croquetwade:~$ whoami_

CroquetWade

I'm Wade Hart. I work with the Croquet Association of Queensland to bring new players into the game, and to take the paperwork off the volunteers who keep it running.

talk to hello@croquetwade.com ⏎
Wade Hart, waving
$ whoami
Wade Hart. I live in Brisbane and I work on growing croquet. The Croquet Association of Queensland is my main client: I run their advertising, build their systems, and take on the club jobs that are hardest to find a volunteer for. I work as one half of a pair. The other half is an AI assistant called CroquetClaude, which does most of the building under my direction.
$ what am I trying to achieve

More people playing croquet, and less time lost to admin by the people who already do.

Nearly every club has the same two problems: not enough new members, and too much paperwork landing on too few shoulders. Everything I build attacks one of those. The advertising and the Come & Try system bring new players to the lawn. The membership records, newsletters, meeting minutes and grant searches take work off the committee, so the members who run the club get their evenings back.

$ why are there two websites

Because you should always know who you're dealing with.

This site is mine. What's written here, I wrote, and when you email me, I answer. My AI assistant has its own site at croquetclaude.com. What's written there, the AI wrote and I checked. Two names, two sites, and never any doubt about which of us said what.

$ ideals
  • Enjoy croquet. Whatever you're doing as a player, volunteer, coach or referee, enjoy it with enthusiasm.
  • Keep it simple. Outcomes over complexity. Do less admin and play more croquet.
  • Hit our aims. Purposeful decisions. What positive outcome will this bring? Do things that advance croquet.
  • Cooperate for croquet. Tolerance is expected. Not all people get along, but well mannered people can cope with that. We are here to enjoy croquet.

the ideals and the six aims →

$ what has been built

Everything on this list is running for Queensland croquet today. None of it is a plan or a mock-up, and none of it needs a club to have a "computer person" to use it.

  • # strengthen admin and internal operations
  • myCroquet The member platform for Queensland croquet: a small permanent core — passwordless login, your own details — carrying self-contained modules for handicaps, events, club admin and committee voting. Each module is visible only to the people it serves — a member sees a quiet little site, a secretary sees membership tools, a committee member sees the decision register. Each person's myCroquet is exactly as large as their responsibilities, and no larger.
  • Membership system The statewide member list: who belongs to which club, kept current. For the association and every club. It gives one accurate list instead of a spreadsheet per club.
  • Document storage A club's constitution, policies and minutes kept in one place. For club committees. The documents survive the secretary's laptop.
  • Meeting transcription Record a committee meeting and receive structured notes. For club secretaries. It gives minutes without an evening at the keyboard.
  • MyCroquet ecosystem wiki A public reference gathering every MyCroquet module in one place. For clubs, committees and anyone wanting to see how MyCroquet fits together. The whole ecosystem, factually explained, kept current as modules change.
  • # promote croquet externally
  • News site The public news home for Queensland croquet, structured for search. For anyone following the game, and clubs wanting their stories carried. Club news reaches past the clubhouse noticeboard.
  • Newsroom A submission and editing desk with an approval step. For volunteers who write, and the editors who check. Anyone can submit; nothing publishes unreviewed.
  • Share tool Dictate a match report or upload photos from the lawn; the voice-to-text knows croquet terms. For players and club reporters. It gives a match report without the retyping.
  • Newsletters Email newsletters assembled from the news site, sorted by member postcode. For members; each club can also send its own. News arrives sorted by where the reader lives.
  • CroquetTV The video home: matches, coaching and club footage. For players and clubs. Croquet video in one place, not scattered across personal accounts.
  • Gala day pipeline A club submits a gala day once. For clubs running events. The article, the email campaign and the flyer follow from that one submission.
  • # grow and engage members
  • Come & Try One sign-up website covering every Queensland club, matched by postcode, with SMS reminders and a follow-up email sequence. For people deciding to try croquet, and the clubs that receive them. It gives a shared front door; no club needs to run its own page.
  • Advertising Paid social campaigns for player recruitment, tracked from the ad to the sign-up. For associations that need new members. It gives a measured cost per new player, not a guess.
  • # support clubs
  • Club websites A website built for a club from a short discovery conversation and a set of templates. For clubs without a webmaster. It gives a current website with no volunteer required to maintain it.
  • Committee wiki Governance, legal, insurance and role guides for club committees. For secretaries, presidents and treasurers. The answer exists before the crisis does.
  • ClubHub A forum connecting club committees across the state. For committee members. Clubs learn from each other instead of working alone.
  • Grants portal Grants indexed with application help and the local contacts for each club's area. For clubs seeking funding. The grant search is already done.
  • # develop skilled play
  • World rankings World croquet rankings integrated with grade-over-time charts. For competitive players and selectors. It gives a player their history in one chart.
  • Handicap system Handicap submission and tracking with trend charts; large movements are flagged. For players and handicappers. It gives handicaps with a paper trail.
  • Tactics & commentary corpus Match commentary recorded, transcribed and indexed, with the tactical advice extracted; includes a written notation for recording play. For players studying the game, and coaches. Tactical knowledge that lived in commentators' heads, made searchable.
  • Coaching courses in development Online training courses for coaches and referees. For associations facing a coaching and refereeing shortage. Accreditation that doesn't wait for a face-to-face weekend.
  • Bamford simulator A playable croquet physics simulator with a practice opponent. For anyone curious, and players preparing for competition. Play on a screen; study tactics against an engine.
$ how I can help your association

Queensland is where I work day to day, but the problems are the same in every state and every sport run by volunteers. If any of this sounds like your association, write to me.

  • Membership & participation growth Analysis of who you have now and a plan to grow it.
  • Marketing & communications How an association reaches new people on a volunteer budget.
  • Websites & online presence A look at what people find when they search for you, and a fix that doesn't need a volunteer webmaster to maintain.
  • Grant application support Finding the right funding source and writing a competitive application.
  • Governance review An independent look at board structures, practices and documents, with findings in writing.
  • Strategic planning A structured process that ends in a plan the organisation actually uses.
  • Event & tournament operations Planning, risk and volunteer coordination for a significant event.
  • Player, referee & coaching pathway design A structured progression from beginner to accredited.

talk it over: hello@croquetwade.com

$ writing

all writing →  ·  Substack

$ contact
hello@croquetwade.com. An email is the right way to start, and I answer them myself.