Birmingham Bike Polo Chat & BS Thread

[QUOTE=CasaSteve;2708308]Uploaded the photos I was snapping today if anyone is interested :)

http://www.flickr.com/photos/casa-steve/sets/72157626792766645/with/6904443709/

Some lovely photos in there Steve. I particularly like the one of me (obvs) from behind, doing a big back swing, as MG arrives, and the one with Asim saying 'Ffffu' as he concedes a goal (with his foot on the ground). There's definitely a meme in that one. Would you be okay with me putting a few on birminghambikepolo.com?

Also, Asim got a lot better today again. He's in that early Claudbutler period where he's started to score goals, and you feel this kind of vicarious pride. I've definitely noticed he's putting more effort in - chasing balls back into defensive positions rather than just letting them go.

I made a hero gif for you n3il!

quoted for the new page!

There's definitely a meme in that one. Would you be okay with me putting a few on birminghambikepolo.com?

No probs at all, just stick a credit in somewhere :)

Top quality blocking from Squeaker there. He is underrated in that respect. If only he'd stop ball jointing, and pass to people with vaginas...

One more :)

Those are the only action sets of shots I managed to get in my limited time.

Should of edited a trollface onto Fin ;)

Just put some on the FB page.

Also, Asim got a lot better today again. He's in that early Claudbutler period where he's started to score goals and gets really cocky about it.

ftfy. I actually think Mya was the most underrated player of today, her positioning was much better, she was calling people and putting in some sweet blocks!

the one sunday I'm not there and you have a photoshoot...

I actually think Mya was the most underrated player of today, her positioning was much better, she was calling people and putting in some sweet blocks!

How magnanimous!

You're right though. There were no grudge matches, but the newer players all excelled. I think everyone is getting better at strategic blocking too. That one where you actually scared me and made me squeal was particularly good.

I flipping love polo!

One more :)

Those are the only action sets of shots I managed to get in my limited time.

Another good defensive decision by Asim - focus on the guy with the ball, and block his/her line. These gifs and video footage make post-game analysis so much more fun, and draw attention to selfless team players rather then repetetive goal scorers.

I've watched some of the footage, so ill get something up soon, the game you filmed dan is ace, the angle is good, and me stu and mya rip neil's team apart

Ha - yeah, I think getting high up shows the game much better. We really should have done some fast games with team t-shirts. Next time...

Thanks for all the love peeps. just trying to do my thing, enjoying blocking and would like to get better at shooting. I think I am best at positional support and blocking for a stronger shooter at the moment. but its all early days at the moment.

Oh and thanks Jess for stealing my thunder once again :-P lol just kidding :)

much love

Asim

@casasteve Thanks for sorting out that gif makes me look really fast, steaming past the competition. The fivers in the post :)

Asim

Awful pass (or is it a shot?) from Neil though - what was he thinking? Great way to gift the opposition a break. I bet Hyper scored from that, or at least endlessly circled goal waiting for a chance to pass to a noob.

Small Heath courts measure up as approx 27x40m. Which means we could have two large courts or four small courts of London Open size 20x27m.

If everyone is still happy with these courts and a potential date of 30th June-1st July, I have set up a meeting with the Head of Sport & Physical Activity and the British Cycling Recreational Officer for early March and can press on for help with the relevant arrangements and financial help we will need. I have worked with both women before and genuinely think they will do all they can to help. When I know more details and the exact date of the meeting, I'll post it up.

Good work Jess - I think if we can get money for barriers, smaller courts would be better, as people are used to those sizes. And with four courts, everyone would get a huge amount of games, or we could do it all in one day if we had to. It would take some military-level organisation on the day, but would be cool.

This might be stupid but I was thinking two small courts for swiss rounds and then one big court for play offs? Spectating would be much better. It seems at the minute general consensus is people want bigger courts though? Maybe we should play on them a few more times and see how it goes...

It's probably worth playing there again, but the gaps make it really annoying. Gotta just deal with it I suppose.

I'm sure the uber-teams like massive courts, but rubbish-to-mid teams are probably fine on the usual size one. To have a close and skilful game, all 6 players need to be fast, energetic and able to make and receive very fast/hard passes. We're a long way off that in Brum, and there's probably only 10-20 players in the UK who can make a big court work well.

I thought I would really love playing on a bigger court, but the (admittedly few) games we played were pretty rubbish.

Rubbish for you Dan, i thought they were ace!

Awful pass (or is it a shot?) from Neil though - what was he thinking? Great way to gift the opposition a break. I bet Hyper scored from that, or at least endlessly circled goal waiting for a chance to pass to a noob.

Its a pass/cross to Simon but there really wasn't enough power on it...

I really enjoyed them too. We should play there again with Fin, etc than maybe invite Manchester or Cambs for a one day round robin and see what other people think?

Rubbish for you Dan, i thought they were ace!

You're full-mental though. You're seriously saying you enjoyed those games more than the ones afterwards at Highgate? For me it was like night and day.

I bloody hate triple goalie/forced shot/long ball/counterattack/one-on-one/tap-in polo!

MG and EMM both liked it though, so it looks like I'm in the minority.

I think both courts are equally good, for different reasons. I struggled on the small heath court with a fixed gear though because the breaks were much faster and my gearing was max-ed out. When we came back to highgate I think some of the energy from the fast-paced games was transferred onto the smaller court, making the games really quick. I think if I was playing on the small heath courts at the tourney and the courts were divided into 2 small, one large, I'd change from fixed to free depending on the court.

Tech question: Has there ever been a hub produced where you can switch from fixed to free with a thumb shifter? They now have bmx hubs that you can roll forward and back on without pedalling...

Some top-notch spreading out right there. Looks like the wales killing that poor seal in that recent Attenborough programme.

After a few last night this quote had me pissing myself...funny as ;)

I'm addicted to ball jointing im sorry, is there rehab for these kind of things??

I love the ball joint pass around the rear/back wheel.....handy move i think.

Be down Sunday for a couple of hours =)