London Open Polo Tournament 21/22 August

Don't encourage him, especially after the "Highgate Taliban" name idea!

Whens everyone headin down to this? I was thinking Friday straight after work, cheap train leaves Moor Street at 17:55 £12 return? might be mad busy or later 19:13 £14 return? gets us there for 21:00 might not be any meat left on the BBQ though?

Need to book these early to keep them cheap.

i've taken the friday off work, going to head down mid-morning i reckon. good heads-up to get early tickets though. anyone wanna join me.

You know that name is sick

ATTN Fin/Andy:

I'd really like us to step up our game for the London Open, and have a few ideas since the Euros. The most important thing is that we get as much practice in pre-tournament as possible, so let's try to play as a team at least a few times every weds.

I think we should try to agree loose 'roles' rather than all of us trying to do everything. Andy is fast and doesn't foot down much, so I reckon he should be mid-field/playmaker/possession person, Fin has great positioning and also good passing and has also said he likes to play defensively, so I reckon similar to Andy, but get stuck in less, and try to make passes. I can score goals but am prone to making mistakes so maybe I should be looking to push up more?

The above is just my opinion, let's discuss.

Also, to help us improve a bit, I think we should practice defence/attack sometimes. IE - one team focusses on defence, (can't go out of their own half, can't score), one on attack, (score as many goals as poss in 10 minutes). My thinking with this is that too often we get caught up in games, but because of the size of our scene, those games have little in common with tournament-level stuff. I can explain better in person.

Also, one guy from Polo Synthese had an incredible shot, but apparently his city often has poor turnouts, so he just practises shooting. For hours on end. Just throwing that out there to point out that playing relentless games against the same opposition isn't the best way to improve.

I'm only saying we should do these drills and stuff while we wait for a full game, or for a small time each night - as much as i want to improve at tournaments, the funnest games are always in brum playing with regulars!

(it would really help if everyone had low gears, though, just saying....)

You're better off working out team plays than individual roles, for instance:

Defensive:
Both players tracking back with their players "man on man", no risky challenges.
One player on the hussle, one on the other player/pass.
Both players on the hussle, risky, good for when there's little time, etc.
One player on the hussle, one ready to break for a pass whilst blocking the opposition's passing line.
One player on the hussle, one in the D, good for when you have a goal lead but boring to watch.

Offensive:
Three out on possession, one player always covering breaks/long passes.
Lots of blocking/intervention to allow your teammate through with possession.
Hold midcourt in small circles to draw in players then make fast breaks/passes to goal.
Larger circles, allowing the passing line to keep moving between your players... pass and break when the opportunity arises.
Long passes up court to an aggressively positioned player, risky.
Breaks to goal with a player following for the pass if the break fails, or for goalie deflections (means you always have someone to cover breaks).

Polo is so fast with few players that it is difficult to always have a "striker", etc. It's possible, but I don't see it as a winning strategy anymore, flexible teams are more unpredictable, with no individual roles and more diversity in their plays.

good advice, thanks.

do you actually call those plays to each other, or is it intuitive?

Personally, I'd try to watch the games of the teams you'll will be playing against to see their style of play and then discuss pre-game what you think will work against that team, etc.

If a game goes badly their will be little time for "plays", but great teams play polo their way and force the opposition to adapt.

If you can get loads of team practice in you will be harder to break down on the court and will intuitively have an idea of where your team mates are on the court (and what plays are working/not working).

Plays are often called after a goal is scored/conceded, but never normally outright, you just have a mini talk about "more defensive", "watch the passes", "push up", etc.

i see.

we do sometimes try to watch other teams, but perhaps through lack of experience, the best we can do is notice the really obvious things ("he's the best", "they're fast on the break", "their goalie's good") and can't even really begin to see how to deal with it. it often comes down to team shoulder-shrug, which is what i'd like to change.

we played well in a few games at this tournament despite what was on-paper a weaker line-up than usual. i think that's entirely due to us playing more games as a team in brum, and playing against cambridge and manchester teams a few weeks' back. we'll definitely try that again for the london open.

i think the crucial thing is learning how to read games better. when we're on court we're almost always playing catch-up, and when we're off court we're usually just watching rather than assessing!

I'm in, not playing obv, but as moral support and wooting noises, might take a million pix too.

Cheers to DanWS for encouragement on this one.

Going down early Sunday on train, cycling back on Monday.

I'm thinking of heading down on saturday morning for the day. I will also bring camera and extremely motivating support.
Got the Shakespeare on the Sunday, so i'll head back in the PM.

TRAINS.
If you haven't - book soon to avoid massive fares!
Super off peaks avaliable still - I'm getting 18:15 on friday from Moor street and returning on 18:57 from Marylebone on sunday. £20.50.

Less gang-ish, how about 'Highgate Polo ' as a team name, it'd be nice to represent the area and put it on the map in a minor, polo-related way. Especially good if we get some t-shirts done.

Thanks for the reminder, just got mine from snow hill to marylebone - £19.50

i'm going to drive down - anyone want a lift?

i'll be going after rush hour friday morning (9/10am), parking in tooting, then riding to the courts for throwins.

i'll be leaving from tooting monday morning at a similar time (hangover pending).

£7.50-10 each way in diesel. Room for 2 people/bikes each way.

Pete has dibsed one return journey.

I wouldn't mind coming down with you on the Friday morning (sorry i didn't respond to your text) but i wouldn't want to take valuable bike space if a player was keen to get a lift?

.

Ever since I saw Inception I haven't had a clue wtf is going on, when I dibsed/banked that lift I thought it was Pistaboy offering, got my Dans crossed...

That's why I waffled on about eBay too.

Don't think I am going to London.

Undibs.

Thanks though...

i'm going to drive down - anyone want a lift?

i'll be going after rush hour friday morning (9/10am), parking in tooting, then riding to the courts for throwins.

i'll be leaving from tooting monday morning at a similar time (hangover pending).

£7.50-10 each way in diesel. Room for 2 people/bikes each way.

Pete has dibsed one return journey.

@ pistaboy - no worries, it's first come first served. and i think most people are going on the train anyway.

@ void - you are a mong. was your 'headspace' focussed on cleaning again?

oh no, I'm getting bullied on the internet.

don't tell your teacher 'else i'll take your dinner money.

PAR!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OZ6G7qwjom4

Dan is there room in your car for me? if i give you twenty pounds?

sure thing. both ways then? you'll have to get youself to (or near) tooting.

yeah please if thats alright, i know your accomodations sorted but if we do manage to get some its likely to be only for the saturday night isn't it?

i think they're aiming to sort people for the weekend, but i don't know... i may be able to sort you a place at my mate's on sunday night, if necessary.