Tourney: Cambridge Swiss Roll Pre-Barca Warm Up - 5th June

The eventual format was also unfortunately very stilted - the two matches then 2/3 hour break meant too much sitting around and no atmosphere/spectator engagement.

Well, even with Swiss Rounds, or a separate group for Euros teams, there would have still been 2 hour breaks between games, with 22 teams and 1 court there isn't much you can do about that.

Who can enter?

Anyone! It's an open tournament so we'd hope there will be a number of teams from all around the country of all skill levels. This is primarily a tournament to get teams playing of similiar abilities together, to also warm up for Barcelona, but it is not in any way exclusive to the Barca teams.

What's the format?

Swiss Rounds, seeded, or Round Robin - all depends on the number of teams. Time is a luxury we have here. We will need your help with this bit LDN. If anyone fancies it, we could do a lunch/tea break and visit a pub and watch the match (England vs. Switzerland).

We understand this is very short notice, there won't be cool prizes (maybe a Pigeon trophy) or a big projector but it would be great to play more polo in our court. Think of it, if you like, as a training camp for polo, reffing, drinking, and knife fights. Hope to see you there.

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^oops, this is ryan logged in as nik...

@Bill (+ cambridge)

It is fine to quote that extended explanation, but it is still the case that the day was billed as "Swiss Roll pre-Barca Warm-up." As I understood it, it was meant to be a training session for Euros teams. Not all of us have the time to be keeping close tabs on these things. It really ended up being a wasted day for me. I came to get serious practice and didn't get it.

I don't know about the rest of you, but I'm fucking busy, my days are all full, and for me to dedicate an entire day to one thing takes a lot of effort. I appreciate the effort from Cambridge, but the LDN teams should have stayed home and played each other.

Chukkers saying Spring Break..his tweets are a bit funny though :/

Funny like Ricky Gervais?

chukker is a bit funny…

Funny like Chris Rock?

Naughty.

Funny like off milk.

I understand your frustration, but you all knew that cambridge only had one court so i doesn't taken a genius to figure out that with 20+ teams entering your not gonna be able to play as much polo as you'd like. also there was a court (granted a ropey one) a really short ride away which stood unused for most of the day.

Funny like off soy milk.

fff

I understand your frustration, but you all knew that cambridge only had one court so i doesn't taken a genius to figure out that with 20+ teams entering your not gonna be able to play as much polo as you'd like. also there was a court (granted a ropey one) a really short ride away which stood unused for most of the day.

This wasn't really the problem. I'm sure everybody understands that a tournament means you don't get to pick and choose when you play and there will invariably be time spent waiting for games.

The problem was that the day was way out of line with a lot of people's expectations.

I don't think Cambridge can be blamed for the formatting problems. They had been told it was taken care of, but due to unforeseen circumstances, this wasn't the case. John H did a great job of making the best out of a confusing situation.

However, I didn't pay £20 on the train and then £5 entry to play throw-ins on some other "ropey" court.

Thanks for the day Cambridge and well done John for stepping up (once again) for duties.

Agreed the organisation was a little ropey, I think the important thing to learn from is that a one day tournament with one court needs a cap on the number of teams. Whether you do this randomly, or for some "Euros training", or whatever, is completely up to you. Teams not registering on arrival is also irritating as the groups stage would have been completely different (not as long) if 7 additional teams had not just magically appeared once the day had gotten underway. (Swiss Rounds is tough without software and would have caused more issues trying to sort it "ad hoc" in my opinion.)

We also need to add more than 2 minutes to the time between games during tournaments (I suggest giving 3 minutes a try) or need to get better at whipping/swapping between games... you can watch the tournament timings slipping away ("there's no time!"). Reducing game times from 10, to 8, to below is a poor trade-off.

Regardless, I/Spring Break had a fun day and really enjoyed playing some non-London teams in the single-elim phase, good/fun polo and playing Fenboy is always awesome (Hayden is a menace). It was pretty late by the time we were home in London, but completely worth it.

I'd also like to briefly mention that it's always a big undertaking to organise any kind of day/event and by doing so, you open yourself up to all sorts of whims/criticisms from the polo masses (with their many different desires when it comes to what's "right"). Fingers crossed that the organisers for this (and other) events continue to live and learn rather than be put off by feedback that often comes from those that refuse to organise something in return.

Cheers Cambridge, time to go an update the Spring Break site with a glowing review of the day! We got a trophy!

Not 'negative' feedback from here - as you say Jono, it's all about the living and learning. Without feedback there ain't no learning.

BTW as part of last year's UK Champs organising team I dispute the implied 'refuse to organise' tag.

It wasn't aimed at anyone in particular, I'm just pointing out that anyone is free to organise their ideal polo event at any time and invite others along, etc.

Thank you everyone who played, organised, spectated, reffed, heckled etc etc.

There were positives and negatives, all underpinning some convincing arguments above.

Irrespective of formatting issues, timing, etc etc, I had an excellent day by the afternoon - especially loving the sideline camaraderie/descent into cabin fever between 5-8pm. Perhaps not the outward purpose of the day, but certainly part of the fun of it.

Well done Spring Break, FenboyThree, and Degen and Electric Cream (1, 2 and tied 4th?), some ace games played in the knock out rounds.

Not 'negative' feedback from here - as you say Jono, it's all about the living and learning. Without feedback there ain't no learning.

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pretty much my opinion too. But thanks cambs all the same, it's just not what i signed up and took the day off for. (yes i have to take a sunday off)

thanks everyone that came down, thanks again john h for sorting the format on such short notice.
think there are things to be learnt from this tourney, to not only make the next one better, but to up the organisation and make it clear what the day will be about.

Anyone know who stole the seagull brighton trophy from the warehouse, another trophy mystery?

Did anyone find my helmet? I think I left it there.

It's a sixsixone skate helmet with a cricket guard. I had it right at the end, just forgot to pack it

Anyone know who stole the seagull brighton trophy from the warehouse, another trophy mystery?

Ha! Awesome.

But it was probably Harvey.

Anyone know who stole the seagull brighton trophy from the warehouse, another trophy mystery?

Cosmic did make quite a swift exit... and Evans-Harding has form...

Just sayin like...

Thanks for the tag someone! ha!

I think all has been said really.
I love the Cambridge crew and playing on that court and would've happily come over for some throw-ins.
But this was supposed to be Barca training / warm up which we need.
And with no disrespect to anyone, the real training needed was to play like for like teams and try some new stuff. That's how we saw it.

It got to 5pm and we'd played 4 games. Some had only played 2 by then. Fair enough.
I don't think I've ever seen Mat Cosmic so desperate to play! haha
He wouldn't leave the court, was on there in-between every game, was racing around in the roller derby room, and was seen in polo asylum later on.

Well done John H for stepping up.
If you're gonna charge for a tourney, you have to get it together a bit more in advance.
No worries though. Let's give it another go yeah?

Right now the fact is I've only had time to play Sundays, and play I must!

Anyone know who stole the seagull brighton trophy from the warehouse, another trophy mystery?

This is deeply worrying news. The spirit of Brighton polo lives within Gully, please, if you have any clues of his whereabouts contact Crime Stoppers

I would also like to say volleyball was awesome. Until Bill said we couldn't use his bike as the net.

What. A. Jerk.

Better a jerk than a berk, that's what I always tell myself in these situations (you know, the situation where your 2 drunk team-mates are trying to destroy your bike using gym equipment - what? This kind of thing doesn't happen on other teams?).