South London Bike Polo (Tues/Thurs/Sun) - Newington gardens SE1 / Agnes Riley gardens SW12

Me too!

In around 6:30

Hi all,

I don't think Tuesday South works.

There are quite a few who travels between the 2 courts and it creates a 3 days in a row for those who are keen.

I'll suggest we go back to Monday for South so we have Tuesday as a gap for better of both South and North.

If anything, Sunday shall we say should really be happening more often, it hasn't and that's rather disappointing...

Thursday
Vangelis

Thursday
Vangelis
Charlie
Mya

Thursday
Vangelis
Charlie
Mya
Beagle

Thursday
Vangelis
Beagle
Mya
Charlie
Lex
Greg for a bit
Adam
Jimmy

In!

Thursday
Vangelis
Beagle
Mya
Charlie
Lex
Greg for a bit
Adam
Jimmy
Emmet

will pop over on my way home, but on the wrong bike.

Thursday

1. Vangelis
   
2. Beagle
   
3. Mya
   
4. Charlie
   
5. Greg for a bit
   
6. Adam
   
7. Jimmy
   
8. Emmet
   
   

(removing Lex who has since advised he can't come)

Alas I thought I could make it this coming week but cant, I have just ordered a Perrot mallet though. Quite like the look of the Roger Simone one but it was out of stock. Anyway I may have a legal mallet by next time.

Antonio
Emmet
Vango
Mat
Beagle
Dany

11 start

Yo, anyone for tomorrow?

If not maybe let's go back to Mondays then

Hey... I can play Tuesday.

I'll play cos of King Louis! ;)

In all seriousness, I'm playing Tuesday as I did not play today and can't play Wednesday, otherwise I'll prioritise Wednesday and Thursday over Tuesday.

There are enough players who don't play Sunday to make Monday work. I for one play both days, take a day break and 2 more days of polo.

100% in for drinking in the park with beagle even if we don’t have 6.

Don’t call it a come back... but i’m Finally over the various crashes i’ve Had recently and hopefully will have time for 1-2 polo nights a week.

Yeah, this is just trying to find something that works for everyone, like for you, that works and that's great. For me and a few others it wasn't working and we wanted to try something different.

Hence the all the vote and procedure. I am happy to change it back if people feel it isn't working obvs, but I wanted us to be weary of changing it too quickly/adhoc changing it every week. This is something I have really been struggling with recently and a bit of a different topic but:

I don't want to change the calendar too much too often, because for some of us we need a stable calendar to be able to come play: The days moving around all the time makes it hard for those who have other commitments outside of polo to commit to coming to polo, and ultimately those people will drop off coming altogether/sell their polo bike/take up a sport that has a predictable schedule like [literally any other sports group].

An example: The last few weeks southies have decided to play Saturdays instead of Sundays, which is great unless you're a person who has made a prior plan for Saturday, and you've also made people in your life move things to Saturday in order to protect your Sunday for polo, because when that Sunday doesn't happen because "everyone played yesterday", you feel like you turned down a lot of other potential things down (or made your fams life difficult mving things) for nothing. When this happens more than a few times, it makes you resent setting aside time for polo and you stop doing so, which obvs makes the cycle worse.

I personally think the adhoc organising of playing when certain players 'feel like' is harming long term uptake of play for newbs, but even senior players feel this impact. As stated above, this is a separate discussion I suppose. Maybe polo just isn't for people who don't have every evening and weekend free to pop down to Newington at the drop of a text message? IDK.

Polo needs 1. consistent schedule during the week (I think it is ok for it to be a little more flexible at the weekend)

2 Move away from WhatsApp. Be more public.

3 Weekly beginners slot.

The last point is most important imo.
Thursday has been the most regular night. Maybe this is the one to go for.
Beginners night imo should be an 1hr-1hr30 window where games for new players are prioritized by everyone. After this time high octane games resume and new players can either watch or do some solo polo.

Bike polo has always needed new players. But let’s be honest they can be flakey, so let’s create a system that is regular but limited. So that we can be generous to new players without cutting too much into the pickup which we come to enjoy.

This should be combined with social media promotion, new flyers, local universities and a commitment from a core group to attend most Thursdays.

Amen

Thursday

Jimmy

Thursday

Jimmy
Beagle

Thursday

Jimmy
Beagle
Anna
Lex (from 7.30)

Thursday

Jimmy
Beagle
Anna
Lex (from 7.30)
Mya
Charlie

That's 6, game on! Anyone up for some drills and practice at 6 30?