I'm not near this and most likely wont be very soon but I have one question. Are you a bike polo player?
thanks,
Doug D
Brooklyn, New York
http://www.hardcourtbikepolo.com/
Southeastern Conference Tournament Series
hey everyone,
i realize i'm a new face to the bike polo scene, but i have an idea i'd like to propose to other cities in the southeast and am interested in constructive criticism.
i'd like to create a series of tournaments (throw out a number of events -- 5 to 10 lets say) based on existing events in the southeast. for example, ft lauderdale is already scheduling a tournament sometime in september, louisiana is talking about having a bayou classic, etc. the series would be a points based omnium using start points and results to determine the "SE Bike Polo Champion." there's alot of details which i would be more than happy to discuss, but i don't want to get into it right now -- rather, i just want to see what cities are interested and to start up a discussion to see how feasible this plan is.
i'd like to keep the tournaments within a reasonable distance from each city, so loosely based on the traditional SEC-football lines (ie: louisiana, florida, georgia, tennessee, mississippi. SC as well, but i don't know anyone that plays hardcourt there.) from talking to various cities over the past few weeks and at p-cola, Atlanta, New Orleans (and probably Baton Rouge), Ft Lauderdale, possibly Tampa, a start up crew in Starksville (MS), and of course, my own team in Athens have given a positive response. I would really like to hear from the major cities in Florida that play (Orlando, P-Cola, Tallahassee, SRQ/St Pete), Tennessee and Alabama.
oh, since no one really knows who i am, please indulge me for a second with who i am and what i do to pay the bills, so you understand the seriousness of this endevour. my name is k sakai. i work for an events promotion company called swagger (swagger.us). we specialize in night time criteriums in urban environments. our two signature events are the athens twilight criterium (athenstwilight.com) and the usa crits series and usa crits finals in las vegas (finals.usacrits.com). i've worked for them for about 10 years. bike polo is a new creature to me, but i do understand events promotion and management.
to me, this series seems like a natural extension of the things that are already in place and i feel will help bring bike polo to the next level in the southeast.
please feel free to write here or contact me directly.
thanks!
-k
I'm having trouble understanding the seriousness of this endevour being that your name is the letter 'k' and you work for a company named swagger.
K I met you over the weekend and I think this sounds like an interesting idea and I would like to hear more about how it would work. Would out of towners be welcome to the tournys or would it be locals only.
Leon
Seattle Bike Polo
R V A was the capital of the confederacy yet not considered a southern state?
Ask Jason... we inject the Sass in the South... intravenously.
#1) it's an easier selling point for everyone to understand "SEC Bike Polo" -- whether this is the name or [Put Whatever You Want] Southern Bike Polo makes absolutely no difference to me. we can talk about this and hash it out all you want if this is a major concern to you.
#2) doug & mark, i realize you're big names in the polo scene and that you may have a different take on things. that's fine and the reason i've posted this message on bikepolo.ca is to get a feel for what people think. i know alot of people here know a hell of alot more about bike polo than me and i know that without support, this project cannot work.
#3) i'll be drawing up a proposal to some of the cities that have expressed interest in this project. i'm asking those cities to give me constructive criticisms for what they feel may or may not work.
#4) as to your questions, leon and JT, my thoughts go something like this:
each individual tournament is owned & operated by the local promoter. there will be some guidelines, but mainly to streamline play.
as such, i don't see why a city outside of the 'hub' i've mentioned cannot compete in the series. because i want to limit the amount of driving to some time frame of less than 10 hrs for the 'furthest' cities, i'm not too keen on the idea of having an event be part of the series that is ridiculously far. but, again, this is a tentative thought and the boundaries may change depending on what the cities that are interested have to say.
in terms of the series, any city/team that plays in a 'series' tournament will be included in the series points. in a practical sense, i don't think a city/team that exists outside the area will want to come to the majority of events as that will be a fair amount of driving over the course of an year, but then again if a team wants to do it, all the more strength to them.
anyway, that's my initial thoughts. thanks for the responses so far.
K, i know you have good intentions, and if i lived in the SE i wouldn't rule out the possibility of working with you, but i personally find it obnoxious when people who are not involved with polo come in and say "i'll take where you're at to the the next level". that's just not how shit works.
I find it equally (and possibly more) as obnoxious when someone goes to one tournament and things now they have the ideas to run the show. Take a look at the rational comment made by Angelo down there. Some people can learn from that.
Kev and Mark, don't you think you're being a little hard on the guy. I saw this guy at the sespi. he does play. athens has a large crew. they probably had the biggest turnout for this tournament. relax
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Mallets Of Mayhem
Yes...I do think I'm being hard on this guy. I'm glad Athens has a large crew, and I would love to travel and possibly play in a coastal Grecian town. That being said, it bugs me when inexperienced people have the balls to come up with the 'new ideas' for bike polo.
I'm trying to relax, but I had a lot of coffee, and it fucked me up a bit.
how are new ideas a bad thing. otherwise we're just sitting around our computers jerking each other off.
if this turns into some kind of "old boys" club count me oot
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Mallets Of Mayhem
By typing it as 'new ideas' I was implying that the idea was not new in any way. I'm all for new ideas...if they are in fact new.
but srsly guys... 360 or tap out?
Seconded. Sometimes the best perspective is a fresh one. And K as you're probably gathering, there are others of us out here who've been talking regions/conferences for some time. It's a good idea. Something we should get together to discuss.
chicagobikepolo.com
yep, you're 100% correct. it was a mistake for me to even write that.
but, one correction that may have just been a slip of the fingers in your comment -- i do play the game. my city consists of 20 regular players. we're relatively new, but we play.
maybe i'm mistaken, but i would like to support the basic movement here. not in the sense that i want to be part of the actual workings of the conference, rather that i think the thought underlying the action is warranted. maybe i'm just a stats geek like capt. jake, but it seems that all k is really asking for, at least in the first year, is to keep stats throughout all southeastern polo tournaments in order to award a champion of the region, regardless of whether that team lives in the region or not.
london has a league going and, to my eyes, it looks awesome. isn't this all k is trying to do, with the support of others? he is not trying, so it seems to me, to take bike polo all by himself to the next level so much as trying to assist in the natural growth of a sport. everyone says they are stoked when new players join the game, so how can we be so quick to hate on the directions new players want to go?
i may be as drunk as robbie boards is high right now, but i still want to provoke a more productive response to k's suggestion. i mean really, its obvious from his initial post that he is a bike polo player. i for one would be stoked on a "league of bike polo". oh wait, i already am.
Conferences. SE. SW. NW. and my favorite, CNE (Central north east). Leagues fall within conferences. Oh there is so much to talk about on the future of our sport. Like rules the same across the board. Some people still think you can put the ball in your own goal and it's ok!!!! Really, we're still disjointed and this forum doesn't cut it on that level. We should have a summit meeting, get together like a tourney but leave the bikes at home and all sit at the table. I would travel for that.
^^^^^^^^ This is the ONLY way things are going to get done.
Agreed. I wanted to float a proposal this week about setting up some specific committees to deal with issues around the world championships in a representative way, and had hoped that could be done in small groups by email. That might work for people or not, but life intervens, so I didn't get it written up this week anyway.
But at some point decisions will have to be made by those who show up and want to be involved, and having an in-person summit, open to all who care to attend or to city representatives only, would be more than agreeable to me.
Would need to have a really focused agenda and ground rules...
YES!!!!! As others have already testified I will also:
What Angelo has written here, and what has been echoed by other players, is quite possibly the most important next step in polo. A summit weekend, where the focus is on the the meetings and getting organized. We bring our bikes but we play after the work is done.
Chicago is a midway point. We'll host and have some great pick up. Who's down?
chicagobikepolo.com
I like where you are going with this Ben. I hate your neighborhood and have never been jeered, had things thrown at me and generally been made to feel so uncomfortable as much as I was during our stint in Garfield Park. I did enjoy breakfast at your house though. Mainly because it was in your back yard and not visible from the street.
miss you
Don't bring cake to a donut fight.
Oh the whole neighborhoods been gentrified since you left. Our court was torn down to build a Borders. We play in the Social Sciences section. Works out great. Free coffee.
What can I say? It's a bit rough but it's the best we can get and it's pretty much ours. A coupe of the local kids started showing up again last weekend. That's the best. They fucking love it! Anyway, when we do this summit there will be more backyard breakfast, for sure. Other than that, with enough doughnuts to fatten the bangers and thieves we should be able to avoid becoming the target of any undesirable projectiles. They'll probably still jeer though.
Miss you back.
chicagobikepolo.com
Chicago is great and all, but madison might have better facilities for the summit.
Other than a major airport hub.
Well, two
and a train station.
Hell, people could sail here if they wanted.
i give the airport hub, but in general it isn't that much more expensive to fly to madison these days, plus, i think we have great housing options, plus we have a community center with conference rooms that we can host, ability to provide free food 3 times a day and quality courts.
i like Madison
Doug D
Brooklyn, New York
http://www.hardcourtbikepolo.com/
Chicago: better courts, equal housing options, easier access.
Madison: Home-cooked goodness and, in spite of the scrubbing fiasco, good ties with the local community center.
I suppose this'll come down to loud exclamations from the forum. What doesn't?
chicagobikepolo.com
I think that madison courts with boards equal the chicago courts.
Also, our housing options are closer together, all tied to one neighborhood.
Madison has better biking conditions, plus really good relationships with a number of local businesses and bars that will let us have all the free beer we want.
I like Madison
I also like a two Ben minimum
Doug D
Brooklyn, New York
http://www.hardcourtbikepolo.com/
we leave our bikes at home? Come on, we play half the day and talk the rest of the day.
I'm also fairly new to the bike polo scene and I just have to say that after reading this thread I not only feel unwelcome, but turned off to the entire bike polo scene. I'm all for being a bike snob, but get off your high horses (or tall bikes, as the case may be) and remember that it takes new blood in every cause to keep it moving forward.
If K wants to step up to the plate to organize a regional bike polo tournament, I say go for it. As a part of the Atlanta bike polo community, we support this SEC bike polo tournament/ominium/whatever idea. We'll host something. Just keep us updated.
Yes. There we go Mark. We're growing our sport!!!
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Mallets Of Mayhem
Sorry for turning you off to the entire scene. I agree that it takes new blood and I love to see new players. This is where my views are being mis-construed. Personally when I'm new to something I try to do a lot of observing, ask questions, maybe read up about whatever subject it is before I would step up and publicly state my views on how to run things. So my comment(s) in this thread, and a previous rules thread are a direct result.
I'm also fairly new to the bike polo scene and I just have to say that after reading this thread I not only feel unwelcome, but turned off to the entire bike polo scene. I'm all for being a bike snob, but get off your high horses (or tall bikes, as the case may be) and remember that it takes new blood in every cause to keep it moving forward.
Ya i'm down with this. I've just heard the exact phrase "i'll take your sport to the next level" a couple of times from people who were not polo players at all and whose intentions were not in the best interest of polo players, locally or internationally, and i find it insulting. i know K didn't mean it that way, but it wasn't clear to me that he's a polo player. A little quick on the draw perhaps, but that goes for both of us.
As it turns out, this has become a productive thread i think and i hope that Mr Really continues to think about regional organizing...
maybe r kelly peed on some young girl or was trapped in a closet but k really seems to be just wanting to do the same thing other regions have discussed which is having a league of some sort, or even as simply as chris put it keeping stats and records at tournaments within the region and determine a champion of the SE. that sounds like a fine idea we have even discussed that before on this forum,(im not gonna go through all the threads to find it but it was discussed)
the upper midwest has discussed league play as well and he hasnt said no one can come to these tourneys just that they would be held often and the traveling for us northerners or westerners would be alot especially in the mix of all the other tourneys going on.
I welcome this idea , the only mistake i think k has made here is thinking its "new idea" and after rereading his post im not really sure he said it was anew idea, just thats hes new.
I think when new people check out the forum they should maybe read as much of the previous posts that hav ebeen made and lots of their questions will have been answered. i have been seeing new people bring up questions that have athread 140 posts long, and im think "geez we have to discuss this again its ina thread already"
so word to the new folk(not necessarily k-really) do your reading before you make a post
"do your reading before you make a post"
I 100% agree with this comment. Thank you Jacob.
I think for this to work we'll need strict tournament guidelines. We're all mostly new down here, and I would hate to travel frequently to tournaments run by amateurs getting their feet wet (I am one of these potential amateurs). Things like one officiator per court, clearly posted and announced tournament schedule, court construction, etc.
I think this would be awesome, having the help of an already organized events planner is just the thing we need.
i think that this obviously is a future of things to where the NSPI ESPI SESPI WSPI MWPI will all be regionals for the NAPC and other tournaments will pop up for traveling like the Polynesian Hardcourt Bike Polo Championships and Bike Polo Spring Break.
I do think we should wait a year for an offical conference that should not be the SEC but should be something different then that bum ass college conference. i think that the tournaments should be held and established before this should go down. but there would be no harm in making calculations for the tournaments that will happen this year.
All you newbie clubs have got to just have a good time. Play lots of pick up polo in your town. Have fun while your developing skills. It's hard when the sport really has developed so much in five years...fuck there's a forum to talk to people all over the world about polo.
We didn't have this shit years ago and we were hacks when we first started, we were all rookies at some point. we played all kinds of different and crazy ways. Some of the bikes we use to ride were just garbage, really, found in the garbage. That was a rule you had to have a garbage bike. We played with coffee cans for mallet heads and we would throw them into front wheels. That was a play, we would practice that. We played joker in the middle, that was when you put a really drunk guy on the court without a bike to fuck with you. We got drizzunk...We made up names for our moves and experimented with all kinds of shit. It was FUN.
I suppose now the way has been paved and we are close having the principals of polo set in stone but I wouldn't worry so much about stats...shit, we did the stat thing three years ago, it sucked. We (Ottawa) counted all goals, assists and blocked shots. You were always yelling to the sidelines to make sure your stat was marked instead of just playing.
Wow i'm feeling really nostalgic now. Those were the days.
Cathcart, life in a cage.
KR thank for the reply, I couldnt tell from the top post. And I meant no judgment, I'm glad to see new players. I like to see the sport grow, rock your series idea.
Doug D
Brooklyn, New York
http://www.hardcourtbikepolo.com/
I'm with Doug on this one. Fuck anyone else telling you what to do. I'd go ahead with your "conference" idea. There are a shit ton of teams in that region. I had no idea and the turnout for SESPI was awesome. A little organization wouldn't hurt anyone but be open and willing to get sucked up into something bigger.
I'm just glad there will only be 2 cities (DC/RVA) in the Central East Coast Mid-Atlantic Conference.
Don't bring cake to a donut fight.
K,
Please carefully consider how to include people outside your conference cities. Perhaps you could open two slots in each tourney for *invited* teams. As you can tell, if you are successful there will be polo players from around the country who will want to come and play. Maybe there is a process to apply for the invitational spots, with clear rules about whether invited teams can make final rounds, etc....
This can become very political so be careful. Your SEC teams may not want outsiders to come in for whatever reason. However, it would probably help the sport in general if your southern teams allowed themselves to be challenged by top players from places like Milwaukee, or France.
Really?!?! Of all the polo clubs out there you randomly choose MKE... and France?
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Mallets Of Mayhem
He meant Canada. They speak French there too. Angelo told me.
yeah mke isnt that random anymore alexis, its on the map ya know
www.mkebikepolo.com
I can do that.
chicagobikepolo.com
crazy. i wish i wasn't away from my computer yesterday. sorry, my response is slightly delayed. the last few comments about a summit meeting is great and i would like to attend as a mouthpiece for my athens crew.
as for the comments, i do appreciate that everyone has been relatively constructive and i understand alot of concerns that people have written. (and thanks ryand for writing in defense about the company i work for. i think twilight and usa crits is a big deal, but i understand it might as well be competitive underwater basket weaving to alot of people.)
my reasons for posting are two-fold:
the first and most important reason is that i am looking for contacts/cities in the southeast. yeah, i know i could find every little blog/every website and ask every person and spend a million hours doing research, but it seems that everyone that does play the game knows about bikepolo.ca.
the second is to gather everyone's thoughts. in this respect, i think everyone means very well and don't take offense to any of the criticisms. saying (okay, writing) that, i do wish to clarify some things that some people may be stuck on:
#1) i have not and never wrote that this was a 'new idea.' i don't know why anyone thought that i was proposing this as a 'new idea.' i am proposing this idea as it currently doesn't exist in the southeast and the reason i'm making a new post (rather than just reading up on previous messages) is because this doesn't exist.
(added to my original post: I hate to make the subject matter even mirkier, but it's possible that this idea may be moved into a series of events in the Southeast rather than be a conference series, esp. if some cities feel this is premature like Ryan mentioned.)
#2) i personally have alot of ideas as probably every else does. but, ultimately, it will be the promoters that will need to live with how the series works out. so, the details will come about once we get to that step.
#3) i appreciate that everyone has calmed down with the ad homimen attacks. and thank you to doug & ian for probably giving me the best advice -- just go ahead and do it.
-k
oh, this nick, k_really, is just a long time joke for "k 'really it's just an initial'" as alot of sites don't accept my first name, "k", as just a letter.
please no SEC references.