Hardcourt Bike Polo

Beavers vs Guardians, NAHBPC 2013

Hardcourt Bike Polo is a variation of traditional Bicycle Polo in which teams of players ride bicycles and use mallets to strike a small ball into a goal.

The game

Typically, two teams of three players play in an enclosed rectangular area (ex. parking lot, tennis courts, or roller hockey rink). Goals are placed at each long end of the rectangle.

At the beginning of the game, the ball is placed in the middle of the court the players wait behind their own goals. Following a countdown, both teams charge the ball in what is termed the "joust".

A player may hit the ball in two ways: a "shot" or a "shuffle". A shot is made with either end of the mallet head whereas a shuffle is made with the side. In order to score a goal, a player must hit the ball into the opposing team's goal with a shot; if the player uses a shuffle, the goal does not count and play continues.

Following a goal, the scoring team returns to their own half of the court. After the scoring team returns to their half, the scored-on team may cross the half line and resume play.

The game continues until a team reaches either a limit of five goals or a predetermined length of time, usually 12 or 15 minutes.

A player who "dabs", (touches a horizontal surface with their foot), must undertake some form of remedial penalty before making contact with the ball again. This usually involves "tapping out" (riding to a designated point on the court and touching it with the mallet). It is also common to have to say "foot down" or "dab" to let other players know you are out of play, but not required. You should avoid affecting play of the game at all cost after a foot down occurs.

The amount of contact in a particular game may vary but is generally restricted to "mallet to mallet", "body to body".

As a decentralized and organically growing game, the rules and styles of Hardcourt Bike Polo may vary substantially from city to city. The North American Bike Polo Association has created an official set of rules for North America, which has been influential to standardizing rules world-wide.

Since 2009, various governing bodies have been created within the polo community for the purposes of advancing the sport and creating rule sets. The North American Hardcourt Bike Polo Association (NAHBPA) and European Hardcourt (EHBP) are the prime organizations, but there are others such as the Australasian Hardcourt (AHBP) and South American Hardcourt (SAHBP) organizations coming up as Bike polo spreads to other continents and countries all over the world.

Equipment

A well-used Street Hockey ball

Rather than use traditional wooden polo mallets, Hardcourt Bike Polo players started making handmade mallets in the spirit of the DIY ethic. Since then, a number of companies have appeared, which are producing more distinct equipment, specifically for bike polo. Typical mallets are constructed using heads made from UHMW, and aluminium shafts similar to ski poles

Balls are typically made from PVC and are similar to a Street Hockey ball.

Some players may make wheel covers out of corrugated plastic, polycarbonate, plastic netting, or even thick fabrics to protect spokes and create solid blocking surfaces. Many of these covers are painted with elaborate designs to help identify riders or their city's club.

Freshly painted wheel cover

Low gear ratio single-speed bikes have advantages for quick acceleration and control on a small court. Although any bike is acceptable for the game, eventually most players customize their bikes especially for bike polo and their playing needs. Most riders prefer a short wheelbase for tight turning and a smaller "5-hole" as well as a medium to long stem for better turning. Front brake or dual brake setups are the most popular.

Courts

Players commonly play on courts such as tennis courts street hockey rinks, or football courts. These are often customized using boards to keep the ball from rolling out of the court or getting stuck in the corners. The NAH currently mandates goals be 3ft x 6ft and must be placed no closer than 6ft from the backboard. Court size does vary, but for a court to be used in an official NAH event it must be no larger than 155ft x 80ft (47.25m x 25m) and no smaller than 120ft x 60ft (37m x 18m), and have 4ft high solid boards.

Polo Specific Courts

Some cities have worked with their local polo club and have built facilities specifically for polo or suited for multi-use activities like polo. Some courts like New York City's "The Pit" are repurposed spaces, while other courts like East Vancouver's court in Grandview Park, are specifically designed to meet the needs of the sport.

History

Modern Hardcourt Bike Polo has roots in early 2000s Seattle^[1][2] Originally started by messengers who had downtime in between deliveries, the game developed in Seattle and some of the earlier rules were founded (3 on 3, scoring with the end of the mallet). As people moved and traveled the game branched out. and is currently played in over 30 countries and 300 cities.^[3]

Tournaments

NAHBPC 2013

Since 2004, cities across North America have thrown inter-city tournaments such as the East-, West-, and Northside Polo Invites.

The first annual North American and European Hardcourt Bicycle Polo championships were both held in August 2009. The European tournament drew over 40 teams from Great Britain, France, Switzerland, Spain, Italy and Germany and was won by L'Equipe, a team from Geneva. The North American tournament featured 36 teams from Seattle, Vancouver BC, Milwaukee, Chicago, New York, Ottawa, Portland, Washington DC, and elsewhere and was won by Team Smile from Seattle. First prize for each tournament were tickets to the World Championships.

The first world championships where also held in 2009, featuring teams from the US, Canada, England, France, Germany, Switzerland, and Italy. The winners were again Team Smile who defeated the team from East Vancouver in a repeat of the North American final.

National championships are held in countries around the world, including Australia, United Kingdom, and Germany.

World Championships

Year	Host	Winners	Score	Runners-up	Third Place	Score	Fourth Place
2009	Philadelphia (USA)	Team Smile (USA)		Balls Deep (CAN)	Faceless Emotion (USA)		Wisconsin A (USA)
2010	Berlin (DEU)	Beaver Boys (USA)	5-1 [4]	Machine Politics (USA)	L’Equipe (CHE)	5-3	Toros (DEU)
2011	Seattle (USA)	Crazy Canucks (CAN)	5-4 [5]	Call Me Daddy (FRA)	Guardians (USA)	5-3	Iron Ponies (CHE)
2012	Geneva (CHE)	Call Me Daddy (FRA)	3-2 [6]	Guardians (USA)	Clobber Politics (USA/CAN)	5-1 [7]	Dead Rappers (GBR)
2013 [8]	Weston, FL (USA)	Beavers (USA)	5-1	Call Me Daddy (FRA)	The Assassins (USA)	5-2	Edisons (FRA,DEU)

North American Championships

Year	Host	Winners	Score	Runners-up	Third Place	Score	Fourth Place
2009	Seattle, WA	Team Smile (Seattle)		Balls Deep (Vancouver)	Beaver Boys (Milwaukee)		DD Booster Club (New York)
2010	Madison, WI	The Odds (Richmond/Philadelphia/New York)	5-2	Team Smile (Seattle)	East Van (Vancouver)		Super Polonics (Seattle)
2011	Calgary	The Guardians[9] (Seattle)		Clobber Politics (Chicago/Ottawa)	The Crazy Canucks (Vancouver)		The Outsiders (Los Angeles, Seattle, Vancouver)
2012	Milwaukee, WI	Beaver Boys (Milwaukee)	3-1	The Guardians (Seattle)	The Means (Richmond/Ottawa/New York)		Portland United (Portland)
2013[10]	Minneapolis, MN	Beavers (San Francisco)	2-5, 5-0	The Guardians (Seattle)	The Assassins (Seattle)	5-2	Portland United (Portland)

European Championships

Year	Host	Winners	Score	Runners-up	Third Place	Score	Fourth Place
2009	London	L'Equipe (Geneva)	5-3	Malice International (London)	Toros (Munich)		Discordia (Paris/London)
2010	Geneva	L'Equipe (Geneva)	5-4	Cosmic (London)	El Club (Barcelona)		Rotten Apples (London)
2011 [11]	Barcelona	L'Equipe (Geneva)	5-2	Polosynthese (Germany)	Hooks (Rouen)	5-4	El Club (Barcelona)
2012	Paris	Call me Daddy (Paris/Toulouse)		Edisons (Frankfurt/Munich)	Hooks (Rouen)		L'Equipe (Geneva)
2013 [12]	Kraków	Call me Daddy (Paris/Toulouse)	2-5, 5-3	Edisons (Frankfurt/Geneva)	Spring Break (London)	3-2	Lhooks (Rouen/Geneva)

Australasian Championships

Year	Host	Winners	Score	Runners-up	Third Place	Score	Fourth Place
2009	Melbourne	Meat & Two Veg (Melbourne)		Scheisse Katze (Melbourne/Germany)	Bush League Bushrangers (Melbourne/Toronto)		Jailbreakers (Castlemaine)
2010	Brisbane	Johnny Crash (Melbourne)		The Screaming Baguettes (Sydney/Paris)	German Bells (Brisbane)		That's What She Said (Adelaide)
2011	Adelaide	Storm Boys (Perth/Sydney/Melbourne)		That's What She Said (Adelaide)	L.S.V. (Sydney)		Neil La Robolution (Adelaide/Melbourne)
2012	Perth	NASFWG (Perth)	1-5, 1-5	Triple Dutch Rudder (Brisbane)	Dog Soccer (Sydney)	2-1	L.S.V. (Sydney)
2013	Timaru	NASFWG (Perth)		Melbourne Anchor (Melbourne)	Triple Dutch Rudder (Brisbane)		C4 (Christchurch)

South American Championships

Year	Host	Winners	Score	Runners-up	Third Place	Score	Fourth Place
2011	Santiago de Chile	Monopolientos (Santiago)		Underdogs (São Paulo)	Hágame Famoso (Bogotá)		Viveza Criolla (Quito)
2012	Buenos Aires	Underdogs (São Paulo)		Monopolientos (Santiago)	Jinetes del Apocalipsis (Buenos Aires)		Viveza Criolla (Quito)
2013	São Paulo

The name

Though Hardcourt Bike Polo game play has more in common with hockey than traditional polo, the word "polo" is used because the players sit atop of a moving object and strike the ball with mallets. "Hardcourt", "Urban Bike Polo" and simply "Bike Polo" are other variations used by players and the press.

See also

• Cycle polo
• List of bicycle polo companies
• List of bicycle polo courts

References