We've had alot of fluctuation. In the winter we would get 10-12 people regularly. We did have a couple dozen for a while, recently there have been a few less. We are starting to work more on organization and promotion.
On average, how many people show up?
How many people show up at your regular game? I'm sure there is a core group of regulars, and then those that show up less often. On a typical day, how many show up to play, and do some just show up to watch?
kg
Vancouver gets between 6 - 20 people three times per week. Average is probably 10.
Tampa has a core goup of 6 to 8 guys who play and a few girls who watch and use a bull horn to announce the game/make fun of us.
git those girls on bikes and give em mallets fer crissake!!!!!
Buddy, we try every week. Bikes and mallets supplied and everything. They're getting there....I hope.
Troy's got about 10 people that show regularly, for weekly games. I'm guessing that some of those people will stop coming as the weather gets shittier, but hopefully we'll have a bigger group by then. We are starting to flyer and generally spread the word. Personally, I think the number of people is perfect - you get to play nearly every game. But, more people = more down-time for drinking!
pensacola is a core group of 6-10 plus our "trusty" ref that we just cant get rid of sadly. and there are a ton more on deck just cant get out there for some reason. mostly waitig to put together not so nice bikes!
Our court is nestled between a low income apartment complex, a seedy convenient store, a homeless shelter, and some railroad tracks. Needless to say, we get our fair share of um, interesting characters and exciting events at every game night. It has also unexpectedly turned out to be a good place to find our city's lost and stolen bikes. In the past three months we've recovered as many bikes that had previously been reported stolen... just by spotting some neighborhood thug riding around on one.
So, not only can you play some polo, but also risk your life trying to chase down bike thieves.
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Considering where we are, I don't feel so bad about our core 6 riders and our 4 or 5 floaters. But still, we would like more.
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Moooooo!
In london I'd say about 20 people play at brick lane on sundays, and 20 more just hang out and try wheelies and other dubious tricks.
On wed and thu we play at a different court, and it's more like 12 players, and a couple of people hanging around
Yorgo
Yeah, although in the run up to the tournament, people played Tues through Saturday, and then pick-up games Sunday night after the tournament. And there were around 20 people playing up til dark on Saturday AND Sunday...
The last few weeks it's only been 4. in Boom Times we get 7-8 and someone can sit out once in a while. Woe is us. I guess we should do some outreach, eh?
Chicago Bike Polo 2003-2008
St Louis Bike Polo 2008-now
unfortunately we've only got a solid 4 or so people who never miss a game, but the number is growing. We've had as many as 20 people come out, but the daily FL summer rains scare all the nancys away. I'm sure it will get better once it cools down a little and it doesnt rain EXACTLY when we usually meet up. Thankfully we have a backup rain spot in a parking garage, but we just got kicked out. Looking for new courts.
God i hate this state.
My family is there. I understand completely. Florida pretty much sucks.
AZHC - Arizona Hardcourt! Beers, balls, and bandages.
Melbourne gets around 15-20 people regularly on Sundays (26 was our best, last sunday was 10 due to bad weather..) Weeknights are only getting ~10 but with everyone itching to play. Around 12 regulars who make most games, we are working on promotion to get more people in though.
has the game spread to anyone else in Australia?
I believe a few people are playing in Sydney, but not as regularly as in melbourne.
damon, "urbanbicyclist", is our man in melbourne. he'll know. c'mpn damon, give us the scoop.
Hey everyone, thanks Piet... Sorry not to respond to this sooner.
So a quick multi part response, Australia and Melbourne.
AUSTRALIA
Sydney has been playing for a while, Perth also a few months, Brisbane later in the year and Adelaide started a few weeks before Christmas.
The dynamic here is quite different to what I experienced in the Pacific Northwest... It was interesting having Portland/Seattle/Vancouver and Victoria all so close. Here the closest city to Melbourne is Adelaide (8 hours Drive) and still even then there's not as much cross pollenation as you might expect.
Still it looks like this is the year that hcbikepolo will really take off in Australia, stay tuned and we may well be ready to host the worlds in a few years. (CMWC was here in 06)
VANCOUVER
As for a "regular" weekly attendance, I'm lucky enough to have lived in a city where the bulk of the messages on the local list are either "I freakkin love you guys" or "I'm going down to the court now, who's in" From a standard "Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday" in Summer 2007 to "any 30 minute period it's not raining" in fall/winter, I played more bike polo in 5 months in Vancouver than I have in 12 months in 2007 in Melbourne.
ATTENDANCE DYNAMICS GENERALLY
I find that anything less than 12 people playing pickup and there's not enough variance in the teams to keep it interesting enough (factor in the rate at which new people turn up and develop their game)
So sure, 6 people and you got a game, but 12 and then you've got a "session"
Ideally I figure a really good vibe happens when you've got between 12 and 20 people (well, players, not including spectators, non polo, bike crew etc) around... any more than 24 and I reckon you need to get simultaneous games or some other entertainment (drinking?) happening.
MELBOURNE ATTENDANCE
Melbourne started playing (Sundays) in late September 2007 (our spring) and by winter (June) 2008 we were averaging 25 (including spectators). We also started up Tuesday nights which have averaged in the teens. It's fluctuated a little since then but I figure we can do even better this year.
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urbanbicyclist.org
Wei usually have around 4-6 people showing up, but mostly two of them are just sitting around. But whenever theres an alleycat or some kind of event there's a couple more guys coming.
Lalely the turnout has been increasing, but the most inspiring thing was to see how many people showed up and stayed through an otherwise miserable rain storm last monday. Cold, windy, with a completely flooded court, crashes everywhere and not enough beer... and yet, a great time had by all. We played for at least 3 hours. THAT is when you know you have a solid polo club.
AZHC - Arizona Hardcourt! Beers, balls, and bandages.
Hai Chad!!
We play once a week, and seem to always have enough for full swap outs after each game, which I guess means there are more than 12 people for a part of the night each week. I think having a court that is right on the commuter bike path really helps, and the waterfront location is pretty epic.
yeah, and i gotta say that only having a few players around is kinda overrated as far as "seat time" goes.
we had 5 people at our "getting dark too early" saturday 2pm match up and it was tough work! i went home and passed the F out. i could barely ride on saturday.
of course the huge bruise on my ripcage from slamming into my bars when i collided with Will doesn't help. i'm just pissed i didn't score on the reverse shot right before that
this is our solid crew of 6 and our trusty "ref".
we can have up to 12 and theres a bunch of women that want to start playing which we are excited for but they dont feel they have it together enough even though we encourage them every week.
we also have a solid group of spectators that gets large sometimes of just our friends wanting somewhere new to hang out!
that's a sick picture. we need more bike polo glamour shots. more leg next time. actually maybe that should only go for our crew where we actually female players ;-p
this last 2 months,we been getting 10 regulars plus some part-timers playing 4 times a week now!! it's amazing!!!
even the ladies been getting 4 regulars plus a few pt playing playing 2 days a week.our problem is finding a full-time court to call our own.even though we're a couple years behind we're all enjoying the game here in toronto.cheers
BPT
on average we have a solid 6-8 people twice a week
the few die hards of us play a third day of the week that usually results in 2 on 2 games.
we also have 2-3 girls regularly playing, soon to be 4 or more.
there always seems to be 5 or 6 people standin around watchin,
8-12 people regularly show up at the rink.
There are other people that still play at the old spot by the river as well, but I don't know the amount of people. We have 2 separate polo sects in Philly.
I've been playing down by the river for the past month. Every week there's been a struggle to even get 3-on-3 games. Two weeks ago we could barely play 2-on-2. It seems like things are slowing down. Maybe about 10-15 people show up but no one plays/wants to play. Its kind of beat, when I first played there in the spring things were hopping.
Come to Rizzo Rink. We've been getting steadily more turnout; kids from NY have even been coming the last few weeks. We're gonna lose our permit at that spot soon, so come this wednesday. We've got more than enough, but we always want more players. Front and Washington, @7:30
Come to Rizzo tonight. E-mail me for my contact info.
I've only been playing for a little under a year and I'm pretty average. I saw you guys play in DC at ESPI and I figured that the people by the Schuykill are closer to my skill level. Its frustrating though because of how difficult it is to get games going.
We have a few people that are regulars at Rizzo, that only started playing when we got the permit there (May). Now they are better than the people over by the river.
I know they need people to play over there, so I don't have a problem with you playing over there, but if you play with us you will "get better faster" (ryand). Plus we totally cater to people with a lower skill level.
Contact me through this site, and I can talk to you. Chuck was at Rizzo last night, and I hear from him that they aren't really having games over there because Dom is hurt, and people won't play. Come play with is for a few weeks or until they resume over at the river. TRY IT OUT.
Lately we've been hovering right around 20
I'm so glad we don't have 20 people coming to play bike polo...10-12 is perfect, everyone gets to play all the time if they want and have a beer when they want.
Yeh the london... is getting there... we have
wed - south london polo (carpark or in a park weather dependent) which last week in the car park 20 people.
wed - North east london court random can be 6 can be 10+
thursday - which is a floating day, lit central court not 5 a side footie court known to have 10+ also
sat - North east again... full day playing... avg. 10-15ish
sun - like le car says pretty hectic... a break away group had to play at north east to stand a chance of playing. 20+ the shuffle is crazy.
We have a regulars for sure who just want to play all the time... and will ride pretty much anywhere to play a few decent games. me included in that.
I just hoope the numbers stay good over the winter/wet months to come... our aim at the mo is to find a covered/carpark more central.
Shins
ps we had our first dark polo night which involved head lights... could have done with 3 a side but was fun
check it out... head torches were good.
http://www.londonfgss.com/thread10722-3.html#post313516
The ( 818 ) Valley team located in Los Angeles has a core group of riders about 15 that will show every week no matter what it takes to get there, as far as just general people showing up to play for the first time or returing players we will have about 10 to 25, some nights reaching 35+ people total!
The games end up being 4 on 4 most of the time so we can get most of the people to play at least once. We try to get the games set up so that newer riders early in the night get to play with a experienced rider on their team, this gives the rookies a chance to recieve some passes and set ups for scoring, this really pulls the rookies in to a exciting and fast moving game.
Later in the night it will be anything from 2 on 2 to 4 on 4 with only experienced riders.
Just about all the sucess of the regular large turn out goes to El Joker ( Alex ) for building all the mallets and building a solid team of experienced riders that are willing to encourage rookies to get in the game and play.
During large group riders called "midnight ridazz rides" its not uncommon to see Alex with a messanger bag with 10 or so mallets and an assortment of balls to play at stop points on the ride, playing on anything from grass, dirt to pavement, seeing people get done riding for the first time on a football field, the excitement that they have after the game is why the 818 games have become a destination for bicycle riders all around LA with people traveling 40 or so miles just to play on a Monday night.
We average about 8 a Sunday here in New Orleans. Never less than 6, and around 12 or 13 max not including spectators.
We're not in a high traffic area, yet we've attracted lots of new players recently. Either through here, our website or facebook.
As of late Id say we usually have at least 10 participants at any given time... probably twentish at times, not including spectators. Enough to, at times, have a stack of mallets ready for the next throw.
depending on weather, we'll have anywhere from 4-6 on a rainy/snowy night up to 12-25 including spectators on a clear/summer night. we play sunday and tuesday nights on a centrally located court and thursday on the north end of town, although we've had to surf around to all 3 courts on occasion because 2 of the courts are basketball courts that are sometimes taken on clear nights
When then weather is nice it can be anywhere from 8-10 people, with a different group of onlookers each week.
Once it cools down we average about 6 players, but if it snows forget about it. Not that we're soft by any means, we just happen to live in one of the few places that can be 50 degrees and sunny one day and have a class 3 snow emergency/white-out the next day, so I guess it's really hard for people to adjust.
sorry to dig up an old thread, just thought it would be interesting to know what kind of growth your cities have had since this thread started mid 08.
Brisbane is getting an average of 12-20 people on our sunday afternoon games, still having trouble organising regular night games.we have a solid group of regulars but we're working on rookie retention and getiing the ladies involved
I like that you've dredged this thread up. We had a BIG night for Christchurch last friday -12 players. We usually average 8 -10 at our weekly games but with the tournament coming up we're seeing a few more week by week.
We had three on Thursday and a whopping TWO on Saturday. Sad,sad,sad.
in one year since starting up, we've gone from 2 die hards playing kenball once a week to getting 6 to 10 riders getting their games on three times a week!
Still a bit of a struggle in Edmonton. It's been pretty good lately though. We didn't play this weekend because folk fest took everyone away. Weekends are the worst. It's strange to me to have perfect weather and NOT play polo.
I'm stoked when we get 6. We had a player leave the other day to do laundry. C'mon.
Grenoble began to show up sometimes on sundays, 18 people playing.
Average, 3 times per week, between 9 and 15 players...
3 or 4 girls.
We had about 20-25 people playing grass and hardcourt on Sunday with an additional 15 groupies. And it was hot and humid as hell. Well hot according to Minnesota standards, 95F/35C.
We play three days a week in the summer and get like 8-10 on weekdays and 14-18 on Sundays.
in wilmington we have 4-10 show up on Monday nights, our biggest showing was 15 people on a Tuesday we had no idea what to do :)
For what seemed like a solid year, we had the same 8-10 guys show up all the time, but now that things have really started rolling and we've promoted it a little more in the shops around town, we're getting regular numbers up around 16-18 twice a week. It's a lot of fun watching rookies play, but the only downside is, with more people I have to sit out more games and wait my turn.
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