New Years Polo

We'll be out at the courts as usual this Sunday (first and third Sundays) so come along and work off some of that xmas feast food.
The day should be warm (unlike Melbourne above) so bring along some sunscreen and plenty of beverages. I think it's a given that we'll migrate to the/a pub after for a debrief and general good time.

Sunday Polo

Another successful afternoon of polo was had by all this Sunday. We started the day grabbing a late breakfast at Nano's (and perving on some lovely fixed gear machines - although unfortunately their riders weren't keen on joining us for some mallet on mallet action). After some food and a much needed coffee we rolled down to the courts to commence play.

It was good to see most of the regular crowd in attendance, great to welcome Damon who was over from Melbourne, and even better to have a couple of first timers out having a hit. Not to mention the sizable number of spectators later in the afternoon :-)

The games followed the standard 3 vs 3 for most of the afternoon - until a one sided match was reshuffled into a 4 vs 2 format, which soon became 4 vs 3, and then 5 vs 3, before it degraded into a hectic polo free-for-all.

After the madness we retreated from the heat and took shelter at the Exeter to compare cuts from chainrings, bruises from mallets, and scrapes from tires over a healing beer (or two).

We'll be having a break from Wednesday evening Polo for the Holiday period, so the next Polo fix will be on Sunday the 3rd of January. See you all in the new year!

Polo at the Markets

We had a pretty meagre turnout for the inaugural Wednesday night polo at the markets, which is understandable as it was quite a last minute event. As Tom mentioned below it was a great location with perfect layouts for 2 on 2 and full court games, full lighting and a pretty decent view over the city.



We're trying out the weekly games to satisfy the fellow polo freaks so come along next week for some more mallet swinging fun!

Wednesday Night Polo - Success!

Despite a relatively small turnout Wednesday night went off.

The location is perfect; central, close to food, undercover with an excellent surface and lighting, and out of the way enough that we're not disturbing anyone :-)

The area allows for two court configurations, a short court perfect for 2v2 matches, and a longer court better suited to the standard 3v3 matches.

We played a couple of matches in each configuration as well as a game of kenball. (pics to come shortly)

We'll be out again next Wednesday (the 16th), so come and join us at 6:30pm for some Dumplings or 7pm upstairs for some polo.

Wednesday Night Polo

We're going to try out some mid-week polo, starting tonight! (Wednesday the 9th).

We'll meet at the Dumpling King on Moonta St in Chinatown between 6-6:30 for some pre-game dumplings, and then roll upstairs to the market car park (top north west corner) at around 7pm to play.

We have a few locations we can try, so if the first proves unsuitable for whatever reason we'll leave instructions on how to get to the next spot in chalk.

edit: fixed the date :-)

Nationals Roundup

Polo is on this Sunday, 6th, same time and place.

Last weekend two Adelaide teams + supporters traveled to Melbourne for the Australian Hardcourt Bike Polo Champs, The Beaumont Children and Ivan Mallet. The event was excellent despite the intermittent downpours and occasional dispute. The original plan for each team to play the other 17 teams seemed achievable at the outset but by 4pm, after only 5 or 6 rounds, everyone was scratching their soaking scalps as to how we were going to get through the tournament in two days.

Sunday resumed with a re-organised Double Elimination tournament with the previous days results used for seeding the draw. A team could lose once but a second loss meant and end to the tournament for them.
Both The Beaumont Children and Ivan Mallet found their form and played through the morning showers for about 5 games each. After lunch both teams were dispatched, Ivan Mallet by Meat + 2 Veg of Melbourne and The Beaumont kids by Castlemaine. As a result both of our teams finished 5th equal. Awesome stuff guys!

Meat and 2 Veg went on to win the tournament, beating the international team Scheisse Katze.
The prize booty was exceptional with generous gifts from Velocity, Knog, Crumpler, Skin Grows Back etc.

The Beaumont Children were Stephen, Andrew and Morgan (from Oakland, California)
Ivan Mallet were Tom, Dan and Neil.
Steph and Sam (from Oakland CA) played in the last minute team The Good Ovary Times with Bec from Melbourne

The full results are at www.bikepolo.com.au


Photos from the event are in the public pool

http://www.flickr.com/groups/ahbpc09/pool/

If you have photos of the event you can add your 15 best to the pool.


A note on comments on this blog: Comments are great and really appreciated but if you need to ask me a question or get hold of me with more reliability then send an email to bikepolo.adelaide{@t}gmail.com

See you all Sunday!

Polo Postponed

OK, so they are now forecasting 40 degrees for Sunday. (Last time I checked it was 28)

Polo will be postponed until the following Sunday if the weather has cooled down by then.

See you at the beach.

Sunday is ONE LESS HORSE day

Polo is on this Sunday back at the Wakefield Road courts. The gate has been unlocked, free, legal access for all!
2pm as usual.

Just watch out for the horses doing the cross country event. Wakefield Road will be closed. You may have to follow the directions of the course marshals to get access to the polo court.
Slogan for the day: “ONE LESS HORSE!”

This will also be our last game of November and also the last game day before the Nationals in Melbourne. We have quite a contingent traveling across with at least one team and quite a few supporters/substitutes. It looks like the tournament is going to be huge. It is well supported with sponsors and prizes are likely to be very generous.
Check out www.bikepolo.com.au for more details

It’s still not too late to enter teams so if you are keen let me know. It would be great to have at least two teams there. Entries close and the end of next week.

If you can think of any good team names then fire them back. Good names are clever or “rock star”, sometimes smutty or innuendo laced. If there is a “best team name” prize and we win it the prize is yours if you go or not.


See you Sunday,

Another New Location

For the last 4 weeks the courts that we usually play on have been locked by the city council in preparation for resurfacing. I am reluctant to keep playing there while they are still locked. Ultimately, I would like to push polo forward in legitimacy with the council and I believe by playing on a locked area we compromise that.
However, there is a another location that is just as convenient and may offer us a bit more space.

This Sunday, 1st Nov, we will trial the public courts behind Adelaide High School west of West Terrace

These multipurpose courts have a fence that will act as an edge and our portable edging will still work here. Grass and shade just outside the court gate.
This Sunday is also the first official event of Adelaidecyclists.com so we can expect a few more visitors and new players.
Bring your sunscreen and beverages, it could be a warm one.
See you there.

DIY Polo

As per usual, polo is on this Sunday. Unfortunately I wont be there to bring the edging down to set it up.
But there is a solution! The edging, goal cones, ball and spare mallets will be available to pick up from Riley's house. 224 Frome Street, in the city.


View Polo Store. in a larger map

A car can be useful to help shift it but, I am sure, with enough hands to help, it can be moved the 400 metres to the courts without much hassle.
I recommend that for a 2 o'clock start you should probably meet to pick it up around 1:30.

Setting up is pretty straight forward. Place the edging closer to the "tennis court" lines to give the basket-ballers some space. The short "legs" are cable-tied in between the "pairs". To pack up you will need a small screwdriver or pocket knife to undo the ties without cutting them. Undo the "legs" and the "pairs" will fold in half. There is no need to disassemble each joint. Return the edging to the above address. And make sure the ball is accounted for! It's the only one I have got.

Have fun, go hard! See you for the following game day.

Thats Sharp

The Australian National Hardcourt Bike Polo Championships 2009 have been announced. In brief, it is being hosted by the Melbourne crew on the 28th - 29th November. Check the full details at

www.bikepolo.com.au/nationals/

The organisers have asked me approximately how many teams will be travelling so that they can organise the draw and accommodation. If you are interested in going please email me ASAP (ayesep). bikepolo.adelaide{at}gmail.com Now is the time to form a team for the champs.

Hard Rubbish Heads Up: Some of the eastern suburbs around Kensington, Heathpool etc. have their heaps on the roadside. If it's anything like last time there should be plenty of free bikes and bits if you're quick.

Be sure to check out www.adelaidecyclists.com for all things that are good and cycling in and around Adelaide without being discipline specific. I should have a Bikepolo group on there shortly.

Our next game is this Sunday, 6th. The next one will be the on the 20th.

See you there!

Time to sharpen up

Bike polo is going off in Adelaide! We have now played twice at the new venue with the full edging. This has improved game play remarkably and turnout has been really great. Sweeeet!

So polo is on this Sunday at 2pm as usual. See the map in the previous post for the location if you havent been. Bring your bike, mallets provided.

I still have a few mallet heads and shafts for people to grab. Also have some more skipoles for $2 each. Strong and light.

Standby for an announcement regarding the Australian Bike Polo Championship Tournament...

It doesnt rain in Adelaide...

...until it pours! Great for growing grass but we dont play the grass variety, too many rules.

It has put a dampener on the turnout for games and that is hardly suprising. As such I think for the next few cold winter months we will only play one once a month on either the first or second week.
So our next game is scheduled for the 5th of July at 2pm at a new location.

Yes, thats right, a new location. The Gawler Place carpark is a great place to play until someone parks their car. It would be nice to have a place that has good edging, is close to the city and will reliably be available on Sundays.
I introduce to you the Multi-use courts, Wakefield Street, East Parklands.


These courts have two basketball courts in the centre and unused tennis courts either side. The easternmost court has edging on the ends and side. The surface is painted ashpalt with some degree of cracking but nothing dangerous. All we need is some portable edging to complete the fourth side. This should be a great court for flowing games.

See you there on the 5th!

We're Still Here

For no excuse other than laziness the site has been a bit quiet for a couple of months. However, polo in Adelaide has been going well with fantastic rambling games held on the first and third Sundays the last couple of months. We have been scorched, blasted and soaked but the level of skill is streets ahead of where we were.

This next Sunday, being the first in April, polo will be played at 2pm. The Gawler Street location has been a great central meeting spot so there are even less excuses for not coming along to watch or play.

Polo Postponed

Its no use whinging about the heat, this is summer in Australia. What did you expect?

But its fair to say that playing polo in 40+ is a bit daft, hence we shall wait until next Sunday (8th) and hopefully things will have cooled down abit.

(right, time to find some air conditioning)

Neil.

New Location, Game on Sunday

From this Sunday we will begin playing on the 1st and 3rd Sundays of each month. Unless otherwise stated games will begin at 2pm. We will also be playing at our New Location, (parked car permitting), This parking area is on Gawler Place about halfway between Flinders and Pirie Streets on the west side. Hard to miss.

Unfortunatley I wont be playing this Sunday, but Bonnie and hopefully Damon from Melbourne will be there to show you how its played.

Bring your mallets!

Happy New Year

Bike polo is on this Sunday, 2pm, Edwards Park

Free mallet giveaway at the end of the game.

Afterwards we can head to the Tour Down Under street race circuit, the race begins at 7pm, Rymill Park (east side of the city).

It would be really good to play some bike polo over near the circuit but I don't know of any venues. The exposure to hundreds if not thousands of cycling spectators would be huge.

I wonder if Lance would have a crack.