Minnesota placed third at the Battle for the Middle West in Bloomington, IN this past weekend. It was a great tournament and an exciting change of pace from the usual 3 man team tournaments.
We faced Midwest rivals Illinois in the third place match and came out victorious with a 5-4 win. This was a big win for MN as we came together as a team and improved on our 11 to 3 loss to Illinois on Saturday.
Big thanks to Indiana Bike Polo for throwing an excellent tournament!
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 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.
Have you ever wanted to give hardcourt bike polo a try but were afraid to give it a go? Well here’s your chance.
This Saturday April 16th at 1pm and following Saturdays, as demand allows, Minneapolis Bike Polo will be holding “skills day” for beginners and intermediate players.
All you need to bring is yourself, a sturdy bike if you have one and a sense of adventure. We will have spare mallets to share and a few bikes to loan. Also if you bring $5 we will hook you up with a mallet head, ski pole and hardware to make your very own polo mallet.
Please spread the word to bike polo curious and as always keep an eye on @pickuppolo on twitter in case of inclement weather.
When: Saturday April 16th, 1pm-5pm (practices usually last 3-4 hours)
Where: Corcoran Park in south Minneapolis E 33rd St & S 19th Ave Minneapolis, MN 55407
Why: Because bike polo is about as much fun as you can have on a bicycle.
Last night the club gathered around a couple of laptops, cracked some beers and talked some trash in an old school IRC chat room.
We were not alone. Around the world, the pool of 150+ potential poloists gathered and watched as 6 GMs picked 8 teammates to compete in the Bench Minor 2 June 25-26, 2011 in Chicago.
Seattle lead the charge with 9 players being drafted. Milwaukee had 6, Chicago and Richmond each had 4 players drafted.*
Congrats to all who made the cut! This is going to be an amazing tournament.
*Not sure how I made that mistake… but Milwaukee had 6 players drafted, not 4 as I initially stated.
If you saw this tweet from @Surlybrewer you might be wondering what the purpose is of those things on the wheels. They are wheelcovers used for a sport called Hardcourt Bike Polo. We use these covers to block shots as well as keeping people’s mallets and feet out of the spinning spokes. They also protect the wheels from getting broken. Dustin, aka Mr Do, had these wheelcovers specially designed by Jinxy to include his favorite brew. Check the can of Furious in his hand.
If you need any more explanation check out Mr. Do’s videos on Vimeo. He’s one of the most prolific and also one of the best videographer/editor’s covering the emerging sport of bike polo.
