New video from Chan on the subject of a ladies majority bike polo tournament. Hell’s Belles Vol 1. features some of the highlights from the Hell’s Belles, Vol 1 tournament that took place October 15th and 16th, 2011 in London, England.

On this side of the world talk is already picking up about the planning of Ladies Army IV. Ladies Army is a women’s hardcourt bike polo tournament started in Vancouver. It has since spread to other cities. Next up to host is Lexington, KY.  That is sure to be a good time. Look for more information on this May/June 2012 tournament soon.

Lastly but not leastly, we have our own local poloistas hard at work to encourage women to experience our sport. Minneapolis Bike Polo helped The Hub Bike Co-op celebrate October as Women’s Appreciation Month by hosting a Intro to Polo event for women on October 22nd. Kat, Greta, Charlotte and Meg hosted the event and helped the dozen or so people in attendance with the basics of hardcourt bike polo.

By all accounts it was a great success with a surprising number of brand new faces. We LOVE new players. Come back soon.

Big thanks to our poloistas for organizing and running such a great event.

Minneapolis did really well at this tournament. 5 of our 6 teams officially made it to Sunday with a computer hiccup pushing Shark Farts out of the top 32 for Sunday. We had several stand out players which helped propel their teams deep into the double elimination bracket on Sunday. Meg Lee and Aren are two such players. Aren even took home the MVP award for the tournament.

Congrats to Nick T of Minneapolis on his teams’ 7th place finish. He got the call asking him to be a substitute player at 9:30am on Saturday and helped Chris and Nick from Lexington to yet another excellent finish.

Thanks to Milwaukee Bike Polo for hosting and bringing the Midwest together for such a fun time.

Results

• 1st -Baby Face (Brian, Kremin, JT MKE/RVA)
• 2nd -Guardians (Cody, Dusty, Julian SEA)
• 3rd -Machine Politics (Ben, Joe, Matt L CHI)
• 4th -Lil’ Wayne Gretzky (Nick kruse,Tim D, Charlie H COMO)
• 5th -The Spurs (Pierre,Jonny, Sam C MAD )
• 5th -Wardens (Jake, Matt, Zack MKE)
• 7th -Bourbonic Plague (Nick, Cardinal, Nick T LEX/MPLS)
• 7th -Mitten Polo (Jon, Adam, Piet AA)
• 9th -WNBA Jamz (Joe, Shay, Guthrie MKE)
• 9th -3rd Times a Charm (Meg, Dustin, Brian MPLS/CHI)
• 9th -El Polo Loco (Derek, Stanislav, Rob FTW)
• 9th -Panther Baby Strike (Nick, Aren, Jeff MPLS)
• 13th -What about Bob (Karate jon, Chris W, Lou CLE )
• 13th -Team Icarus (Zach ,Travis , Rob IN/CHI)
• 13th -Cockstorm (Ramon, Jerry, Art MPLS)
• 13th -The Matt Lodge Experience (Ebbin, Wade, Matt MPLS)
• 17th -Seal Team 666 (Matt, Alex, Robb GRPS)
• 17th -Gnomads (Ben H, Matt R, MP MAD)
• 17th -Oakeshott Nights (Mark L, Dan, Mark H WNPG)
• 17th -Team Adorable (Greg V, Tucker, Suzy CHI)
• 17th -MDK (Kody, Meg M, Dave CHI)
• 17th -Everything Butt Sex (Eric, Erica, Tiffany ATL/LEX)
• 17th -Steve Jobs (Birdie, Lodi, Jordan MKE)
• 17th -The Stealth Snowman (Sven, Thahn, Wheels MPLS/MKE)
• 25th -Lefty Bullshit (Bruce, Jess, Quinn MIX)
• 25th -Gay Boy farts (Kevin, Thomas, Caleb LAF)
• 25th -Como Erectus (Christian, Andrew, Nic)
• 25th -Emphysema Makeout Party (Abe, Matt, Joe MIX)
• 25th -Noah’s Shark (Tyler Brown,Jeremy, Jordan BLM)
• 25th -Bearded Men (Charlie S, Omar, Willie )
• 25th -St st stuntin is a habit (Kelly s, Mick, Josh CHI)
• 25th -White Arms (Steener, Carl winslow, Witt GB)

The Midwest Open is happening this weekend in Milwaukee.

Minneapolis is sending 6 teams into the mix. You can follow the teams live Saturday and Sunday at podiu.mx/mwo . Also stay tuned to twitter, #MWO

The Matt Lodge Experience - Ebbin, Wade, Matt

Panther Baby Strike – Nick, Aren, Jeff

3rd Times a Charm – Meg, Dustin, Brian(CHI)

Shark Farts – Greta, Landon, Mike

The Stealth Snowman – Sven, Wheels, Thahn(MKE)

Cockstorm – Ramon, Jerry, Art

A field of ~44 teams will play 6 games each on Saturday.  Sunday will see the top 32 teams advance to a double elimination tournament.

Thanks to Hollywood Cycles for lending us some pimp EZ-Ups for the weekend. See you in Milwaukee!

Worlds Final from Mr.Do on Vimeo.

East Van’s Crazy Canucks (Rory/Chris/Alex) vs France’s Call Me Daddy (Po Lo/William/Greg) for the Championship

Check out the updated poster for the 2011 WHBPC in Seattle. Hotness!

Minneapolis qualified for NAHBPC but due to passport restrictions and broken wrists Nick, Dustin and Sven are unable to attend. We worked hard for that qualifying spot and it bums us out to no be able to use it. But them’s the breaks!

Nick, Dustin and Sven are, however, gearing up for the Wildcard tournament to be held before WHBPC. A two day tourney to compete for 8 team slots for the big show.

Minneapolis is also sending a team or two to the Thunder Bay Open and several teams will be heading to the Midwest Open in Milwaukee in October.

2011 is shaping up to be quite a busy year!

Check out this nice recap video of the East Side Polo Invite 6 in Philadelphia from Fun Zach Films.

We make time for polo however. We are still playing 4 days a week. Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday and Sunday. Bookmark @pickuppolo on Twitter for “day of” reminders.

Perplexed as to what in the hell my name is doing up there with champions I fed it through Google translate and it gave me this:

Midwest championship this weekend or so? Beaver Boys, Machine Politics, Maija’s team, Sven’s team. . . A battleground is.

Well shucks, Riki! Thanks for the mention. Minneapolis Polo will do our best to make you proud.

Can’t wait to meet Riki and other Japanese poloists this September at the World Hardcourt Bike Polo Championships in Seattle.