About Jiminy Wicket
Jiminy Wicket is the brainchild of James Creasey. Ten years ago when his father, Maxwell Creasey, exhibited signs of vascular dementia after suffering a mild stroke, he needed to find a new way to connect. The old ways were no longer possible.
Where there had been conversation and exchange of ideas, there was silence and confusion. Speaking in whole sentences had become too difficult. Golf had gone… too precise. Ping pong… too fast. Scrabble, chess and crosswords were all too complicated. But on a family trip to the Nare Hotel on the clifftops of Cornwall, James discovered renewed connection with his father during a game of croquet. It didn’t matter that he had dementia. He smiled… frequently. He chuckled… There was recognition and joy in his eyes. There was… connection. Returning home, James left behind a croquet set at his father’s house so the extended family could enjoy connecting with “Poppa”.
A year later, James created Jiminy Wicket®, a Colorado non-profit organization, to play croquet with people living with Alzheimer’s disease and to train others to do the same. Jiminy Wicket has won awards for its innovative work on both sides of the Atlantic, and today is branching out to bring this powerful, inclusive and simple way to play into the world of Special Olympics.
Proceeds from these fabulous trips will help to fund our next step…
Play is our passion. Croquet is our game. Travelling with us supports our mission.
Our Purpose
We create inclusion and friendships through the power of play, for people of all ages and abilities. Jiminy Wicket has, in fact, played croquet with people from 129 countries, from 3yrs old to 103yrs old, some using walkers or wheelchairs. They all go home with a pocketfull of smiles.
Since 2010, Jiminy Wicket® has run more than 450 weekly croquet sessions for the Colorado Chapter of the Alzheimer’s Association, and trained and equipped more than 2,500 school students to play croquet with the residents of senior communities in the US and the UK.
Moving forward, Jiminy Wicket® is branching out in 2023 to train and equip high school and middle school students to play Special Olympics Unified Croquet with their peers who have intellectual disabilities. Their metric is s.p.h!®… smiles per hour! Over the next three years Jiminy Wicket intends to bring croquet to 500 of the 6,500 Unified Champion public schools across America who already partner with Special Olympics.
Our Plan
PHASE 1: We have demonstrated proof of concept over a 10 year period in CT, RI, CO and UK.
PHASE II: We will install our program at 10 Unified Champion Schools on artificial turf in CT, RI, TN and FL.
PHASE III: We will create the Jiminy Wicket Croquet Academy (state to state 1 day trainings), expand to 50 Unified Champion Schools in CT, RI, TN and FL, and host the first Jiminy Wicket Regional Champions Cup.
PHASE IV: We will expand to 500 Unified Champion Schools across the US and host the first Jiminy Wicket National Champions Cup with national brand sponsors.
Our mission is to create a million smiles!
On Building Community
What People are Saying
