Polo: We need more players

I think the main issues are:
1./ Since most people have been playing for a while now it's difficult for newcomers to 'break in'. They feel like they're getting in the way. I think Dan's mentioned this before.
2./ Not enough people cycling in Birmingham and a smaller 'cyclist scene' to draw from.

I think we deal with the first issue okay if it's a friend (i.e. Kat), but when we've had other newcomers they've sometimes dropped out after a bit, like those two guys who showed up a few weeks ago. Maybe the problem simply is too few newcomers, in which case some kind of recruitment drive is the only way to solve that, maybe hitting up the student bike project, flyering and going to critical mass all to promote one Sunday could work.

The small numbers of cyclists in Birmingham is a general problem which I don't think we can have a lot of influence over. Having said that loads of people cycle in Oxford and York and they don't really play polo, so it's obviously not a simple relationship.

1) Having to run another dedicated bike + associated equipment. expense, storage problems and potential for expensive damage to said bike put me off. I can't afford to risk damaging a bike that I need to commute to work on.

2) Stealing play areas off kids so a bunch of 20+ somethings can knock a ball around is a little distasteful (Granted, I'm sure the play areas don't get used much anyway, but it's a perception thing)

We've lent people bikes for ages before, we actually have a lending bike at mine an Fin's at the moment. I think it's unfeasible for newcomers to expect to be (in effect) funded to borrow equipment in the long term if they take up any new sport or hobby. You might borrow a trumpet for a few lessons but eventually you'd want to get your own and would expect to have to do so. I don't think that the cycle speedway approach would work in the long run, what with Neil writing off a wheel a week and people having different requirements from their bikes. Maybe we should make sure we always have a bike to lend there, and make it clear that people are welcome to borrow it.

I understand people's anxiety about sharing courts (because I think it is sharing and not 'kicking kids off), but generally I think we have a good relationship with kids. In the hundreds of times we've been at Calthorpe and Highgate I can only think of a couple of occasions when we've had any aggro, and haven't been able to negotiate a mutually agreeable deal. If that is the perception though, perhaps we do need to make more of an effort to talk to the kids.

That's definitely the longest post I've ever made on this forum.