Birmingham Bike Polo (Wednesday nights / Sundays - info in the thread)

I'll bring some snacks and drinks, anyone got preference? Cheese and crackers avec apple juice?

I'll bring small exotic cakes

I'll bring small erotic cakes

ftfy

It's gone all Barry in here...

!clocks went back!
nice vid

Polo dad Dan, could you possibly collate your observations from today and write up a post polo report in the BS thread please? TVM.

To be honest, there's not a lot I can add to what I said before the games. I still think that most goals are the result of defensive errors rather than attacking skill, but I don't know how to resolve that. Coaching was even harder than I expected, or perhaps I'm just especially poor at it. You can't watch 6 players, so you end up doing what I was doing, moaning at people for taking 'wild shots'.

I think the throw-in/shuffle system doesn't help. Weaker/newer players focus on scoring goals, because they think that's the way to raise their status, but they would win more games and become stronger players by focusing on their positioning and defence (as it takes ages to become a strong attacking player). Stronger players don't feel it's worth anything to win so they either fuck around with massive slapshots/risky passes/trickshots (I'm more guilty of this than anyone) or become overly generous with 'setting up' or 'bringing in' the weaker players even if it means their team loses and they get a false idea of their attacking prowess.

I think the ABC teams that we shuffled into were the best way of overcoming those issues, and I feel those games are genuinely competetive and encourage 'good' play but it's totally flawed; what do we do when players aren't present, what about people outside the top-9, what about people who are away half the time due to work/uni/injury/schedules etc? These are the kind of things people need to think about before we have a meeting...

It's always going to be a difficult balancing act when we have 6-ish firm regulars, and a floating network of probably 10 players who we want to encourage to keep coming as often as they can.

Nowt personal and no offense intended Dan, but the above makes polo sound tedious. Personally I have no aspirations to graduate into the polo premier league / happy being seeded DFL, I just want to play polo..for fun, not trophies,natural polo with mixed teams, I like the randomness. I didn't think 'underground' street sports were about conforming to a tactical text book...?

Yeah, I didn't mean it to sound negative, and I hope there's always a place for people to come along and have a laugh, but I think ultimately it's a team game and a competetive game. I have done my fair share of underground/individual/non-competetive sports precisely for the reasons you pointed out.

The challenge we have in Birmingham (and probably all scenes smaller than London) is making polo equally fun and engaging for people who want to progress and have challenging games, and people who want to play more casually and not get obsessive about it. ABC teams and fast/beginner games are our attempts so far. If we catered exclusively for non-competetive players through 100% random/throw-in games, I'd have got bored long ago, and I suspect we'd have less players, not more.

Today was an experiment; seeing if active feedback helped people progress (I think everyone who was there today is in the 'more serious' category, but maybe I'm wrong). To be honest, I don't think it did.

Polo dad Dan, could you possibly collate your observations from today and write up a post polo report in the BS thread please? TVM.

For the record I think you have improved a lot since I've been away, engaging people more firmly and holding your own, but could improve your awareness by being more 'heads up' and not over committing on the attack. Lucas I think was a stand-out, especially in one game towards the end, where he was racing all over the place, winning tackles, making runs and passes (great support and positioning - I don't think he took a shot!) I think he used his size advantage better since he lost most of it, oddly...

Neil always plays for the team and uses space intelligently, I just wish he would try harder/pedal faster, but then his calmness is an asset, not a weakness. Matt did some great goals, but he needs to go freewheel/get a better bike (he'd be one of our best if he did that I reckon). Monty got better as the day went on, and did his fair share in goal (big thumbs up!) - it's tough being 10 years younger than everyone, but his confidence grows all the time.

Fin and Andy don't need any encouragement!

Yeah, do it Matt, go freewheel! I wanna be the only geared rider at alleycats and the only fixed rider at polo

#onlyonedoingitright

Yeah, do it Matt, go freewheel! I wanna be the only geared rider at alleycats and the only fixed rider at polo

#onlyonedoingitright

until someone buys my BSA i'll be geared at alleycats too...

6 Wed bakery

Emm

i'll be at the bakery for 6 too.

6 Wed bakery

Emm
N3il
MG
Asim

6 Wed bakery

Emm
N3il
MG
Asim
Hyper

6 Wed bakery

Emm
N3il
MG
Asim
Hyper
RAZ P IN YOUR NEIGHBOURHOOD

I'm coming to the bakery for a bite to eat and to give Rob birthday bumps.

I was just swanning about wasting time on a train when I came across this thread.

I still think that most goals are the result of defensive errors rather than attacking skill, but I don't know how to resolve that...

...Weaker/newer players focus on scoring goals, because they think that's the way to raise their status, but they would win more games and become stronger players by focusing on their positioning and defence (as it takes ages to become a strong attacking player).

I mostly agree with you but I'd like to clarify.

1) Most goals are scored on the counter-attack rather than the attack - scored as one player breaks away down the court as the rest of the players are still trying to turn around.

2) Most balls are stolen in passing rather than in heroic one on one mallet fights.

3) Playing well is a passing game and about controlling the other teams court-space.

From this I am NOT saying "don't pass"; what I am saying is that you should be forcing the OTHER team to pass much much more.
*
The team without ball posession has two roles on court.*

1) One member should be trying to force the ball carrier to pass, putting them under as much pressure as possible. This member should be blocking off all lines of movement available to the attacking player, pushing them into useless parts of the court and hustling them to not have any shots on/near goal. You should be trying to get the ball loose, knock it free and out, but remember when you try to steal the ball that you are in essence trying to steal it for your team member and not for yourself.

2) the second member should be facing in such a direction that they can get to the other teams goal faster than anyone else on court, whilst trying to cut off all possible passes. this is the more difficult role as it involves a lot of rotating and movement on the court as the opposing team tries to find a break FOR passes.

For this to work you need to play quite dynamically and be able to switch between roles pretty instantly. You're trying to create desperation passes so you can take 'em straight to a quick break.
*
As for teams WITH ball possession.*

Spend your time working around the court trying to look for that magical breakaway. You're trying to bunch up both of the opposing players in one part of the court so that you essentially have one player free on his/her own while the other is on two players.

The other thing you're trying to do is have both players counter-rotating against each other to enable quick drops between players and change play direction. This also helps if the ball changes over (if you have two players travelling in opposite directions you are more likely to have one which is able to catch an errant player breaking away during a counter-attack. Your attacks should be tentative, making sure you cover your defense until you find a break/

If you've not got a shot on goal, don't just smash it in anyway, it will only give the ball to the other team.

I hope that makes sense and I hope it helps.

There are many different ways to play. I know a lot of people do this naturally but personally I found analysing it and writing it down got it into my head and raised my game immensely.

Colin
Edinburghbikepolo.com

...From this I am NOT saying "don't pass"; what I am saying is that you should be forcing the OTHER team to pass much much more...

I agree. What new players tend to do too often (esp when blocked into the side/wall) is make blind passes into open space. While in the short term it stops your counterpart hussling you, more often than not it leads to a break for the opposing team.

Possession is key in bike polo. Some of the best players i've seen (Manu, David, Elena) keep possession at all costs, even if they've had to circle the goal 5 times before they can get a clear shot/pass.

oy Allah! European Cycle Messenger Championships are in Edinburgh this year! BE THERE!

Yeah - I agree with what you're saying Colin.

Part of the problem I had whilst half-heardtedly 'coaching' was a lack of vocabulary to explain what I was on about. The best I could boil it down to was distinguishing between having an **engaging player **and a holding player, but that these roles constantly change according to court position.

When defending the engaging player should be hustling, tackling, engaging the person on the ball and making their life difficult, whilst the holding player blocks the passing line and looks for an interception.

On the attack, the engaging player has possession, rides around keeping possession and looks to dribble to a shooting opportunity, while the holding player blocks or draws one defender away from the goal area *or * he rides around, holds possession and makes space for the holding player to get into a killer pass-receiving position, at which point he passes and the roles are reversed.

There's obviously a lot more to polo, but I think it's this aspect which really confuses beginners and leads to people following each other around and leaving huge spaces for breaks/1-on-1s to occur.

I concur with Colin, the only goals I ever score are when I steal the ball and the opposite team are busy falling over each other /facing the wrong way.

Did you type all that on a phone... :|

It's spitting in HG but im leaving in 15