News from all over - West Palm Beach

Played with colored soccer balls that are kicked instead of hit and jumbo-sized wickets, the hybrid soccer and croquet game is called Toequet. Another version using standard croquet mallets has been dubbed Malletball.

"I think of it as an extreme form of croquet," said Bob Alman, former manager at the National Croquet Center and editor of a croquet magazine. "I think the super-size, the extreme factor, helps take away a little bit of the wimp."

Schools, recreation departments, clubs and even a juvenile hall have already purchased sets of the balls and wickets Alman helps promote. And he has taken to staging games at and around the West Palm Beach croquet center, billed as the world's largest. Beginning in March, he will take Malletball on the road, giving free lessons everywhere from the beach to a banyan grove.

At the croquet center, the basic rules go this way: teams of two alternate turns kicking or knocking their ball through the wickets. The first person through the wicket gets a point for the team, and the whole group moves on to the next.

Janet Catalano, who played Malletball several weeks later with a group of adults said she enjoyed the sport. But Catalano, who came wearing earrings with balls the colors used in croquet, was not ready to give up the traditional game.

"My choice is still the standard croquet," she said.
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