Tourney: WHBPC 2010 Berlin - 13-15.08.2010

cross-posted from leagueofbikepolo:

     as everybody said, it was a great moment, the first "true" worlds!

Good points:

• A good balance of teams from all around the world (still missing: asia, south america, scandinavia, russia...)
  
• probably the best teams playing today (maybe a few strong USA teams missing, but all the good Euro ones were there).
  
• A relaxed (did I hear anyone say ramshackle?...) atmosphere, a nice green venue, enough shelter from the rain and sun.
  
• Schedule pretty much on time, even with the disastrous weather
  
• A lot of courts
  
• A young and friendly community (we'll look back on this with nostalgia in 5 years when the sport will have gone big)
  
• Good reffing all around I think, special mention to Paul NYC and Nick Apologie.
  
• being able to watch 2 (even 3) games at the same time, standing between the courts
  Less good points:
  
• The courts: only one was "world-standard" to me, and even that one wasn't "perfect". The other courts were just too flawed in terms of size and surface
  
• The scoreboard: pieces of A4 paper??
  
• The sound system: I wish there had been a good PA system all weekend long to announce the upcoming games, the origins of the teams, the scores etc...
  
• Goals should have had a deflector in the back so that the ball goes up in the net instead of bouncing straight back out.
  Thanks to Berlin! Marc, Oli, Morgan, Stefan, etc... put a lot of efforts into this.
  

amen yorgo!

fun times indeed. London peeps always good times. Everyone else rocked as well. The manchester & munich peeps were super awesome before berlin too. Aidan, james & alice thanks for the fun. Massive cogs thanks for for letting me in on there polo journey.

Need to go back to the drawing the board and get alot lot better. Some of that polo team play was a pleasure to watch!

Sharing some of my highlights from the weekend:
Playing teams we’ve never played before; Profane Lobotomy (NY), Mortal Wombats and Polocalypse now (Oz), Joel and the Janky Mallets (San Fran), One Team! (Warsaw), Strange Brew (East Van), Polomoto (Dresden) and of course, the ones we know, from Paris (Apologie) and London (BAD and Cosmic).

Thursday Throw-ins on the tiny courts. Dt, Hops and I playing Emilie, Jared and Leon. Fun game.

Rik singing We Are The Robots when L’equipe were on court.
Watching the Roundabout Keirin racing after 4 euro pizzas.
Watching an amazing, hard fought match between BAD and La Schmoove in the losers bracket. After about two minutes of Golden Goal, all three of BAD were up on the schmoove goal, when James Brown hit what appeared to be more of a clearance than a shot and it rolled all the way down court and in. JB actually looked apologetic. (not a highlight seeing London teams take each other out though!)

Alejandro = Barry Handjob
Having an excuse to breakdance.
Seeing Jonny and James Shootthebreeze casually strolling around the courts, Festus sat on the sidelines, beer in hand. I had no idea they were coming to Berlin. Good times.
Table tennis and Choko Crossies with Lebowski.
The food and drink: 1 euro beers served from a giant beer barrel ... 1 euro mango lassies ... steaks & wurst straight off the barbecue!
The final; 5 goals from one player (riding fixed) in 6 minutes. MKE take polo very, very seriously.
Malice making a comeback against Apologies to win – Chukker and Lebowski were awesome.
Well done Berlin Bike Polo, you hosted a good one!

The final; 5 goals from one player (riding fixed) in 6 minutes.

I thought it was 4 minutes?
Either way it was a frickin' great display of precision plays against a team that I thought were one of the most enjoyable to watch throughout the tourney.

iain: forgot about the breakdancing!!! epic battle.

netto wont pass prelim - Who's was this tag?

I could think of a few people. Dick move

It has been there for weeks.

'bike polo world'

amazing weekend this was.
I too couldn't believe my eyes to see Rakan, Chris and Rosie, followed by Jonny - so good to see LON friends supporting our efforts over the sea.
Berlin, thank you, you rocked. All the way.

'bike polo world'

haha, it's like the best theme park EVER! truly awesome weekend.

'dick move'

'dick move'

'count it'

Just back home. Awesome week off. Wish I was playing (although I had a throw-in this evening after the train ride back. Put my shoulder into the wall and was useless, but was nice to be on the court after watching all weekend).

It's not over yet though. D'ham this eve felt like a continuation. One more week!

some photos here, + 150 on film which will take ages ,so don't hold your breath
http://www.flickr.com/photos/borntolose/sets/72157624751466294/

E.T.

Stigmata

Endless entertainment :

..and Julia's penis-shaped pancakes

oh Jono...

I think the less said about that portion of the night the better.

Someone had to step up, the man was desperate...

who snapped this ?

I did, to bad I moved to much, but it was like "oh what is happening there"

so what s the credit ? do u have a flickr or something ?

that ride to berlin was awesome. capital a.

but the bike polo at the worlds that followed was like a double capital a. some fuckin mesmerising polo. some simply beautiful stuff by the uk teams representing. thanks for making me feel proud.

lots of memorable games but will pick out my favourite three:

Apples v Cosmic - 2-2 into a GG that took forever to come. a lot of emotion on that court. all lovely.

BAD v L'Equipe - 3-5. totally brilliant game with each of BAD picking up very different but fantastic goals. but still not enough to undo the fluidity of the swiss and the individual brilliance of manu.

Beaver Boys v Machine Politics (in the winners bracket not the final). 3-4 i think. extraordinary play. fast, controlled, and with some interesting set pieces. joe from MP is my choice of MVP for the tournament.

on top of all the great polo was just seeing so many of you guys out there. and hanging with J & L. in an amazing city.

Was awesome that you came out jonny. Big respect for all those londoners who wern't playing but made the effort to come and support. Polo community is the best I've ever known.

some pics from the weekend:

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=58367&id=1632810241&saved#!/album.php?aid=58367&id=1632810241

bikepolo-shirts @ whbpc

http://www.hardcourtbikepolo.com/?p=2340