Birmingham Bike Polo Chat & BS Thread

I present to you my afternoons work, and Birmingham's new super-dead-easy goal frames.

These bike polo goal frames come in 6 pieces connected together with air-tight innertube and right angle combination joints, They are super light weight for transportation yet perfectly stable when standing.

the alpha-numeric memory connection technology (pictured below) means that even the most hungover polo player can erect them.

Finished in gloss white for that contemporary 'Just brought these from Wickes' look that everybody is after nowadays.

...So sling on a net and go score some goals

My main concern has never been the courts, but raising the money. Inc materials, accommodation, venue/space hire(?).
Chris and I regularly look for polo funding for schools, but it would be harder for us to fit the grant criteria.
I'm not sure the city council would be willing or able to fund us without a serious amount of pressure and favours.

So shit's about to get serious. I think it's time we became a formal group with a constitution and bank account. This will make it far easier to approach sponsors/council/funders. I'm happy to do all the admin leg work as long as people are willing to contribute.

Isn't this what other people have been saying for ages. Were not trying to get the council to fund us anyway. Most of the work has already been done through Nimble and Matt can host people in the warehouse cant he.

Nice one on the goals!

Thursday is still on - let's form an non-profit organisation then.

Money is going to be a bitch, but nobody expects much from us on our first tournament.

Agenda

1. BHBPA
   
2. Tournament
   
3. location
   
4. funding
   
5. insurance
   
6. job roles
   
7. accommodation
   
8. barriers
   
9. bits and bobs like gazebos/laptops/generator?/food?
   
   

Please add to above if/when you think of anything.

Meeting - Thursday 8:15pm Dan's house

1. Danwentskiing
   
2. Hyper
   
3. EMM
   4.
   5.
   
   

Agenda

1. BHBPA
   
2. Tournament
   
3. location
   
4. funding
   
5. insurance
   
6. job roles
   
7. accommodation
   
8. barriers
   
9. bits and bobs like gazebos/laptops/generator?/food?
   
10. Beginners day - what's the plan
    
11. Teams for the season
    
    

I'll type up the minutes, then share them via emails

Meeting - Thursday 8:15pm Dan's house

1. Danwentskiing
   
2. Hyper
   
3. EMM
   4.
   5.
   
   

Agenda

1. BHBPA
   
2. Tournament
   
3. location
   
4. funding
   
5. insurance
   
6. job roles
   
7. accommodation
   
8. barriers
   
9. bits and bobs like gazebos/laptops/generator?/food?
   
10. Beginners day - what's the plan
    
11. Teams for the season
    
12. What's going on with Tuesdays?
    
13. 6pm at Highgate or 8.30pm at Calthorpe? Bloody kids etc etc.
    
14. Return to Wednesdays?
    

Also, the goals cost £22 in bits, so, ***if they work fine ***, please feel free to donate to me and my belly.

Meeting - Thursday 8:15pm Dan's house

1. Danwentskiing
   
2. Hyper
   
3. EMM
   
4. n3il
   5.
   
   

Agenda

1. BHBPA
   
2. Tournament
   
3. location
   
4. funding
   
5. insurance
   
6. job roles
   
7. accommodation
   
8. barriers
   
9. bits and bobs like gazebos/laptops/generator?/food?
   
10. Beginners day - what's the plan
    
11. Teams for the season
    
12. What's going on with Tuesdays?
    
13. 6pm at Highgate or 8.30pm at Calthorpe? Bloody kids etc etc.
    
14. Return to Wednesdays?
    
    
    
    

Dan, can I pick that tyre up too?

Also, the goals cost £22 in bits, so, ***if they work fine ***, please feel free to donate to me and my belly.

We should maybe start running a membership subscription thing for little things like this. It'd pay for balls too.

Dan, can I pick that tyre up too?

Yes.

Another point for the meeting which we should do then and there.

I think we need to streamline the website. Consolidate and shorten lots of info about rules, players, bikes etc on the 'about' page.
Also we should put a page up for Asim's Polo Shop.

Matt sweet goals.

I don't think we should have a membership charge. Better to do fundraisers.

Can we move all the bike checks to the bikes section of the website?

I am a pretty inept bloggist, but I'll see what I can do to spruce things up a bit.

Upper Court

http://i.imgur.com/37brW.jpg

Lower Court

http://i.imgur.com/Q9Fxv.jpg

Upper Court gaps/traps

Lower court gap along roadside.

Untitled on Vimeo

awesome work fin

Matt and I checked out the Hagley Road courts. One day, when we can get £5+k in sponsorship it'll make a great 4-court tournament venue, but for now, boards would be too much. Even massiver courts than Small Heath, which divided in two would work really well.

A closer look at Small Heath and the top court is better than I originally thought (needs a few big panels to cover the footie goals and maybe 10-20 2x4"s to plug the bottom gaps, but that's it). The bottom court is more problematic - if we have the money we should board the entire length of the road side with bar-height boards. If we don't we'll have to board the entire lenght with 4x6" planks and tell people to be careful about charging down that edge due to the potential to catch bars...

And there are two drains on that court. One is probably okay, but the other will need to be covered somehow. It's looking like an 'A' and 'B' court situation...

One court for tourney games while throw-ins go on on the bottom court would be good. If you got knocked out early, you could just play throw in all day and we could not bother with a complicated swiss round and have a simple knock out, FA cup style.

I did a quick costing last night. £150 for the plywood with 20cm boards around the perimeter of both courts, plus extra panels for goals and openings (wickes).

@ Neil We'd need two courts to do 32 teams. 1 court would mean prob only 4 rounds of swiss then maybe even single elim = not good.

Can we rent from a firm that does shops when the windows have been put through? then we don't have to store/dispose afterwards.
should be be stealing from roadworks for the gaps at the bottom? those red and white plastic legnths might work.

Do you intend to keep the wood afterwards in case of a 2nd tournament at a later date? If not why not get cheap hardboard instead of ply? If there's heavy rain forecast i take it you would call off the tournament so you wouldn't have to worry about the hardboard turning to weetabix

Looking at the photos again, in some areas unsupported hardboard wouldn't be strong enough, but wouldn't be OK in those areas where theres only just about a ball's gap

Maybe you could get some offcuts from a local kitchen fitting company (laminate worktop)

Hyper - I don't think we need 20cm boards running the whole way round either of the courts. 20-30 2m lengths of 2x4" can plug the gaps and present a smooth enough surface not to cause too many weird bounces, and also be easily installed. On such a big court you spend less time against the barriers anyway, and I don't remember weird bounces being an issue when we played there before.

Either way, I really think we're going to need permission from the council or whoever to use it for the weekend. MG is meeting with British Cycling and Sustrans tomorrow, so maybe we'll know more then.

Stu - I don't think calling off a tournament is an option. People book time off work/trains/accommodation etc etc. We'd just have to deal with whatever the weather threw at us.

@ Neil We'd need two courts to do 32 teams. 1 court would mean prob only 4 rounds of swiss then maybe even single elim = not good.

Also not valid for National Series or National Champs.

Dan, 2x4 is way overkill! Pine would be WELL expensive. Also how would you attach them? You couldn't just leave them loose in the gap

I suggest the easiest way to fix small gaps like this would be to cut a skirting-board size piece of hardboard to fit snugly between each pair of blue posts. Then place it flat against the green fencing. Drill 3 pairs of holes in line with the gaps in the green fencing, one pair at each end, one pair in the middle. Then use 3 cable-ties (with washers to stop them pulling through) to strap them to the fencing.