Birmingham Bike Polo Chat & BS Thread

Hmmm judging by the turnout for Thursday, it sounds as if people like me and Stu (and usually Neil actually!) are gonna be stuck in the slower games again if last night's 'fast' game was anything to go by. I know I'm struggling to get to grips with freewheel (sorry!) but it would still be nice to play harder games. Can we make sure the fast games are actually shuffled between A and B players (especially as a lot of people are really inbetween) and not just picked by somebody? May be more of an issue in future with higher turnouts but worth noting now!

I think we're good at mixing abilities and swapping players to balance teams.

We only had one 'fast' game last night and that was picked so Dan and I could get some practice. We're essentially asking the whole brum polo fam to helps us prep for bristol, not singling people out as slow. I'm certain the same support will be there for iLL Pigs when yous want to prep for brighton. After bristol it'll be business as usual!

'Fast' games allow a more competitive (i.e. tournament style) game for faster/more experienced players. 'Slow' games allow for newer players to play various positions and not be stuck in goal.

Oof, I just wrote out a lengthy reply to this in disagreement but perhaps before Bristol was the wrong time to bring it up. I'm not begrudging giving you guys prep time (clearly, as I've sat in goal plenty of times while you and Dan try out your new link ups) and was mainly talking about future practices because it's been an issue in the past - you only have to read back through this thread.

I get what both of you are saying, and this is something we need to resolve as turnouts increase. What I assume nobody wants is a whole night of random throw ins where nobody plays at their level, fast players dick around doing stupid show-off moves, and newer players get stuck in goal or never touch the ball, or get unrealistically 'set up' by better players.

Seeding kind of worked in at least making it more obvious who was where, maybe we should use that to help organise games?

We seem to have more consistent turnout from around 12 people now, maybe we should try a mini league again?

I temper my comments a bit because I'm distinctlly b-standard at the moment!

In no way do I think 'fast' and 'slow' games are perfect but there isn't a viable alternative. I think 1 or 2 games out of 15+ shuffles isn't asking for much and benefits the majority of players across the spectrum.

Can we make sure the fast games are actually shuffled between A and B players (especially as a lot of people are really inbetween) and not just picked by somebody?

I don't mind there being a mixture of players, but someone has to say where the cut-off is. Maybe the next-six (after Stabbath) seeded players? It seems like everyone thinks they're a B player.

In no way do I think 'fast' and 'slow' games are perfect but there isn't a viable alternative.

They are just the best solution a few of us have come up with, with limited/no input from most people who play, so I assume they don't care. Someone must be able to apply some maths to this shit and come up with a perfect solution.

In no way do I think 'fast' and 'slow' games are perfect but there isn't a viable alternative. I think 1 or 2 games out of 15+ shuffles isn't asking for much and benefits the majority of players across the spectrum.

I agree it's not much but in this instance we're talking about whole days (especially Sundays when other players actually bother to turn up) where people are stuck in the slow group. For example, whoever said this a few weeks ago:

The two groups thing doesn't work very well imho. we have more than 6 fast players, its frustrating being a fast player in the slow games for the whole day...
You're inclined to think it benefits the majority because you're part of the majority. However, what I see as the issue (I'm thinking of the future of polo and how to improve it) is that fairly soon you won't be the majority...
I don't mind there being a mixture of players, but someone has to say where the cut-off is. Maybe the next-six (after Stabbath) seeded players? It seems like everyone thinks they're a B player.
At the minute, I think the seeding is skewed because we're putting people into categories to make up numbers. For example. I don't think we've got 6 A players at all, I think we've got 3 or 4 and then a mixture of higher skilled B players and those B players who are not beginners anymore but still improving their skills. I was seeded as a B player last year when in reality I was still a C player because you'd bumped B players up to make numbers in the A player category. it's not just an issue here though, it's the same in London but the difference is they have the numbers to facilitate nights that are specifically to help whichever kind of player improve whereas we don't. The other difference as Dan pointed out is that some people don't give a shit and can't be bothered to input their opinion and others do... at the minute with the varied attendance and uneven numbers of A, B, C players there isn't a solution that I can work out though so I guess we just try to mix it up as best we can : /

Maybe with the upcoming UKHBPA meeting, we need to have a pub session after polo to chat about various things anyway and so we can discuss it then.

I think we need to clarify what we're talking about when we say 'a/b/c' players. None of the top three Birmingham players are 'a' players in a global, or even national sense. We're just dividing Birmingham into thirds as it seems most logical considering there are three people on a team, and until recently we didn't get more than 9 people playing at any one time.

On the up side, if we do what I suggested tonight then all those mid-level players get a chance to play every game so surely that compensates a bit?

I sympathise though, and think we need a way of rotating people who are in that b-level into faster games. We only manually chose a fast team on Tuesday because we only had one chance.

Went for a curry last night with windsurfing people - 2 more down for the polo beginner taster day!

Dan, you're right. I consider an A player in our local sense as someone who is always consistent in their speed, ball handling and shooting. We have a few of those and then several players who are sometimes. Maybe we should try out Small Heath when we have bigger turnouts - 2 courts for optimum playing time. It did work well when we had 9 but now we're growing! Anyway, maybe we should see if these bigger turnouts are going to continue before we do anything. It's all my fault, listening to the B players bitch at other scenes these past few weeks put it into my head and I didn't want it to happen here.

@ Stu - Awesome. I have two people who've mentioned starting over Easter too. Maybe now would be a good time for us to set up that event?

For UKHBPA meeting:

okay so the first UKHBPA meeting
Can every rep please ask players in their city what they would like to be bought up in the meeting? (take a couple of points you want answered into the meeting) but as for the main subjects of the meeting (I am just drafting) they will be the following:

-Introduction to the UKHBPA, talk about aims and objectives etc.
-UK champs, where will it be? who will organise it? when?
-Euro qualifiers, this is important. where will it be? when? format?
-Rules, any current problems in the ruleset? would anyone like to see a change?
-Reffing duties
and more..

This is just me saying what i think needs to be discussed, if you think I have missed a main point please add to the list.

Also, the Tournament meeting with the council/head of sports/british cycling is the 2nd April. If we get the courts confirmed that week, it gives us just under 3 months to raise money, get sponsors and sort the logistics if we go ahead with the 30th June - 1st July. Does that sound like enough time or should I start pestering people now?

Me again... !

One last thing. I told Tim of Wolverhampton bike shed that if 6 of us were free on the 3rd June (a Sunday) we'd go and play polo over there for their open day. They have a decent enough court judging by their videos but I'm gonna pop over one day to check it out anyway. They're hoping to get kids making their own polo bikes and already have a few players who knock around now and then. It'd be nice to help 'em out?

I actually have to do some work now...

I'd happily do this.Its a lovely day isn't it! wish we could bring polo forward a few hours and i could get out of work...

has anyone got a chain that could buy off them, that wont snap?

also any material for for wheel covers?

what size chain? i've got an old one, i'll bring it to polo tonigh tif you want. i think its 3/32.

No-one likes sitting out more than one game in a row, and that's where the difficulty lies with more than 12.

From what I've worked out with these numbers (12), we should be able to make 4 teams of 3 (randomly shuffled) and play winner stays on for the first game, then each team on for 2 games thereafter, this will mean everyone sits out two games at a time, but from Jess' perspective the important word being 'everyone'.

It's not my invention, we do it with 9 players (3 teams) and once we've done a round (4 games) we grand shuffle, regardless of who just sat out, and start again.

4 teams called A,B,C,D would look like this:

A V B (A wins)
A V C (Doesn't matter who wins)
C V D
D V B

Grand shuffle - Start again

Any more than 12 and we can throw them into a team as a fourth player, they can then play the first of the 2 games, trading with a team mate for the second game.

If you feel hard done by in this system, it will last 4 games then we grand shuffle. If lady luck gazzumps somebody twice in a row, then we can manually edit it to make it fairer.

any good?

I'm not sure I understand, but we can try it out next week.

I think any system has to take account of turnouts not-divisible by three which doesn't depend on people volunteering to sit out.

For tonight let's go with Black Stabbath playing every other game. You lot can sort out who we play, but we'd prefer to play faster players more often.

Also, any feedback about how we're playing (doesn't have to be constructive, I can take it) will be appreciated.

I understand the points made but no one has come up with a solution to the problem.

This is my perspective.
'Throw ins' allow us to practice polo with lots of different people (A,B,C) - this allows people to develop their skills but is still limited.

'Fast/Slow' games allow us to practice competitive polo against opponents of roughly the same level. (London have different days for different levels. We're replicating that but only for 1 or 2 games)

However! Mid ranked players often get caught in limbo.
So! As we are growing, how about we try doing [majority] A games, [majority] B games, [majority] C games?

Examples games;

1. [a,a,b]
   
2. [b,b,a]
   
3. [b,b,c]
   
4. [c,c,b]
   
   

This allows for a bit of overlap but also means people have time to grow especially beginners who have said in the past that it can be intimidating playing at a fast pace.

A form of marking on mallets would make that idea less of a clusterfuck..not as in a bad idea..but from the prospective of 'who's malllet is this??'

Good idea Hyper, and good addition 2squeak. Let's try that next time.

Do we have to do tedious re-seeding? Nobody wants to be the person telling four people they are 'c' players; if it's a consensus view it's easier to accept.

I'm going to do one this week for my super - carrera if thats ok.
I'f anyone else wants me to do theirs I can too - i was going to make a crib sheet that everyone could fill in (like toptrumps) for each persons bikes - we could also make some stickers/flyers with them on.

Neil - that would be great. Let me know if you need any information.

Thanks everyone for letting us get team games in last night. From what I saw, the throw-in games were as competetive as our ones! Some seriously fast games in there, and most people eager to chase the ball hard and fast.

Stu's shooting has suddenly improved as well. Maybe I was wrong about his Thor mallet.

Probably not though.

For Sale:

Mangoose Maurice - Frame + Forks (+ seatpost, seatclamp). Size XL. £30. Will clean up and remove stickers before sale. 50% goes to ladies army polo fundraiser!!!

Follow Bristol results here: http://challonge.com/bristolns2012

Black Stabbath won their first game, as did Danny's team, as did my team!

Asim do you have any poles left? I am in need on one?