AGGRESSION is not a word which immediately springs to mind when thinking about the game of croquet, but it is one of the surprising aspects I learned about during a recent introduction to the sport.

Speed, I discovered, is another unexpected element of a game generally thought of as a rather sedate, genteel pastime.

I soon revised my preconceptions about the sport after half an hour of coaching with Sam Curry at the Ripon Spa Hotel Croquet Club.

On a perfect summer morning, she gave me an energetic and informative crash course in the basics of golf croquet, one of two forms of the game. The other, association croquet, is apparently much slower and more tactical - a test match in cricketing terms as compared to golf croquet's one-day game.

As I arrived in a state of complete ignorance, Sam quickly explained the rules.

There are four coloured balls - two for each player - which must be played in sequence. The first to go plays with yellow and red, the other with blue and black.

The object is to hit your ball with the mallet through the six hoops on the court, again in a particular sequence. You score a point by being the first to get through a hoop, with the winner the first to seven hoops.

The basic technique is fairly simple and, as with golf, the key is keeping your head still once you've lined up the shot.

Sam complimented me on my 'stalking' of the ball, a rather unfortunate term which describes the way you set yourself up for a shot. Apparently, some people lose accuracy by neglecting this art.

Tactics play a big part, with knocking your opponent's ball out of the way or 'promoting' your own ball a legitimate element of the game.

After a while I started to connect with the ball properly, but Sam was hitting shots with an amazing combination of power and accuracy. The hoops are only fractionally wider than the balls, but she was knocking the ball through with deceptive ease.

I was still finding it difficult to hit the target from only a few feet away, so it came as quite a shock to us both when I knocked the ball through a hoop as clean as a whistle from a considerable distance. It was obviously beginner's luck, but suddenly I thought croquet might actually be a game I could play to a reasonable standard if I took the time to practice.

Sam also showed me the techniques used to play a stop shot - where the ball stops dead after knocking your opponent's out of position - and a jump shop - useful when your opponent has a ball blocking the hoop. I mastered this at only the second attempt and tried not to look too smug.

The croquet club at the hotel was founded around five years ago when Sam's mother, the managing director, decided it was time to make use of the lawns which had obviously been employed as croquet courts many years ago.

With the help of the Croquet Federation and coach Keith Smith, the club was soon up and running with 20 to 30 members. There are now just over 40, with ages ranging from 15 to over 80.

The club won the Yorkshire League last year and currently holds the Secretary's Shield for the top club in the country.

Sam herself, the hotel's general manager, learned to play the game at this time and has gone on to represent England on the international tournament circuit. Fellow club member Andrew Hutchinson has been ranked as high as fourth in Europe and 16th in the world.

But the acknowledged masters of the sport are the Egyptians. Their world champion, Khaled Younis, was part of the team which visited the Ripon Spa Hotel for the Yorkshire International Open recently, when players from all over the world competed for a first prize purse of £250.

With shots being hit at more than 40mph and 25-yard clearances being made, the event provided great entertainment for spectators.

For Sam, the game has many attractions. She said: "I love the precision and the tactics involved. It's very varied and keeps your mind active."

Croquet is also a game which is played on completely equal terms by both sexes.

But perhaps one of the biggest attractions is that croquet offers stimulation of mind and body to those not blessed with great athletic ability.

And it's amazing how much satisfaction you get from hitting a ball through a hoop which is only slightly wider than the ball