Birmingham Bike Polo Chat & BS Thread

Everyone should read this, been meaning to post this for a while.

http://www.maxpowercycles.de/technical-stuff/

Going to try and get back to birmingham next week for some practise, many people about wednesday?

Sweet, yeah weds are usually pretty busy. Weather looks good too.

http://www.justin.tv/bhbpatv

Got a 2:1!

Looks like I'll be playing polo in Norwich for the forseeable future :(

Well done stu! Is that a job in Norwich?

Thanks. After speaking with the supervisor of that PhD I mentioned a while ago, I was advised to do a masters instead due to my lack of lab experience, to put me in a better position to apply for the studentship next year. The entry requirements for the masters is a 2:1, so pretty confident I'll get it

Go Stu
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sx7OeTFm8C0

^ badass

Good work. Back for graduation in July? Polo as well?

My graduation day photos will probably look a bit different to those of my colleagues I think...

(my mum was not best pleased when she found out I'd be in Fuerte on the day, haha!)

I'm sure I'll be playing with/against some of you at some point

Someone left a franklin red ball on sunday, I've got it when you need it.

Discussion about allowing shuffles as goals on lobp. Shall we try a few games to see how it plays out?

Instinctively, I think shuffles should be allowed, but I've never played a game with them, so maybe we should try.

Tournament level speed and competitiveness last night. Seriously awesome. Good to have Andy back and Jess' London experience has clearly made her a much better player, especially in defence. I got properly scared at times playing so fast and close (especially against Neil Cruncher Nelson) but it's better to get used to that.

+1

You had some awesome pace on you dan. You managed to close down some breaks in the 'ill pigs' game, even though you started a whole bike length behind!

I think we should play a few games, if not a day, of shuffles.

It's the high b/b on my Marino, and my new commuting/training regime. Also, tightening the fuck out of my shoes before fast games. With such a high b/b you can pedal through even mega-tight turns, so I'm already on top of my gear by the time I start to straighten up, whilst all you other chumps have to wait or risk an EMM/Hyper enthusiasm-bail.

I played in the shuffle tournament and several throw-ins where shuffles were allowed and in my opinion it didn't really change the game much. It is actually quite difficult to shoot or pass with speed by shuffling (unless you're Josh Tree or Cohen) so most goals were little touches in. It's the future I reckon...

Tournament level speed and competitiveness last night. Seriously awesome. Good to have Andy back and Jess' London experience has clearly made her a much better player, especially in defence...her shooting's still rubbish.

Ftfy. It was really good to see Birmingham playing much faster, although it's still a different kind of game you're all playing - you have one or two people almost playing solo and it's great to see you improving so much but you're still on a team remember. I try to play a lot more tactically now, thinking about where the ball's going instead of where it is, blocking the other attacking player like in football. I know my shot is weak so I try to set up nice plays and break from goal in counter-plays drawing attackers with me then dropping the ball for my own attacker. This works way more in Birmingham because everybody still follows the ball!

My cleats and pedals are fucked from hopping around so much :(

I think our game is different, but not stylistically worse. We have a wider skills gap in Brum, so it's tempting for the better players to adopt a heads-down, DIY approach.

Having said that, I reckon average London players/teams do the opposite. They get so used to being kept out of range of their opponents goal that they always leather shots from mid- to long-range.

We have the element of surprise as our advantage. They have more experience of closer games.

This works way more in Birmingham because everybody still follows the ball!

I don't think this is true. We're all getting really good at spreading play across the court and communicating where we are.

I think we're also 'fast' as a scene. We've played/sent teams to a number of tourneys now where others have commented on how fast we are. I think to us it's just normal speed because we're used to it. We have 4ndy to thank for that, and I think it's evident most weeks that we've continued this fast-paced play even though hes gone.

We're all getting more used to/better at accepting 'rough' play here and there, rather than being shocked by some Lucas/Neil/Asim mega-barge.

Yeah, Andy winning all of the charges in Brighton confirmed in my mind he's one of the fastest players around, so if you can control his breaks, you can control most people's. The difficulty comes when playing 'dynamic' teams like Spring Break, where you're struggling to keep on top of their outfield players and they let the goalie break.

I reckon we're as good as anyone with our communication too. At Bristol and Brighton, it seemed like we were more vocal than any of our opponents. Some people are still a bit quiet (Gunja, Dave, Little Chris) and shouldn't worry about looking like a dick to be asking for the ball. I'd much rather pass off when I'm closely marked/against a wall/in a corner than to try to dribble out of it. If you fluff it, who cares, fair play for being in the right position.

^^ It worked most times I did it on Wednesday, leaving a clear receive and shot for the attacker. Not that it matters.

Sorry, I disagree. Being fast as a scene and having one or two fast players is completely different. You have sent Black Stabbath to tournaments and people have commented on Dan and Andy's speed. That is the fastest I've ever seen Birmingham play, I was pretty full of cold but I was shattered afterwards!

It's good that everyone is getting used to close and physical play but it makes me wonder how far it will go in the game in the future...it means having to ref throw-ins so people don't get hurt and it makes reffing really hard in general anyway, especially for things like riding through handlebars/invading the cockpit. I would say though that people need to start wearing pads and helmets, it's been touched on before but I hate stopping a game and everyone pandering weekly to someone who's fallen off and hurt their arm/knee/head because they're not dressed appropriately.

this thread is lolz.

London open last year, someone said to me and Andy 'boy, you guys are fast' at Cambridge bench minor people said we all had good pace. But I defo reckon the whole scene is quick OG Chris can blow when he wants, Mya's outpacing me and dan more and more and even Neil finds fifth once or twice a week.

I reckon it's true what Dan said ages ago though. He said the reason he wins balls in Brum is not his speed as such, but his ability to brake better (thus later) than everybody else. This leads to something else we're all improving on (with fin taking the lead) close, precise ball control.

I think the pads thing for throw-ins is subjective. I like hurting myself once in a while, if I didn't, I'd wear more pads.

When someone crashes it's more the shock of the crash that slows the game down and causes everyone to check they're OK. That and the fact that we're all friends, and it's just courteous.

this thread is lolz.

Just. Can't. Leave it. Alone.

Though.

So, Lucas (this is Tracee) fractured his wrist at polo yesterday. In a temp cast today and they will set it tomorrow. Of course, still wants to play this weekend, lol! He said he can just move the brake to the other side ;)