Today is a beautiful day!

Sunday Sunday Sunday

FYI - I will be up at Lake Austin celebrating my nephews 1st birthday this afternoon. I don't know when I'll be done with all that, but I may not be out to polo today until later! So come out and get it started yourselves, you know where the cones are, just don't steal anything... ha.

There are several out of towners still here and wanting to play some polo! I am sadly still without my polo bike, the bike polo fairy didn't return it last night like I hoped, so when I do show up, expect me to be getting drunk!

Also, there is a small reward for my bike if returned! won't be much and won't be cash, but I would like to show my appreciation!

3,2,1, POLO

MISSING!!!

maruishii frame, 26" velocity chukker wheels 48h milwuakee hubs, bike polo stickers all over, distinct pink grips, rear brake mounted to left side, seat is all torn up, sugino road cranks, with black platform pedals with purple holdfast straps!! the tires are 26x2.2something and all worn down from skidding... and there's a white industries 22 freewheel on the wheel

Let's see what happens...

Ok folks, click this link and take a look around, tell me what you think, if you are more familiar with this type of thing, let me know...

http://atxbpsc.ning.com/

more will be updated as we all do it...

3,2,1, POLO

river city

So, I know you all already saw this when Mo posted it up the other day, but we should really start thinking about it. This will be a friendly tournament to hopefully get as many of the South Central clubs together as possible... our friends in CO and WY probably won't make it, but everyone else will, hopefully. Also, this is relatively close to the Midwest, so several of those clubs will come down, COMO, STL, and probably some others. If you haven't been to a tourney and have some free time this weekend, I would highly recommend going to this. The drive is only 8.5 hours and would be relatively cheap with a full car or two.

I know as of now, there are 5-6 of us going, so we have possibly two teams already. It would be awesome to go with more!! So if you are thinking about coming to this, start talking to some others and get a team going, if you can't fill out a full team there are likely going to be some extras at the tournament who won't have a team. Click on the image to go to the discussion page on The League of Bike Polo...

3,2,1, GO

It's a kite day!

Hey Everyone, it's Sunday if you didn't already know, and it's going to be a wonderful day today! I'll be out at Eastwoods at 2 0'clock, if you're not doing anything come on out and let's get started.

Also, if you didn't know today is Zilker Park's Annual Kite festival. It starts at 10 a.m. and goes until 5 p.m. I am going to run down there around noon to check it out just before polo, if you south siders want to meet up there and then we can all ride back up to polo together, that would be so CUTE!

holla!

3,2,1, POLO

Just saw this for some reason...

So from what I understand, the Polo tournament will be April 3rd and 4th, it will be limited to 16 teams, and also from what I can tell, most of those teams will be from Colorado and New Mexico... if anyone is feeling up for a 15 hour drive to meet some really cool kids in ABQ and possibly see Derek again, go for it and represent well. I don't think I'll be making this trip, although it sounds like a blast, and I'd love to see our CO and NM friends again! Click the image above to go to the Cranks505 blogsite, or click here to go to the tourney page on league of bike polo!

RiverCity Rumble: Little Rock, AK

Who is planning, really truly honestly, planning on going to this friendly little tournament April 10th and 11th? I was not originally because I have been taking so much time off of work, but asit draws near, I want to go! I cant now go to tournaments that are relatively close by! Every tournament is an oppurtunity to grow as a player and dangit, I wanna grow!

Who is in? What teams are going? Who needs a team? How are people getting there?

That is all for now. See yall Thursday.
xo, mo

Day of Tues.....

I always forget to post this up sooner, I guess I expect that you all know this info by now! Be at Joslin Park on this BEAUTIFUL day for some amazing Bike Polo action!

Since no one has been coming out to Tuesday Midnight Polo, I won't be out at the Capitol... but if you do want to meet up, if you all can't get enough at Joslin, and don't have to work early, let me know, I'm always down to play somewhere, we can find a good spot for sure! Just post a comment here or on facebook, I don't care, I'll check it, and we can set it up!

Just got this in the mail...

*UPDATE: THIS IS NOT HAPPENING AT THE DOBIE, IT WILL INSTEAD TAKE PLACE AT THE COLDTOWNE THEATER ON AIRPORT!

From Revphil:

"yo, Ill be traveling thru Austin in 5 days. Hope to catch your Tue AND Thur night games.

On Wednesday we are planing on showing our amazingly sexy bike movies. There are multiple polo references besides a naked polo match in Seattle.

so now you know"

POLO BIKE STOLEN: KEEP ON THE LOOKOUT!

Hey everyone,

My polo bike was stolen last night. It was sitting out on avenue f and 46th st. For those of you who haven't seen it, as long as the wheel covers are on it, it stands out pretty well. If you happen to see it around town feel free to kick the crap eagle ridding it in the head or at least just call me and let me know. 281-898-8534.

Thanks,

Kevin King Beahan

Facebook Note/Conversation

Full results from SESPI 2

SESPI TWO
1st Knight Clown aka Knight Owl (dustin, evan, julian)(seattle)
2nd Ian (chris roberts, ian, alexis, lefty joe)(nyc, rva, ottawa, chicago)
3rd Golden Girls (kremin, alexis, ben schultz) (mke, ottawa, chicago)
4th Ride Dirty, Live Clean (Hugo, Pierre, Guthrie) (paris & mke)
5th - JailBait (matt hewitt, burge, bri bri) (mke)
Amandaconda & the Cabana Boys (amanda, leon, seabass) (seattle)
7th- Hymen (miguel, charlie, rob) (atx & buffalo)
Carpet Baggers (Joe, Michael, Jared) (st pete, Dc, Sarasota)
9th- Birdie (matt lane, birdie, lefty joe) (chicago)
Polo Furies (jared, jason, seth) (ftl)
Palin (Elise, Pelan, Kristina) (austin)
Blame it on Ryan aka Ryans Crack (Chombo, Meg & Shane) (dc, nyc)
13th- Joshua Michael Mayes and the Anal Bleaders (ab, paul, mickey)
Butcher Baker and Seattle (Johan, Mike, Aaron) (dc & seattle)
Calgary (Justin, Dylan, Eric)
Brostache (seattle)
17th- Lexslie (Chris, Jared, Leslie) (lex & seattle)
Polo Murder (seattle)
Tally (justin, danny, Ryler)
Abe (brian, greg, abe) (chicago)
Slayers (Jas, Kayla, Pep Pep) (portland, rva)
Busted out Flip Flops (Jeremy, Tony, Sauls) (pcola)
Fast Molasses Nugs (John Lennon, Jace, Marco) (nola, pcola, dc)
Thundersnow (Arlyn, Jessica, Eric) (DC)
Silverfish (Ann, JJ, Andy) (jax, sav)
26th - Frazer (Frazer, Keifer, Drew)
Itsy Bitsy (Cec, Fiona, Danielle) (pdx, nyc, nola)
Boner Jamz (Sam, Keli, Kristi an) (ftl)
Pandzig (Jef, Johnny Crash, Cris) (nola, ottawa, philly)
Cherri (Joe,Thomas, Cherri) (jax)
Fiery Cougs (will, Lando, Russel) (nola)
Mo (Jasime, Mo, Bill) (austin, nola)
Oleha (Oleha, chris, sub) (ottawa)
34th- Sumpen Sumpen (Jacques, Liz, Britney) (mob, sav)
TUBA (andy, Travis, Dustin) (brolo)
Porch (Porch, Todd, David) (molo, brolo)
Troy (Travis, Colin, Troy) (brolo, tally)

interesting to note only one South Eastern team made it in the top 10. Way to go Polo Furies!

THURSDAY POLO YO!

POLO PICS FROM THIS PASST WEEKEND IN PCOLA!

*edit by rob, this is my favorite picture, team Hymen, I'm Back, Again... click the images

We're back from BPSB-OTEN....

Well folks, we're back from SESPI, it's been a crazy weekend, lots off great polo, lots of great people, and plenty of good times. If you want a re-cap of the whole week long bike polo spring break, go talk to Mo about all the shenanigans that took place. This weekend Miguel, Jasmine, Israel, Kristina, Elise and myself met up with Mo and Charlie in Pensacola Beach along with teams from Canada, Seattle, New York, D.C., Paris, FTL, PCola, Nola, Richmond, and probably some other places I can't remember now. The weekend wasn't without problems, but I won't focus on those, overall I think we all had a great time, met up with tons of polo buds, played tons of good polo, saw the whitest beaches in the world, ate a lot of junk, drank a lot of beer, got sun and wind burned in cold and warm weather. There were great prizes, raffles, and parties all over the place.

I think there were around 40 teams present, Austin repped with 2 & 2/3 of a team. Mo and Jasmine played with a guy named Bill from NOLA. Kristina and Elise played with Israel, and Miguel, Charlie and I repped Team Hymen, I'm Back, again. Our teams did relatively well considering the extreme competition at this tournament. Team Hymen I'm back finished in the top ten, and our other two teams advanced pretty far into the tournament, beating some teams not expecting to get beat by our ladies, way to go gals and Israel!!! Y'all rock!

I've been talking so much polo lately I'm a bit tired of it... ha, NOT!!!!

We got a lot to work on y'all if we want to compete with some of these clubs. But don't worry, we are already better off then most

Miguel told me he took over 1300 pictures from the weekend, so expect to see those soon. I took a few:







come ask us about it all, there's way to much to say on the internetz.... and get ready to see some new tricks and some new strategies!!!!

Via Jason @ ATXBS:

"Today is the usual Sunday Bike Polo out at Eastwoods Park, but this time around there's going to be NOTHING usual about it. The pros are out of town at the tourneys so us amateurs get to work on some skill development without being slaughtered all day long, the weather is sunny and warm, and because we fucking felt like we we decided that we're going to have a BBQ! Show up at 2pm polo time (2:45-3pm for real time) to get in on some playing, I'll be showing up shortly thereafter to begin making with the grub...

As for the whys and wherefors of the BBQ, here it is: It's a beautiful February day in Texas, so what better way to enjoy it than with some friendly bloodshed and the roasting of raw meet over open fires? I'm pitching in for a lot of sausage, 2 lbs of chicken and some tortillas. There's going to be charcoal and some chips and shit also provided, but if you guys want more than that you need to swing by somewhere and bring it! Don't leave me hanging here, lets have a spread of some tasty shit. Veggie food and sides are appreciated, beer is REALLY appreciated, and if you had a bottle of liquor kicking around you'd be my best friend. I'm taking a short drinking break but today's my last day to imbibe. Humor me."

Poloschlaeger

Poloschlaeger

Posted using ShareThis

Check this out, these are some high quality mallets being produced in Germany, simple and creative. It would cost a lot to have it shipped here, too much for me to have any interest, but if any of you guys out there with good jobs and expendable income, you should order one or two so we can all marvel at your amazing polo mallet...

Como Play Polo!

Where: Eastwoods Park
When: 5:30pm
Why: What better things do you have to do?

No midnight polo tonight....

I know not enough of you will show up, so I'll save the trouble for the few that would...

Let's enjoy the cold weather another way tonight!

See y'all Thursday!

Come Play Polo!

Tuesdays @ 5 - Joslin Park

Thursdays @ 5:30 - Eastwoods Park

Sundays @ 3:30 - Eastwoodes Park

...

MAN! Polo was fun yesterday folks, I had a great time! I wish we could of had more teams out to play some league games, some of you guys haven't even played a single game yet, ??? , I suppose they will get done when they get done, if you all want them to get done...

All the new faces was amazing, and all the spectators, hopefully, we can get you all to play soon! Here is the schedule for this week, come out and have fun. If you meet up on another day, let everyone else know so they can come out too!

Tuesday Polo Southside 5:00 pm Joslin Park
Midnight Polo at the Capitol at, well, Midnight!

Thursday Polo at Eastwoods Park 5:30 pm

Sunday Polo at Eastwoods Park 2-3 ish pm

This weekend, I will be gone, with Miguel, Jasmine, Israel, and Casey,... we are going to Pensacola for the South East Side Polo Invite, SESPI, which will be the end of Bike Polo Spring Break, which Mo and Charlie are at now, having a good time no doubt!

Sunday!

Hardcourt bike polo
2 p.m.
Eastwoods Park

Mallet Build

FYI. I will be bringing down my drill, bits, etc. to help Nick build some mallets. If anyone else wants to bring out materials to build mallets you are more than welcome to use my tools while I am out there. ~Cyrus

...

TODAY

HARDCOURT BIKE POLO

5:30 P.M

EASTWOODS PARK

3,2,1, POLO

Derek Brings the Ruckus to Albuquerque

I just got an update from our very own death polo maniac. The relocation and life changes hasn't slowed down the man in purple leopard pants. Looks like he has found his polo niche in Albuquerque. Check out his new ideas for Death Polo comic strip!

"since i can't seem to find the environment here..i regret not doing the death polo with flashpots and flames and metal at eastwoods where we can get away with it...i'm playing polo thurs and sun here........remember "heavy metal" magazine? before anime?, i am going to submit a death polo episode. i'm sketching death polo comic book now.
still no girls..making flyers and putting them on bikes tomorrow UNM area....i'll get a team together to come to austin and kick your asses. it will be me and two girls like wendy and lisa from prince...yes, my friend...new lithium batt on the way, so i can use my camcorder again..damn i miss ya'll! ~Derek

Bike Polo Spring Break and SouthEastSide Polo Invitational Tournament

I know I will be going to Pensacola for the entire week of spring break leading up to the SESPI tournament on the weekend of Feb 27-28. I have paid for my spot in a house that is very very full already with like every single person who will be there for the week.
Frazer from Mobile started a thread on leagueofbikepolo.com for housing specifically on the weekend and the one house is full and there are still extra people without housing (like 6 from Jacksonville or Tallahasse or somewheres...) so Ryan thinks whoever from Austin (Rob? Miguel? Annie? Jasmine? Casey?) should join forces with these leftover floridians and git yourselves a house yall! its not hard. Its not expensive. The people in Frazer's house are each paying a total of $30-$35 for two nights.
Go to this thread. Get in to action. Get yoursleves a roof to sleep under. Woohoo!!!

...

I'm gonna go out there tonight, be there if you want to play some polo...

This week!

Yesterday was awesome. There were several league games that took place, thanks teams for showing up, and plenty of pick-up, or at least until that wonderful wind came and blew us all away. I am so tired today, I can't believe it. All that polo love!

From our group outing last night after polo, several of us thought that we should just play polo everyday of the week! So, if anyone wants to play some polo, just let people know, come by my house, get the cones, go play polo, then bring my cones back to my house! I would like to stress bringing the cones back to my house, you all should never go home with my cones, just so other people can use them when they want to. ya dig!? This would be a good way to get in some of those league game we're all lagging behind on...

On another polo note, it was also suggested doing an earlier morning weekday polo day. Probably Monday or Wednesday and probably from 10-2 or something like that. Would anyone be interested in this. Who would be able to come and who would actually come!?

Also, this Tuesday, if anyone wants to meet up at midnight and get guerrilla polo going again, I'll be out there with my stuff, so come meet me up at the Capitol at Midnight on Tuesday and we'll go find a spot to play!

Tuesday Southside Polo will happen down at Joslin, like always, 5:30 is the time.

This weekend, well, I'll post on that later!

Next week is the Bike Polo Spring Break...

Sunday is...

....corporate love day! I mean Valentines Day! Come love bike polo and let's play around a bit, you and I and all our friends.... bring your shafts, I'll bring my balls... ladies don't be afraid to grab a shaft if you don't have one...

If the weather is nice, I'll probably be out there earlier!

**EDIT: COME PLAY POLO SATURDAY!

Bring Your Cold Weather Gear and We'll Bring The Ruckus!

The Ruckus will be at Eastwoods at 5:30pm regardless of the weather. Don't stay home, brave the cold and rain and come play polo! Let's get some league games on. If it's raining really hard we can decide if we want to head over to the covered court at Alamo Park just a short distance away (see post below for directions). Rich will be bringing out the boards around 6:30 so we will have an enclosed court at either location.
~Cyrus

Thursday February 11th

It's cold and rainy, if you guys want to come by and pick up the cones, they are outside. Goodluck!

If anyone wants to play this Saturday or early on Sunday, let me know! Ciao!

If it ain't rainin'....

... there will be some pick up going on at Eastwoods after 4 p.m. today.

some new videos....

Chicago vs Milwaukee from Mr.Do on Vimeo.

GreifMasters 2010 Bikepolo from Uolmo on Vimeo.

Rolling Hoods on tour - Toulouse - Bike Polo from mapple on Vimeo.

This is how we roll ! - Grenoble Bike Polo from Thibault Liebenguth on Vimeo.

Not that I need to...

but I'll post it...

Big Game Sunday Polo, Pizza Party

I know most of the ATXBPSC members are not the biggest football fans, but I also know that after a long afternoon of polo we can scarf down free pizza and beer faster than a bunch of stoned Ninja Rurtles.

If the prospect of lots of home-made gourmet wood-fired pizza is enough to get you within a few meters of a 47" HDTV for the Super Bowl tomorrow night after polo at Eastwoods, Rich has invited everyone to celebrate with him and watch the game at his place.

Full details are on Facebook

From his description:

I will have:
dough and various topping for pizza
A keg of some beer. sorry no home made beer :(
Some appetizers

You can bring:
a special topping for your pizza
a side dish
friends or family

He'll be busy firing up his home made wood fired pizza oven while the rest of us are working up an appetite. I'll be heading out there around 5 or so, the game starts at 7. He lives rather far north, so If people want to carpool, I'm cool with that and can take 4 others without bikes, and drop them off at eastwoods after the party.

See ya'll tomorrow!

bike polo now

I am going up to Eastwoods right now, 3 p.m., and I think some others will already be there, come out if you can!

ATXGBPT2009

Austin Texas Guerrilla Bike Polo Tour 2009 from Robert on Vimeo.

Just got this together and finally remembered to upload it. I am no video editing pro, so shut up if you don't like it... ha.

Also, if anyone wants to play some league games on Saturday, let me know!

The Ruckus Will be Brought Tonight

Anyone who dares to challenge, show up at Eastwoods Park tonight at 5:30pm for some League play. Bring the Ruckus!

Swingin' In The Rain

Ok polo people, I know ya'll have been cooped up inside like me for the past few days because of the rain, and are ready to sweat out those rainy day blues on the court! Don't fear, we'll still be playing even if it's pouring thanks to Tina, who discovered a covered basketball court at Alamo Park (less than 1 mile from our Eastwoods home) that should fit our needs perfectly as a back up if the weather dictates it.

Here's the plan:

5:30 - Pick-Up/League Play at Eastwoods (weather permitting)

If the weather sucks, take Dean Keaton East till it hits Manor, and make your 1st right on Alamo St. We'll be playing polo 1 block up under a nice pretty awning on the corner of Alamo and 22nd: HERE


View Larger Map

another one...

7th Midwest Bike Polo Champeenships from Mr.Do on Vimeo.

thanks for sending this to me Zach!

League Play Update:

I heard from Cyrus about all the crazy games that happened this weekend. I'm excited to get in on the action. If you haven't gotten with your team yet, please do so soon, at least get in contact with them, and get a team name and figure out your schedules so you can coordinate on showing up all together. I heard there were 3 teams all missing one player each. That's sucks, and isn't fair for your team. Don't be scared of your teammates, they are all nice people!

On another note, if you haven't figured it out yet, the schedule isn't going to be something we follow exactly. So, if you show up and the team you will be playing 3 weeks from now on the schedule is there too, and there aren't any other teams around, go ahead and play them. I don't mind if you all call out teams and play early or later, as long as you get the games in. And please, PLEASE, report the scores to Cyrus or myself or post them up in the google doc somewhere where we can see them and post them up on the official score sheet. This way teams will know who they've played and who they need to play, and see who is killing it and who isn't! And at some point I want to start reading about the games from the participants themselves, who played well, who impressed everyone, who scored an awesome shot at the last second, blah blah, you know, I think this will be cool for everyone!

I hope today was good down south, can't wait for my work break on Thursday to come out and watch some polo, and of course Sunday is going to be GRRRREAT!!! See you on the courts!

Pictures from this past weekend in L.A.

Back from L.A.

Your boys and girl are back from Los Angeles' SoCal Winter Polo Picnic. Team Austin, Miguel, Casey and I, didn't play that well against the extreme competition on this side of the country, but we had fun and learned a thing or two.

There were teams from East Van, Seattle, Portland, SF, LA, Pheonix, some from D.C., some from N.Y., and I'm sure from some other places I can't remember right now. We met lots cool and great people. The L.A. crew is super friendly and welcoming, they also play some hella good polo out there. Pheonix brought some 11-12 year olds who f-n rocked, and would put shame to a lot of us here, sorry Austin, these kids are good! LA fought East Van in the Final for a freakin awesome two-game final, but couldn't keep East Van from killing it in the second game! Well done Los Angeles and East Van.





Miguel took a lot of really great pictures this weekend, so be on the look out for those!
Thanks Casey, Miguel, and Annie, I had a good time with y'all!

Polo Visitor!! Birthdays! Farewells!! Sunday!!!

Hey Austin, I want to make sure everyone in town will be coming out on Sunday so we can get in lots of great pick-up and LEAGUE GAMES!!! Also, we have a lot of Aquarians in the club celebrating birthdays right now (Dan, Keith, Jasmine, Me...who else?!), Derek will be celebrating his last day of polo in Austin this Sunday, AND we are going to have a visitor from the polo club in Bloomington, Indiana!! I hope everyone can come out and bring their A-games and make Ashley feel welcome, we met her first in COMO at the Midwest Champeenships, then Jazzy and I got to hang with her and her crew for a solid 24 hours at the St Louis Bike Polo Lock-in.

Ashley will be arriving around midnite on Sat night/Sun morning. Anything fun happening? She will be staying with me and I was thinking it'd be fun to maybe gather at Juan and a Million (or some comparable place) for a celebration brunch- all polo players welcome!!!We can toast to the birthday kids and the out of towner, anyone interested? Otherwise, lets make it kind of a picnic party at pick-up. Bring something to share and eat, or drink...

I am off on Monday too so anyone available for polo Monday, holler at me. If she is still in town on Tuesday, I'm sure Ashley would love to play southside polo if anyone could give her a ride to and from the courts? That can be discussed later. Holler at me with fun plans going on this weekend! mo.grady@gmail.com 797-5483

League Progress Report

Sunday will mark the end of the first official week of league play, and I wanted to do a quick progress report to let everyone know what is going on, and what needs to happen to keep our little experiment on track.

Last night was a wonderful night of polo, a cool humid mist and very little rain. If you stayed away because of the weather, for shame ;) As far as I know the first two league matches were played between Team Mayhem, Inc and the Polo Cholos, with the Cholos coming out on top two games to none. I believe the Cholos also emerged undefeated from their second match against the Polo Hobos. Annie and Mo kept score, and hopefully we'll have some official numbers posted by the time the crew gets back from the LA Polo Picnic this weekend.

I expect we'll see a lot of league matches on Sunday at Eastwoods, so that all the teams stay on top of their schedules. In the interest of making the process of scheduling and coordinating matches easier I put a chart on the shared Google doc. If you are on the email list for the doc, you should have got an email explaining it in further detail. Please take a moment to look it over and fill out the information on there.

Rain Break or No Break, Polo Goes On

rain jacket and pants--check. lights--check. polo mallet--check.

bring the ruckus--CHECK!

I'll be there tonight regardless of rain. People play polo in the rain all over the world. Looks like there even might be a break at 5pm. I'll have the cones and ball ready at 5pm, come play polo and league games!

~Cyrus

Google and bike polo!

If you're wondering how to get in touch with your teammates for the League, you'll have to check your email, assuming you gave me one... if you haven't, then I didn't send you an email giving you access to the google doc with all the info in it. So check your email, open the google doc, find the tabs at the bottom, read the rules, see the schedule, contact your team, play polo!

Hit me up if you don't have this google doc... you shouldn't have to sign in to view it... if you have a problem, let me know!

I also put a new tab in the google doc for re-scheduling, comments, ideas, etc... I've already posted something there for teams 2 and 7. check it out.

We're working out all the communication bugs, please be patient and don't get worked up if you aren't able to get your games done because you can't get a hold of your team... it will all work itself out. The games will get done, fun will be had!

Bike Polo and Democracy

Daniel has raised an issue that I foresee requires our club to collectively solve—the “next game pile”. This is particularly relevant since we will now be mixing in League games during our normal pick up nights. Since we would never want to promote totalitarian or despot decisions, I think we should vote on this as a club. Hooray for democracy!

If you are not familiar with the issue read Daniel’s entertaining post here: http://www.thyneighborsbike.com/?p=2230 Also, read Doug’s (New York) comments to the post.

The Issue: With 30+ players that regularly come out, our club has reached the level where it may be hard to get as many opportunities to play a game as we would like, especially if someone has a time constraint and can’t stay the whole night. The natural evolution is that those who do not get their mallet in after a game has ended, in the traditional throw in format, try and ensure they will be in the following game by creating a “next game” pile. This has the potential of actually decreasing the opportunities for play as Daniel mentions by turning into a series of “next game” piles. If you are in the bathroom, in a conversation, or just spacing out, you may find that there are multiple “next game” piles and you are on the waiting list behind two or three predetermined games. There are two solutions to this problem and I will try and explain the benefits and disadvantages to each.

The first is to keep things as is. Stay attentive, and be the first to throw in your mallet to ensure your mallet is one of the six mallets that land in the throw in pile. As Daniel mentioned, if you can’t do this you shouldn’t be riding a bike, or playing polo for that matter. This is the purest solution, but it has problems. First, it does not ensure that players who just played will not throw their mallets in for the next game. Second, as we all have probably witnessed, more than six mallets can land on the court at once.

The second option is that after a game everyone who wants to play throws in their mallets. If there are six or less, great, we solved the problem. If there are more than six, whoever shuffles the pile first weeds it down to six, throwing out the extras. If you are not selected you throw in on the next game. The problem with this option is something I experienced in Seattle while playing with their club. My mallet, by chance, was not selected three times in a row. At 15+ minutes a game, I sat and watched for along time anxiously waiting to play. Yes, you can solve the problem by making a fuss, but not everyone wants to do that. I surely did not as an “out of towner” playing with a new club. It wasn’t until someone asked me why I wasn’t playing that I felt comfortably explaining that my mallet hadn’t been selected the previous three games. He ensured that mine would be selected in the next throw in. This gets messy however and has to potential for the shuffler selecting who they want to play in the next game.

The solution is what Doug mentioned. Those who are shuffled out of the six are automatically set aside for the next game. So if two are not chosen, they are ensured to play in the next game and the four mallets that are selected from the next throw in pile are added to the two to create the next game. In a sense this is a hybrid of the regular throw in and the “next game” pile. As Doug mentioned, this works best if everyone agrees that you cannot play two games in a row if there are more than six people out at the courts.

That creates three options. I propose that we vote as a club on the three, decide on one, and implement that option. In the comments section on the blog cast your vote and let’s sort out this problem so we can “have our cake and eat it too”, or maybe that’s “eat our cookies (or scones) and play polo as well”.

Option 1: Regular Throw In

Option 2: Next Game Pile

Option 3: Hybrid

This week in Polo...

It's a good week for Polo. Not only did our League start up this week, but Casey, Miguel, and I will be traveling to L.A. this weekend to represent the atxbpsc at the So-Cal winter polo picnic!

I want to make sure everyone got access to the google document with the team info, schedule for the league, and all the rules and goals we thought of. So, did you all get that, do you know the schedule for this week?

If not, here it is.

Round 1
2 v 1
3 v 12
4 v 11
5 v 10
6 v 9
7 v 8

Round 2
12 v 2
1 v 7
8 v 6
9 v 5
10 v 4
11 v 3

These games, should happen before the week is over, now my team won't be able to play this week, 'cause I'll be working and getting ready to leave, so sorry team... we'll make it up next week. If your team can't do these games, you'll just have to make them up at a later time, no worries.

For those who will be starting their league games, have someone keep track of the score and who scores, and then report it to Cyrus or myself sometime this week and we'll post it up so everyone can see.

For those who will make it out to the South Side pick up, have fun and play some polo!



oh hey did you all see this,

polo manual from blunt films on Vimeo.

and then finally a pic from Sunday!

sundays pictures

*edit: Miguel, one day I'll show you how to use this blogger thing...
click the image to see the rest.

League Teams

what do you think?

Next game pile?



good one Daniel, I might have to agree with you...

pictures from saturday!

COME OUT NOW!!!

MEET US AT EASTWOODS PARK AT 1:30 TO RIDE UP TO BARTHOLOMEW PARK

--T-15 MINUTES--

you know...

In case you were wondering...

As of now, we have 11-12 teams for the League! That's 33-36 people who have joined in on the first ever

Austin, Tx Hardcourt Bike Polo League

Teams are being finalized to ensure fun and competitive play! Get excited, official start time is this Sunday!

3,2,1 Fubu!

Birthday bash!

Sat:

Plan is to meet up at Eastwoods at, around, 1:30, ride up to Bartholomew Park, hopefully play some polo on the old polo court, hang out a bit... you know....

Sun:

Meet up at Eastwoods again at 10 am or so for some fun informal stuff, just cause we can and should cause we all know it's fun... then anyone there can ride down to Joslin with me if you want or just meet us down there around 3, hopefully to play some polo down south.

lots of riding, if the weather permits of course, nothing intense, bring only what you need, you know, yep yep

3,2,1 Polo

It's that time!

Sunday Sunday Sunday

3, 2, 1 POLO!!!!!

I'll be there at 2 p.m.

funny ha ha

Polo Badasses from Mr.Do on Vimeo.

ATXBPSC turns 1

Party time y'all! Next weekend we are going to celebrate our clubs b-day. Try and get off work, it's going to be a lot of polo. Bartholomew, Eastwoods, and Joslin Parks. I'm not driving to any of those places, so if you're down to ride, tag along, we'll make it guerrilla polo style if we have to. Saturday and Sunday! I've got some ideas for games and some prizes, but you gotta come out to win!

We're going to kick off the Spring League by announcing/disputing teams, and hopefully get the first round of games in too! But that doesn't mean you have to be there, so if for what ever reason, you can't make make it out next Sunday, it's all good, you'll still be able to play. BUT YOU BETTER BE THERE IF YOU CAN!!! Any Questions?

Come Play Polo Before the Floods!

When: Now
Where: Eastwoods Park

Supposedly there will be rain and even the potential of flash floods starting this evening. However, I have no great faith in weather predictions. We'll be out on the courts until we are rained out.

Dallas Pics

thanks Miguel!

dallas pictures

here are a few pics from the dallas tourney!
http://s189.photobucket.com/albums/z264/bmxmyk/DALLAS%20TOURNAMENT/

South Side Happy Hour Bike Polo: TONIGHT!

It's Tuesday, and that means Happy Hour Bike Polo will be in effect for the after-work crowd down at Joslin park just south of Ben White between 5 and 10.

We started playing these South side pick-up games about a month and a half ago. I think part of what has made them a success is that we get players of all skill levels.

Its easy to rely on experienced folks to come out whenever they can, and once they catch the bug, even players with moderate experience are likely to keep showing up. The trick is getting beginners to give it a shot, and to show them a good time.

With that in mind, Robert and I have been talking about encouraging would-be first timers to join us on Tuesdays. The level of play will still be competitive for any skill level, but you're more likely to see teams with one beginner, one moderate, and one experienced player rather than feeling like you're the only beginner on the court.

Miguel and Annie have been pretty great about bringing cones, balls, and extra mallets, so grab a bike and BYOB -- See ya'll tonight!


Some programing notes for this evening:

A few of our South Side regulars will be back on their home turf hot off the heels of tournament wins in Dallas; where the ATX teams took 1st, 2nd, 4th, and 5th last weekend. Make sure you give them all a pat on the back (or better yet a beer!)

League play is coming to Austin! This is the last week to sign up for the free spring league, here

Also, I hear Jason (Mr. ATXBS.com himself) will be joining us this evening to show off his brand spanking new polo bike, which I can't wait to see. If you've ever wondered about building a polo specific bike I'm sure he'd be willing pass along some knowledge. You might also want to bring your kid sister's huffy just to remind him a special bike does not a polo player make ;)

Lastly, Kevin floated the idea of leaving polo a little early this evening for a bit of caving on the greenbelt. The cave he has in mind is pretty tricky I hear, but he's been down there a few times and has some spare knee pads, so I'm in. If you bring a headlamp and feel up to it I bet he wouldn't mind if a couple others tagged along.

League Info

I just checked the league sign up sheet, and we have 17 people signed up online. I'm going to bring out a sheet to sign in person on Sunday, and that will probably be the last attempt at getting people to join in on the fun. So Consider this the last week to sign up for AUSTIN TEXAS'S FIRST HARDCOURT BIKE POLO LEAGUE!!! I know there are a few of you who haven't signed up and intend to, so get to it... just add your name and email to the list. There is NO fee. I'm predicting 7-8 teams, but the more the merrier, right?

After everyone has signed up and we know how many people to expect, there will be a group of us who will get together and try to fairly divide the teams up so that they are all as equally matched as possible. We will have some time to dispute teams if you really just don't agree with us. Then we will begin the league season! The weekend of the 23rd and 24th is a special weekend for us, birthday bash(more to come later), and I would like to start the league play that weekend.

Instead of actually scheduling out games, I think we will post up who you need to play in the order that might work best and it will be up to the teams to organize when they want to play during the week. You will have a week to play your match and send me the results so I can keep our overall results updated. I anticipate that most of the games will be done on either Tuesday, Thursday, or Sunday, but if you want to schedule another day, that will be perfectly ok, as long as everyone on your team and the challenging team agrees.

Each team will play every other team in a 2 out of 3 match to determine the winner. So you'll have to beat everyone at least twice if you want to win. At the end of the league we will probably have a party and celebrate how great everyone did and hand out some prizes and whatnot!

And just in case you were wondering, pick-up games will still happen on their normal days, before and after the league games, so don't think that if you don't play in the league you can't play polo. Oh and of course we will need to have at least 2 spectators at the league games to dispute any calls, watch goals, and help to report the score. So keep that in mind when rescheduling games!

I hope this all makes sense! See you on the courts.

3,2,1 Polo

Dallas Re-cap

As you all know, the ATXBPSC took up a group of players to Dallas this past weekend for a friendly tourney. The court we were originally going to play on, which is the usual spot for the Dallas crew, was having some work done to repair it, so we were forced to play on another, smaller court. Which, if you ask me, turned out just fine. Some guys from Albuquerque, Tulsa, and New Orleans all showed up excited to play. The Dallas crew had a few guys show up on Saturday, but only two came back out for Sunday.

We ended up just playing pick up all day Saturday and did a unique and formal double-elimination style bracket on Sunday, which the Tulsa boys mathmatically calculated out. We ended up with 6 teams for Sunday. Our club had 2 full teams and one player each on the Dallas and Nola teams. The games were fun and exciting and I feel like everyone got to play an equal amount of times.

Now it's time to brag a bit...

Austin - 1st
Nola/Austin - 2nd
Tulsa - 3rd
Austin - 4th
Dallas/Austin - 5th
Albuquerque - 6th

Everyone did really well, I'm happy all you Austin peeps made the trip and especially the ones who stayed for Sunday. Great job you guys!!

Miguel took a bunch of pictures, so expect to see those soon!

Polo Goes On...Come Out and Play Today!!!

POLO TODAY
3p.m. Eastwoods Park

As many of you know, many fine polo players from our club are in Dallas this weekend representing Austin in a area wide effort to support the club in Dallas and spark new interest for this amazing game in the metroplex. For everyone else in town, and for people who have been wanting to try out hardcourt bicycle polo, come out to Eastwoods park at 3pm. Look for the motley crew of polo players on bicycles at the tennis courts with big smiles on their faces as we get our polo fix on.

~Cyrus