Honor Code is central to student life at the college. ###