Tourney: WHBPC 2011: Seattle 08-11.09.2011

I feel like I'm in court.

Courting controversy... As per...

Strong regional polo tournaments > Good courts at all tournaments

IMO

^ what does that even mean?

I think to have an aim to get better surfaces would be good. And all Major (tourneys that eventually feed into the worlds, Euros Qualifiers, UK Champs*, EHBPC etc) should be on asphalt.

• if it's a qualifier next year, which it should be.
  

Strong regional tournament, to me, means great surface, great boards, great goals, great atmosphere, majority of teams housed. Pretty much in that order.

Great atmosphere needn't even be on there, as it is a result of all the other great elements.

But everyone already aims to have the best surface they can get! Other polo communities cannot just create these great surfaces you speak of out of thin air and there is no way to get the money to build a court: there are no companies lining up to put thousands of pounds into tournaments.

So we use the infrastructure we have. London is lucky to have some decent courts but they are still too small, unlit or have cages round them instead of good boards. So what's the solution?

Some of our 'great' surfaced courts in london also require sweeping.

#justsayinsnoops

I bet this thread becomes the longest thread on here.

WHBPC 2011 - nobody went but boy did we talk about some stuff vaguely relating to it on the internet quite a lot.

yes.

I bet this thread becomes the longest thread on here.

WHBPC 2011 - nobody went but boy did we talk about some stuff vaguely relating to it on the internet quite a lot.

surface discussion isn't even related, from all accounts the surface at the worlds was great.

TBH i think surface is always gonna be an issue. I mean in bristol there are some fantastic courts of amazing size with perfect surface, but these are all only single courts. And when it comes to a tournament with 60+ people coming (as this has often come clear during some tournaments) a single court is just not enough, so the organisisers have to make concessions and this ,more than often, comes at the cost of the surface.

http://leagueofbikepolo.com/forum/rules/2011/09/29/lets-make-this-easier-for-the-refs

This is simply not the case for 90% of tournament attendees, you are looking at it through Cosmic eyes.

What do you mean by that James?

Surface is very important but I wouldn't want that to prevent a tourney happening.
However, like Will said, the bigger tourneys should be played on the best possible surfaces.

I'd rather play on a court which has had some attention and thought, rather than prizes, posters, and t-shirts.

If you're gonna take your game seriously, you should be interested in the surface your playing on.
And Rupert = serious.

What do you mean by that James?

I meant that I thought Rupert was surveying the tournament scene through the eyes of someone playing in a team that goes to tournaments with certain expectations of themselves and aims to play their best polo possible. From this perspective the court is paramount because even if you do well, you can feel like you didn't play good polo the whole weekend and not enjoy the tournament.

Obviously there's nothing wrong with that but it seemed like he wasn't considering that every team has a different reason for attending tournaments and that court surface will not have a big impact on their enjoyment (but the fact that the tournament happens in the first place does have an impact).

Surface is very important but I wouldn't want that to prevent a tourney happening.
However, like Will said, the bigger tourneys should be played on the best possible surfaces.

I'd rather play on a court which has had some attention and thought, rather than prizes, posters, and t-shirts.

If you're gonna take your game seriously, you should be interested in the surface your playing on.
And Rupert = serious.

I agree with everything that has been said above, more or less. It's been great to play so many tournaments in the UK, but it's a shame that the 2 major Champs of this year have been played out on slippy courts. The UK National Series has been a success because it has spread high-quality tournament polo all over the country, and not just kept it in London. On the other hand, I spent + £400 on the EHBPC, I would have happily paid £20 or even £30 to get a grippy court. I would also have been happy to pay extra to make sure that the tournament organisers didn't make a loss (Bristol & Edinburgh).

We have to man up, and, if neccessary, pay higher entry fees to play on better surfaces. Tournament organisers need to know that we, the players, are willing to pay higher entry fees in order to have good facilities. The UK champs would have been perfect, indoor, changing rooms, big enough courts, viewing gallery, clocks (!), except that the surface changed from ok to incredibly & unpredictably slippy as the humidity went up (when the EH guys played on that surface earlier in the week, it was, by all accounts, grippy). That's a learning experience for the organisers & the players.

tl; wish i dr.

no asphalt no polo.

tldr