Machine Politics vs Beaver Boys, May 2011. Photo by Bruce Carver
Smooth? Level? Enclosed? How Big?
Once you've got that then consider, where your players live, and passing traffic, spectators and possible palyers, bike routes etc...
In Melbourne we play Sundays in the carpark of the Royal exhibition Buildings, right next to the Melbourne Museum and just a few hundred meters from Downtown/the CBD. This is our main location.
It's very big and not contained very well and slopes slightly.
Once every few weeks theres an event on in the buildings and there's cars there and we can't use it.
We have found a factory carpark a few k's north in Brunswick which worked well, it slopes slightly.
We're trying out a few night time locations, IKEA rooftop and the small carpark in QueenStreet near the ATM's of the Queen Vic Market, but sometimes there's cars there too. Night times is when we have had more issues with security guards.
Or around the South side of the Royal Exhibition Buildings (though one wall has a profile like castle turrets, blocks every few meters)
We've also found a pay carpark in Collingwood that is on a slight slope, good size, empty on Sundays.
We're still looking for better places to play, level and enclosed.
I'll measure the courts we play on and update this in the next week or so.
As an urban planner, I'd have to say that land in inner city Melbourne is at a premium, and we've been developing the inner city at an incredible rate over the past decade, so many of the "spaces between" that some North American cities were gobbled up here years ago. The spaces we do have are more regulated too. All our tennis courts have staff and booking rosters through the city.
What do you do in your city and what issues have come up, how have you dealt with them?
we use 2 different roller hockey rinks. One has boards which is nice and the other is sourounded by a chain link fence. we use nets not cones though so that makes for a differnt kind of play.
We are also fortunate in that we have courts with boards..also we have a lit pavillion downtown thats walled on 2 sides and smoooth, we just pull in trash cans for goals.
with our city Parks deptartment's blessing and funding help, we managed to score our own dedicated bike polo facility by appropriating an abandoned tennis court that was rotting away in an inner-city park. The entire area is fenced in with a 12-15 ft. chain-link fence and originally had 4 tennis courts side-by-side. Not sure what the exact measurement are, but I think it's pretty close to the size of a standard hockey rink... probably a bit bigger.
We cut down the net poles, and talked the city into resurfacing the court to fill in the cracks and make it smooth again. It's not perfect, but it's our own court and it's nice to know that it is ours to play on whenever we want without getting hassled by anyone.
with our city Parks deptartment's blessing and funding help, we managed to score our own dedicated bike polo facility by appropriating an abandoned tennis court that was rotting away in an inner-city park. The entire area is fenced in with a 12-15 ft. chain-link fence and originally had 4 tennis courts side-by-side. Not sure what the exact measurement are, but I think it's pretty close to the size of a standard hockey rink... probably a bit bigger.
We cut down the net poles, and talked the city into resurfacing the court to fill in the cracks and make it smooth again. It's not perfect, but it's our own court and it's nice to know that it is ours to play on whenever we want without getting hassled by anyone.
We in Cleveland have found a similar situation. 4 abandoned tennis courts side by side by side by side. What did your court get resurfaced with?
Well, since the city Parks Dept. fit the bill for us, the contractor they hired did kind of a shitty job... and they've been asked to come back to make repairs a couple of times. It's not as perfect a surface as we'd hoped, but at least the 3" wide cracks and the giant holes where the poles used to be are gone... even though there are still some spots that aren't completely even and flat. The contractor applied two layers of asphalt coating, and then sealed the cracks with that rubbery compound that they use to fill cracks in roads.
Once we determined that it was about as good as it was going to get, we started painting the court. We put the first coat on last weekend, and are still in the process. Hopefully, we'll have it striped by mid-August.
{}------- lexington -------{}
Yah, I dont know yet how far the city is willing to go for us but I figure we can expect about the same. In our proposal I tthing we going to suggest it should be built to also allow roller hockey. That way they will lok at it as multi-use and we will get dasher boards.
Besides, no one playes roller hockey anymore...
It's actually 8 tennis courts fenced in four sets of two. If this goes through it will be perfect for tournaments.
Damn... that's a huge complex. Nice score! Ours is half that size, lengthwise, but looked to be in about that same sad shape when we took it over.
We used the "multi-sport" proposal as well when we approached the city... saying that it should be made to function as a playing surface for bikes, in-line skating, court soccer (futsal), or anything else you could think of. Trouble is, when they resurfaced it they did such a shitty job that no one would ever really want to skate on it... but it's perfect for bike polo, and that's all that really matters, right?
{}------- lexington -------{}
Would you happen to have access to the proposal and/or any info that you think could help our case?
Ha, Marginal Rd. What are those, bomb craters?
looks like NYC Pit dimensions, and similar to Chciago. here's to playing on big courts.
Yah the surface is kind of hit. The court on the far right is the best. What looks like craters are really wet spots. Must have rained a few hours before the image was taken
The spot is just east of the Rock-n-Roll Hall of Fame
Lexington: Do you have any pics of the finished product?
-EVBP-
All walls are permanent. There are two 2 foot dividing walls between the courts, providing about a 12 foot zone for watching/reffing. There are 12 inch walls all the way around one court with 2 foot slanted corners. The intent is to build the other court to the same specs, just need to get the funds together again and get some time and energy to do it.
How did you guys go about working things out with the city? We use a few tennis courts and a parking lot around the city, but we have a pretty regular problem with the Parks department. There is a set of crappy courts we would love to make "ours" and get lights put up at. Right now we chase the ball, play til its dark, or we get kicked out. None of which are ideal.
Any advice would be great.
Kiersten
Seattle bike polo
this is awesome i want to try to do the same thing for this spot which is 3 blocks from my house and 2 blocks from the nicer newer tennis courts we play on now downtown.
just wrote lexington an email but if anyone else from there has info on the proposal and who they originally talked to. id love to see it!
We are still searching for the best spot, but since we got locked out of the unused & unkempt college tennis courts, we are playing in the (unused & unkempt) City Hall parking lot. Pavement is very rough, but it's totally enclosed. I have no idea how large it is.
here in DC we scored a kick ass roller hockey rink that has since been rebuilt.
sweet boards and benches on the side. about 75ft x 100ft.
We use an undersized basketball court that has fences on both ends but no walls on either side. It's tiny. That's what she said. And it's also got a lot of cracks and blood stains. That's also what she said.
We're looking into getting some land set aside by a local sports complex group and building a rink of our own. Someone start a donation jar in Ottawa and bring it to Chicago.
-Don't bring cake to a donut fight.-
well played, ian.
St Louis has at least 4 roller hockey rinks with dasher boards up to 4 feet and chain link fence up to 12 feet on top of that. 3 of these courts have chain link goals permanently mounted on them, and form a pretty straight 2 mile line through the city. Which is how we're going to handle group play for the Mid Wests.
I'm told that there are more roller hockey courts out in the suburbs, including 2 indoor facilities! One is where the roller derby girls practice, the other is where their matches are.
The courts vary in size a little, depending on what they were put on top of. Some clearly used to be tennis courts, at least one was a basketball court. Speaking of urban planning; basketball = bad (read: black) roller hockey = good (read: white). Whatever. We have our choice of where to play, they all have boards, it's awesome.
Chicago Bike Polo 2003-2008
St Louis Bike Polo 2008-now
Our usual spot is an outdoor lacrosse court, about 100 feet by something like 250 or 300 feet. The surface s pavement with boards running 4 feet high all around and chain link above that. We started off playing full court but after the Tour de Polo in 2007 we realized that there was a lot of tight passing to learn on a small court so we usually play half court. It ends up being about a square but since we don't have a 4th wall people tend to carry the ball wide on occasion. Every once in a while we still give the full court a go and it is a great way to mix things up but it is a lot more work and more people tend to get hurt since you can get to much faster speeds. It is in a large mixed use sport park with huge fields for soccer and baseball, so we don't get bothered by neighbors too often and lots of people come around to see what we're up to. A number of the regulars first found us this way.
We also have a lit basket ball court for weekday nights in wintertime but it has no boards so we try not to use it too much.
I'm looking into renting a covered roller rink for an early december tournament, more details to come...
We've got one location, looking for a backup winter spot for when the whole state turns to ice. Roller rink, next to the skate park, right off the waterfront bike path. The bike path has been key in recruiting new players, since all the after work bike traffic rolls right past the court. The only drag is that there are no boards or fence, only a curb, so the ball goes out a lot and there tends to be carnage in the corners when people get aggro.
The only other people who use it are a few roller hockey guys, and the local roller derby girls, but we all know each others regular playing schedules so it works out ok.
we play on a fenced in tennis court that hasn't had a net on it in a while. it's small, since it's only the one tennis court, and the ball tends to get stuck in the ends, and when it rains there's tons of dirt, stones, and dirt that wash over from the baseball field, but it does well for now. a few of us are trying to find a place to play indoors in the winter, and we have a few leads. i'd really like to find a bigger place to play for next year. we played in the park and ride lot last wednesday and it was awesome because everything was so wide open and so much faster, but then the cops came at midnight and told us we had to leave, even though the one guy said "i frankly don't give a shit what you guys are doing here, but this is the second time we got called about noise."
one of the easiest things weve found is cutting some wood boards and putting them in th corners so that it doesnt get stuck as much.
we have a nice new tennis court that is never used and are individually fenced off. they just got LIGHTS too that we used last night till 1030. Luckily when the lights go off you still can see cause of the interstate lights that are right above us. Never realized how not really lit it was untill we used the lights for the court last night.
we also have a street hockey rink at the beach but its hard for us to get out there during the day cause of peoples work/slack schedules. trying to figure away to get lights for that rink so we can have more night time fun out there. especially for the BIKE POLO SPRING BREAK.
Awesome job on the letter.
Dont send the second one till a reasonable time has passed, or they'll put you -straight- int he do not reply pile ;)
Also send a copy to the city's sport and recreation planner/officer. usually every city has a person assigned to supporting and promoting sport. sometimes they're all about the bmainstream sports, sometimes they're more open minded. but for them anything that gets more people playing sport is part of their job.
And maybe dont tell them straight up that you just want the carpark, tell them you want somewhere to play, explain th sport to them in a way they they will understand (find out what sports they play already). Give them a call and you'll probably get straight through to them.
--
urbanbicyclist.org
Ours is pretty big, like 3 tennis courts long, and at least two courts wide. Half court is the red line in the bottom right of the photo
WOW from the photo it looks like you guys play ten on ten, that must really change the game for your huge court! do you also play with two balls at once? like multi ball in pinball!
see you in Boston! muaghhahahahahahahaha!
call it!
Here in South Florida at Holiday Park, we play on two NHL regulation sized Roller Hockey rinks:
Come to the First Annual "Call to Cranks" Tournament this weekend and play bPolo!
bPolo? Ah Yes, that must be in contrast to the A-Polo played in East Van. Phttttt.
TOP CENTER 4-EVA
hahaha...I can't wait to come play some A-polo. I think I still need some practice tho!
Check out the developments in Melbourne... Access to City courts. we're on a trial to see how much the tyre marks upset other users. guy from the city is on side.
http://www.bikepolo.com.au/2009/05/new-venue-flagstaff-gardens/
http://www.bikepolo.com.au/2009/05/first-day-at-flagstaff-gardens/
Some posts with photos/reports etc at the 2 links above.
--
urbanbicyclist.org
I like how the goals are in the middle are lined up with those red middle lines easy scoring lanes visual wise
www.mkebikepolo.com
Minneapolis just started playing in a hockey rink. The surface is perfect. Boards all around. Chain link above the boards at the ends. And best of all, the park board let us know that this rink is "under-utilized".
Only draw back is it's located 3-4 miles south of Downtown.
More pics of the court here.
If you live in MN, IA, MO, WI, IL, MI, IN, KY, and OH why not join the Midwest Club page?
That is awesome Sven. I have been playing hockey in the winter on that rink since they put it up. Definitely underutilized considering hockey is completely dead in Minneapolis. True 3-4 miles from downtown but who actually even lives downtown in that city. Also a quick zoom up and down portland and park is no big deal at all. I will be around to test the court after cog.
Man, Minneapolis looks beautiful, haha. I can't wait to come.
i am jealous of you all, after a thousand run ins with police, we now play on the roof of a parking garage. it has 3 and half walls, and is just large enough for 3 on 3. plus i guess it forces us to it work on stick handling.
"BIKE POLO IS NOT A CRIME"
Chicago Bike Polo 2003-2008
St Louis Bike Polo 2008-now
srysly
Any other clubs out there reserve or otherwise pay for the courts they use? We have a killer hockey rink that we use and its free but we recently started reserving it one night a week.
We had a run in a few weeks ago with 40 soccer players who told us they had a reservation and kicked us out. Turns out they were lying. So now we pay a small fee every week to have bike polo only at the rink.
Who organizes 40 people to play soccer and then doesn't bother to reserve the court? Friggin weirdness.
Got media, tournament, or bike polo news? DM me at twitter.com/bikepolo
We now play at a schoolyard on Wed. nights and a covered pavilion (which is a hockey rink in winter) on Sundays. The pavilion would be great all the time- it's big and has nice rounded curbs (although no boards exc. in winter) but "Wheeled Recreation" is only allowed til 8:30 and there's a local asshat who calls the cops at 8:31 if there's people there- which we found out three years ago.
The schoolyard is actually pretty cool- bounded on three sides with the fourth side being wood chips. It also has a HUGE map of the US painted on it. THe building supervisor even thanked us for not leaving beer cans(!) and just asked that we pay for broken windows (which hasn't happened yet). The only issue is lighting is poor so night games are out and it does slightly slope downhill.
Still looking for the perfect spot.
Jerk of all trades.
In Alanta, we have 2 sets of courts. One is the one where we hosted the AMI tourney. It's a set of raised tennis courts on top of a parking deck, on the Georgia Tech campus. There are 3 walls and the fourth had to be enclosed. The fences above the walls make great places to hang and heckle, as ryan found out. 2 courts at that site. Those courts are 60x120. The other is a covered lighted basketball court in the ghetto, it even has bleachers. during the summer we had to fight to get play time, but now that school has started it's perfect. It'd be awesome for the finals of an awesome tourney, but not for a big tourney just because one court by itself off far away blows. I think this court is slightly smaller than 120 long, maybe 100 long but still at least 60 wide.
tennis courts
tennis courts
http://www.flickr.com/photos/wsfproject/3388361717/sizes/m/
Covered bball court
We play polo in the ATL
I'd be curious to see other clubs specs on their courts. There's a lot of talk in this thread about the locations they play at but only a few specify actual sizes of the court. What size court do you play on? What size of courts have been used at tournaments held recently?
In Austin, Tx we currently play on a court that is roughly 50'W x 76'L (15m x 23m) which is two tennis courts put side by side. Our court is surrounded on three sides, one of those sides being the tennis nets, the other two a low wall, with a chain link fence on the long side. We've kind of taken over here, as not too many tennis players use it, and when they do, they get scared of us and run away usually. We adjusted the timer to stay on later. We also zip tied the chain link fence back down at the bottom where it tends to curl up. We also cut off some that was particularly bothersome, as well as cut off the bolts sticking out of the tennis net's poles, so just in case we need to cross over to the other side. Since our tourney in Aug. we've been using low 8" boards on the one end that isn't enclosed. This has been good some days and bad others, I guess it depends on who sets up the boards, but I think they were actually stolen this last week... our tourney court was a little longer and wider than our regular court, but not by too much. Here are some pics.
Yesterday we played on an off day. We decided to play at our old court or our winter court. Its a small court, about 60x40. A big volleyball court fenced in.
After a few minutes the new park director walks out, introduces herself, welcomes us to the court. Asked how often we'd be playing and asked us what she could do to help. One of us joked, "Maybe plow the court in the winter?"
She said she'd look into getting a snow blower to come by when we wanted. Just to give her enough of a heads up to get it done.
I love the Minneapolis Park and Recreation Board.
Have you guys seen the court set up in Pullman,WA? Look at the video at the bottom of the Palouse Cup 2009 thread. Ridiculous!
From Bloomington Hardcourt Bike Polo
This is one of our two sweet courts, it's a two tennis courts that we play on longways. They are really well lit, and almost never used. The only drawback is that the fences on either end suck, and we have to makeshift boards out of cardboard. We also have a fully enclosed extra huge basketball court that we can play on during the day. It doesn't have lights, but we heard the the city recently got funding to revamp it, and we are going to talk to them about getting some lines painted for us and some lights.
boston's rinks, well the one's we know of at least.
Barcelona does it in La Aspirina.
Round. 27m in diameter. Fully enclosed. Lit. Slippery as hell. Glorious rink! Let there be blood!!!!!!!!!!
*Somebody please think of the children!!*
here is where we started playing about a month ago:
i think he says "being crazy," but at first i thought what you thought. i had to rewind it a couple times. ha! mikey sounds like an old man.
We use a parking lot at a local state college. It almost completely surround by a curb and keeps the ball in play.
http://www.csustan.edu/directories/Maps_n_Plans/Campus_Plans/
Lot 8.
The only problem with the court is that it slants toward the outside edges so the ball ends up in the gutter occasionally but not so much that it kills the game.
I'd guess it's about 150ft long and 50ft wide.
----------------------------------
Moooooo!
----------------------------------
Moooooo!