Hippy dippy.
Prizes?
It has been said earlier that prizes mean very little in peoples decision to come to a tourney. With that in mind, what should organizers do? One of my suggestions was to spread prizes around especially to the newer clubs and organizers. Thoughts?
Ask the sponsors. Some will only want their stuff associated with winners. Some will just want to be associated with the event and won't care as much who it ends up with. Some may even be willing to just give money to make it a bigger event, and forgo the schwag.
Didn't coach make a thread about this last year? I think he has a messenger bag for every day of the week.
Chicago Bike Polo 2003-2008
St Louis Bike Polo 2008-fun
yeah the point on I was trying to make was the look on Kremin's face when we gave him the second messenger bag I've seen.
Why does the midwest championships are always have the cheapest prizes? IDk why exactly...do the sponsors think we are small potatoes? are we slackers on pushing for bigger prizes?
2nd 3rd and 4th place talked about this in the van on the way back actually...
prizes we are sick of
-cheap mess bags
-small hip pouches that dont fit SHIT in them
-t shirts from sponsors
prizes we want in the future
-CASH
-custom bags are ok at least they can be hung on the wall as a trophy or something if you have 6 others filling your closet
-wheels are always good and can be easily sold for cash
-RIBMOS-- you can always use another tire
-sack of tubes!
-good brake levers
-head and shaft materials
To add to your point. This is the second huge Midwest tourney - almost as many teams as world's. The .ca threads for the Midwests 7 in COMO were blown up! Kev has had to make it into 3 different threads with hundreds of comments in each. Sponsors need to recognize where the eyes & ears are directed.
Lexington was talking about this on the way home as well. I think actual polo-practical components and equipment make much better prizes. Things people go through on a regular basis, or can trade or sell. I like the idea of tires, wheels, hubs... mallet heads, helmets... more safety equipment should be pursued as well (pads, gloves, etc.).
{}------- lexington -------{}
i am willing to go out on a limb here and say that cash is lamest prize in all of bike polo.
first of all, who wants to go into the corner against some dude who's got his elbow up in your face thinking about the $500 and not the ball.
secondly, it is the most expensive prize that a tournament can give, a complete waste of funds that should be spent on everybody at the tourney.
thirdly, it would be one thing if it was sponsorship cash, but it is something else when it is our cash from the entry fees.
fourthly, cash does nothing to attract teams to an event, the only reason i could imagine offering it as a prize.
fifth, cash is not a trophy. engraved cranks say, "i won", cash says, "let's go shopping".
and lastly, this game should be way less about "getting" shit, and a little more about the spirit of the game.
i won $611 at the calgary tournament and gave half of it away before i left the court after the final. i came home with $6 the next day.
i am completely against cash prizes in bike polo.
more kenball played by more people in more places more often
cash does not say to me lets go shopping...it says
-lets pay off my rent for the month
-lets pay off the plane ticket i used to get here
-lets pay off the speeding ticket i got driving here
your saying if a tourney posted 5,000 cash prize it would do nothing to make you want to go?
your lying or just trying to sound too cool
i only agree with your points about where the cash is coming from.
cash is hardto get from sponsors but we ahve to make them realize the trade off..rigth now sponsors throw swag at us and we go for it we have to make it a environment where we dont settle for tshirts and can coozies as prizes.
it all comes down to the title or sayign "i won" true... and not the cash or wheelset but those things are nice and help reimburse our expenditures on these trips across country
www.mkebikepolo.com
i like the cash prizes as well, pays for your costs getting to and from tourny's.. hell i'll take the elbow to the face for 500 bucks..
i wish i could be like you pietard!
EVBP
B O P
yes, i am saying that a $5000 cash prize does nothing for me. hanging out with my friends and playing good polo is a much more important factor in choosing where to go.
it's not lying, or trying to sound 'cool'. it is what it is.
want to see polo start sucking as quickly as possible? start throwing $5000 first-prize tournaments around and watch the fun factor go down the toilet.
more kenball played by more people in more places more often
X2
PRIDE!
X2
Free shwag is good to bring back home to your local club!
jake, if you have 6 bags hanging in your closet... boo hoo. send me one! my bag is crap!
Bicycle/cykel/自行車/das Fahrrad/polkupyörä/bicicletta/bicicleta/reiðhjól/fiets/يَرْكَبُ درّاجة هوائ
I dont have 6 bags Meg. I dont even have one nice one right now that I can wear.
www.mkebikepolo.com
for the record, i ended up with the back pack and i love it. i was more happy to have made it to the final and got to play such an awesome game with chicago than i was about prizes, i wanted to win the title more than anything, but what can you do when joe the lefty is shooting like that?.
but in general, i think prizes are important. even if you dont win anything, it's exciting to see the prizes at a tournament that are up for grabs.. and it's not hard for tournament organizers to get good prizes either. just because coach has a bag for every day of the week doesn't mean we should stop doing prizes, or bags even. after seeing some of these teams play this weekend i would not be surprised to see some new faces on upcoming podiums, players who don't have a closet full of bags or a pile of wheels in their attic.
but about what jake said and our disscusion in the van, practical prizes would be nice. fancy parts you can put on your polo bike. or parts you need to play polo. (ribmos, tubes, chains, platform pedals, brake pads, levers, nokon housing... nice stuff) or, i know that Milwaukee Bicycle Co. has a local place where they get parts custom engraved or etched, and i'm sure it's not that expensive.. shit like that is cool. you can say, "see, i won this at such and such a tournament, it's says so right here"
No i don't have a bag for every day of the week but for sure i have won some bags in my day. My favorite is the Seagull bag won in Chicago with the polo player on it.( the 3 bags spelled out WE - OWN - YOU ) I recently won a top tube protector from under the weather that had the tourny title 2009 on it. For me that is better than winning parts or something cause it is like a trophy.
I think my beer was the best prize at the tourney. Not only do you get to enjoy the product, but you have the bottle as a souvenir as well. haha!! What ever happened to the wheel set that Karl was going to donate?
Any prize is a good prize... I loved it when Martin and Kenny stayed after Ramsay Bowl and everyone had to put something into the prize bag before we played our mini tourny that night, no one had any idea what was in that bag but we all wanted to win it!.. Oh and we need some air line sponsorship I'm thinking ... even if they were standby tickets.. shit that would be F'n sweet ...
...BallAholics...Multiple Scoregasims...Thundercock...
I still have my "Remove before flight" tag and a million dollar bill. I look on that evening with fondness still...
B.O.P. 4-EVA
I'll say this, if you podium and you get some schwagg and you don't really want it or need it, right then and there, make an announcement and give it to some one (maybe someone new to the sport) that you feel deserves it, and tell them the reason why, like, hey I thought that this was a great first tournament for you and even though your team didn't win heres something from me and I hope you'll remember the awesomeness. also cash or plane fare reimbursement is not bad in my book, if I could get my travel payed I'd go to a lot more tourneys.
Skid & Destroy
Axles of Evil
I agree. It was mighty nice of the Madison crew to offer up their wheel discs to the 4th place Lexington team back when Dayton held the Midwests.
{}------- lexington -------{}
i think it's better to not know what the prizes are until it's over. i don't want to play for anything but fun and maybe a title. prizes are lagniappe.
---------------------------
carve. smash. eat shit.
BOOM
More lagniappe in more places given to more people.
I also think it's better to save the prizes for the very end. It seems a little strange when everyone get to see the prize pool before the event is over.
All but the trophy. That should be on display.
Doug D
Brooklyn, New York
http://www.hardcourtbikepolo.com/
As someone who sometimes gives prizes for tounements I can say that it would make me no less happy or proud to sponsor an event if my mallet heads ended up in the hands of 1st place overall, 1st place in the "just-for-fun" bracket, or DFL.
Chicago Bike Polo 2003-2008
St Louis Bike Polo 2008-fun
My $.02 on the subject after processing the criticism of this thread...
1.Give the top teams equipment prizes
2.Still nab bike related sponsors like bags, caps and shirts...but maybe distribute these as general swag. Raffle them off during the weekend so some Joe-schmoe that's been playing for two months has a chance at going home with something.
3. More trophies.
OGT-COMOPOLO
Although I'm not going to be touching top prices any time soon, I think monogramming or engraving the bags or equipment would be a very nice way to make them more meaningful. It's not expensive and pretty much any town has the services. Also there's little doubt that a tshirt, spoke card, or any bit of swag would be treasure to a new player for best first tournament, winning the fun tournament, or almost any reason.
cash prize is also a lot easier to take on a plane, or fit into a over crowded van. I totally agree on custom shit made for that tournament thats a trophy. 5000 cash prize is crazy to think about and i think it may make people play harder but i think anyone whos made it to a final match can agree that just wanting to be the champs already make you play as hard as you fucking can the 5 G's is just a bonus at the end. and yes shit to put on your polo bike is a must for prizes at a tournament.
www.mkebikepolo.com
Once you find a sponsor that puts up 5 Gs for a tourney prize, let me know.
OGT-COMOPOLO
timmm- its already been brought up by a secret sponsor who will be unamed as of yet. and it was thier idea
www.mkebikepolo.com
At midwesterns Nick from COMO hooked me up with a bunch of hdpe gas pipe that he just had laying around. May not be much to most people, but for someone like me where it's my first legit tourney it may as well have been my prize for attending. I've already made 4 mallets from that material and passed out pre-cut heads to many others. More people excited and playing polo from that one little "prize".
Has anyone that has put on a tourney in the past have any cash prizes donated by sponsors? If so, who? As far as parts, I'd like to see a bigger name BMX company, i.e. Odyssey, be a sponsor. They carry all the plastic pedals that are soo hot right now, not to mention, brake levers and clamp-on stems. Profile would also be a good one. As some of the others have also mentioned, a tire sponsor would be great as well.
yes! a lot of the parts on my polo bike are bmx parts. odyssey and profile two of the best ( in fact there are some pics from NAHCBC on profiles site, but they've never sponsored polo that i know of)
I think Profile Racing is a good manufacturer to work with because they are local and can do runs of bike polo friendly parts. Profile at one point made a 110bcd spider for their famous steel welded crank arms, which for our purposes fit popular parts such as the MKE polo guard. They could make something useful for polo like a 120 spaced BMX style flip flop hub to get a 14t to 22t freewheel for street and polo ratios. I would love to see the day where Odyssey takes the G-sport line and makes a rear cassette hub for 120mm spaced. Or even Phil Wood did a bmx style flip flop hub for 120mm spaced.
MKE 05-06
CHI 07-Pres.
Have you seen these, Tucker?
http://profileracing.com/profileracing/estore2/index.php?productid=333
I wish I would have contacted either of those companies for Midwests last weekend. To add to the list of BMX companies:
Volume - make a fixie frame and fork with parts to boot, including a spline-driven spider that works with certain 3-piece cranks
FBM - make a fixie frame and fork in house, as well as various parts.
not prize related but i was bummed to see no tourny t-shirts at Midwests.
yeah lets get willy nilly.
dont give that triple set of 48's to first
just do a wheel toss into the crowd
BriBri's pretty tall, he'd still get'em
Doug D
Brooklyn, New York
http://www.hardcourtbikepolo.com/
Doug D
Brooklyn, New York
hardcourtbikepolo+gmail+com
hardcourtbikepolo.com