Date conflicts definitely taken into consideration...
Combining not likely...
Western Conference Championships
Saturday, July 14, 2012 - Sunday, July 15, 2012
Host club:
Portland Bike Polo
Contact info:
pete.abram@gmail.com VIVA LA REVOLUCION!
The first bench format tournament on the west coast! Tournament will be hosted at the Tualatin Hills Recreation Center outside of Portland. Teams will be club-based, 6-9 players.
8 teams
Portland
Seattle
E. Van
Los Angeles
San Francisco
Victoria/Nanaimo
Ashland/Olympia/Eugene/Pullman
Santa Cruz/Sacramento
Location
Tualatin Hills Recreation Center
15707 Sw Walker Rd
Beaverton, OR United States
See map: Google Maps
So will the co-ed tournament change dates then? Or are you just being nice and saying you got my message?!
:) Need to meet with the board member first before official response is made...
Sounds like fun.
But Alberta Park is not big enough for "New Format" in my opinion.
RB
Lol people are making posters and shit and still no one knows what to call it!
I love you long time PDX!
West Coast is the Best Coast.. Sounds like alot of fun!!. And some Bomb buffalo wings from "Fire on the Mountain" sounds delish..
like this idea!!
i want to go to this
yeah joe is on the squad now! watch the fuck out
will a 2/3 to 1/3 city team ratio be accomodated?
we are currently discussing the details for team rosters...
if I was a magic eight ball, my response would be "signs point to yes"...
more details to come very soon!!!!!
I live on the western side of Chicago, am I eligible to join a team?
if I was a magic eight ball, my response would be "signs point to yes"...
Seriously though:)... this issue is at the fore front of our discussions...
6v6 city squads with 2 out of town/region substitution players per team? = 2 full lines and 2 backups. we can have an out of region substitute player draft .
plus, I'm pretty sure I have a squad too.
We've been discussing exactly this, but without a draft. I don't want people to have to play with teams that they don't want to play with. I envision clubs getting together and looking at all the available free agents as well as the free agents sending applications into clubs. In the spirit of team cohesiveness, you should really only be playing with who you want to play with.
roger this.
west coast conference is basically referring to cascadia, plus the california clubs, correct?
I don't know how many teams would probably make this, but I'm gonna ballpark guess 6-12 total, with the majority being seattle and portland, but also teams from e.van and california should plan on making appearances. also, other parts of oregon may be able to throw together their teams, as well as pullman and the like.
anyways, once there's a team list, maybe the free agent/substitute situation will make itself clearer.
so stoked on this and it's not til june!
I was also thinking that you can't play on a team outside of your city if your city is fielding at least 1 team. What does the polosphere think about that?
we are trying to get away from the all-star format that previous large team tournaments have been. kremin has his own tournament that he can play in in the midwests so he really shouldn't be participating in this. i truly hope that we can make this city-based teams competing for club pride and bragging rights for the west coast.
What i wanted last fall was hand-picked captains who had free reign to select 5 more players. Hopefully captains would pick people from their home court, though not a requirement. Didn't work out that way for several reasons.
It could work out that way. IMHO, a draft is lots of work and too formal. If captains have enough lead time to name committed players 30 days ahead of tourney date (to allow players to make travel arrangements) then it would totally work.
What if Rory is asked to join 3 different teams? That's between Rory and the respective captains; he has to pick one team. What if Kremin is invited to play with Vancouver? Lucky Kremin.
We're lucky to get 5 for pick-up. How could 1 or 2 from South OR get invited? I also know some Nor Cals that are interested, but same story.
*** Location Confirmation and Event Details ***
Oh man, oh man you guys are gonna like this one... We have been given the go ahead to hold the tournament at the "Tualatin Hills Parks and Recreational District"(THPRD)... Believe me when I say that this is probably the best court I've ever played on... ever...
FACILITY DETAILS(winning)...
-It's 80' x 160' (24mx50m). Feels smaller than Calgary NA's and yet bigger than Chicago Bench Minor.
-Surface is perfectly smooth, grippy and fast. The ball doesn't skip or change directions when booted full court. No tire slip outs either.
-Boards are above handle bar height with fence up to 10'. It plays like a hockey rink should...
-Two benches with two doors for each team. Bleachers around most of court.
-Grocery, beer, bar, pizza, coffee and hotels all within one mile of court.
-LIGHTS until 10pm every night. Not shitty Rose City tennis lights... they are real, stadium style, ah gahd don't look directly at them lights...
CAVEAT(professionalism)...
-At the THPRD, there will be absolutely NO DRINKING AND NO TOBACCO OR DRUG USE. You heard me right - no drinking at the event location... at all. This is a professional event at a professional facility and we absolutely have to 100% play by the rules. Come for the insanely high level of competition - not to get wasted with your friends.
-With that said, quite literally the closest building to the court is a bar. You can get as schnockered as you want there and walk the 10' back to the court to heckle all you want.
Here is the map... View Western Conference Finals - Location in a larger map
Here's a picture of a Peanut talking to a Ringer to give you an idea of what court side conditions are like. For reference, the Peanut is at the half-court line...
| Preview | Attachment | Size |
|---|---|---|
 | 383717_2437700710619_1494797862_31994107_1185433856_n.jpg | 31.85 KB |
could we potentially get together and play some games on this court before the event? we were talking about some bench style games in january, weren't we?? :)
I can give you a definite maybe. Crandall has been in communication with the parks and rec folks and is trying to secure us a 'club night' once a week. Light out at 11. I think Thursday is the current first choice for day of the week. We'll be in touch.
i believe we still stand by our invite. you guys just need to tell us when you are coming so we can work it out. probably would have to keep it small though so we don't have to rent it out for the weekend, and if im not mistaken, we can't play on sunday there unless we were to pay for it cause hockey people use it.
Pick me!
I do have my own Bench to go to But I want to vist Portland god damn it. In the last 4 years I've been the east coast million fucking times I want to go west smoke purp, slay goals, and stare at hippies whats wrong with that!
come for PDX3 on April 1st then stay til the Polo Retreat the next weekend in BC!
Just keen to this thread!! oh fuck yah and holy shit!@!! Nice work fellas. So count me in one way or another.
This is gonna be Dizz-ope!
Question..what City/Clubs are gonna get teams?
For example Here in Sf we can easly come up with 8 but Santa Cruz and Sacto probably can't. Can we join certain regions?
Just curious..
Either way I can't wait to be back in PDX...
we don't have the capacity to allow a large number of teams. . we have one court. one amazing court. and we want to have the best tournament possible for the amount of teams we CAN support. i am being a little deliberately aloof on this but expect more details to come. this will most likely be an invite tourney, as in we have few slots and want to fill them appropriately
If this does end up being a roster of city vs city teams, Nanaimo would like to officially express interest in attending this. We have 6-8 players serious about making this trip. I'm pretty sure we are the Westernest regular polo playing city in contiguous USA and Canada.
Good to know! Right now, we're definitely giving spots to Portland, Seattle, E. Van, LA, San Fran, and we have room for one more slot. We were considering a Santa Cruz/Sacramento mixed team because many of them expressed interest in attending, but probably couldn't field a full team from just one city. I have a few questions for you that I've sent via email that'll help us determine who is the best fit.
2 days befor this event happens i will be moving to East Van.. should i play with L.A heads or with East Van heads?
I'd say LA because it's the club you've played with most, but I'll bring it up tonight at polo for discussion with the rest of the organizers. We're playing at the court on which we're hoping to have the tournament and a regular polo week night, should be a blast.
Are you playing games with our heart David?
Mind, blown.
East Van watch the fuck out!! theres gonna be a new Sheriff in Town!!
Announcing my free agent status.
Sorry pal, but that's not how it's going to work. The teams will be city-based i.e. a Portland team, a Seattle team, etc. We feel that this will inevitably lead to better competition between the teams because you'll be playing with people you get to play pick-up with all the time rather than a bunch of random players you may or may not know. This also makes it easier for spectators to become interested because it's a full-length game being played between two teams that represent cities everyone can recognize.
The concept of a draft isn't where bike polo is going.
Pullman...are you in for the bidding of the Non-Recognizable City Championships?
I understand what you are saying pete. For the first rough draft new format tournament on the west coast it seems like you would want a mixed team of individuals from small clubs that want to travel to your tournament. It could be a good way to test your city based theory. I have a pretty good contraceptive opinion about overly restricting where bike polo is going, it is all about population control. Personally I would like to see more prolocreation.
Reese you can play with us! We need you!
Announcing my free agent status, too.
I think the bench minor tournament style for a regional tournament is great but I think a rule for no substitutions of players from other cities is essential. You play for the city that you live in only, otherwise what's the point of having a city vs city tourney?
Remember that every sport that is city based (IE professional sports) has a draft that levels player talent across the field of play. Everyone who plays for the Seattle Seahawks is not from Seattle. Not every player for the Canucks is from Vancouver. A draft is only the most natural of additions to a sport looking to establish itself such as ours, and it's a good way to keep things balanced in competition.
I say that the only stipulation is that the majority of players must be from the city that the team is playing for, and that each draftee can only play for one city per year, and it can change every year if they want it to.
So, like I said, I'm available!!
I feel like some people are misunderstanding the goal of making the teams city-based. The goal of city-based teams is to make it such that your bench style team is comprised of players that you get to play with regularly. In the 3v3 format, you only have 2 real teammates. In the bench style format, you have 4-8 teammates and as a result you'll get more practice time with your teammates during regular pick-up. You'll also have an incentive to work together with more people in pick-up. We hope to show that team strategy and teamwork on the court are and should be much more important than they are in 3v3. The goal isn't to exclude others based upon geography, that's just an unfortunate side effect.
If there happened to be a club that was made of up a bunch of players from different cities, but this club played together once a week, I'd say they'd have a legitimate claim to be a team in the bench style format. We have a few guys from Vancouver, WA who play with us. Are they not allowed on the Portland team because they don't live in Portland? Of course not. They can be on the team because they're active club members.
So again, it's not really about city vs. city, it's more about active club vs. active club. And it just so happens that most active clubs are restricted to one city or at the very least identify with one city.
Kruse, you don't play regularly with any of the clubs we're inviting, so you can't be on a team. Sorry bro.
Eh. But everyone that plays for the Canucks lives and practices in Vancouver, because they are paid millions of dollars to do so. A draft might help balance the competition, but Pete's comments about team cohesiveness and accessibility for spectators still stand.
Why do you think the competition needs balancing to begin with? And how can any bench style tournament not be obviously more balanced than a 3v3 tournament...? Think of the best team vs. the worst team at a 3v3 tournament. Would the skill gap be greater than the best bench style team vs. the worst bench style team at our tournament? The answer is obviously yes!
Easy there, I was talking at Nick.
If you want to make things interesting for spectators, then obviously balancing the competition is important. But it's also important to keep the level of play as high as possible, as you are trying to do.
Your tournament won't have much of a skill gap, but in part that's because you are being pretty restrictive about the number of teams/players that are entering. And that's fine, it's your tournament.
A draft would give you more balanced teams than city-based rosters, though. And it would help players from smaller scenes participate.
Either way it doesn't matter to me, and this debate doesn't belong here. I just thought that the professional sports argument was bogus. NAH isn't the NHL.
I'm going to go ahead and disagree that a draft would always make for more balanced rosters than city-based teams. You're never sure how people are going to play together with a draft. Look at the city-based style tournaments that have happened on the east coast and compare them to the Bench Minor draft-style tournaments... it looks like the draft makes it less balanced.
All I'm saying is you guys are missing out on a great opportunity by not getting me involved in this tournament. I'm your midwest enforcer, ready to drop mallet and gloves and fight for your team. Bring me up from the minors and I'll knock someone out.
Question from SF
Can we have a non playing captain who does not count against total allowed players
wouldn't that just be a coach?
Finally someone asks a pertinent question worthy of thought and discussion.
Response requested by Monday 2/20
We will be democratically electing a captain
That person will choose players (mostly) as they see fit
Thanks
This is going to be fecking factastic..............it is so obvious already that the W. C. Championships is definitely NOT going to be toilet.
Question:
If someone (or a few someone's) wanted to come from SD, could we play? If so, who would we play with/for? We would not have 6-8, that's for sure.
*** Official Response ***
Just wanted to give everyone a heads up that we'll have an official press release for the Western Conference Championships (WCC) by this weekend.
It will include but not be limited to....
-Invitations to cities
-Tourney format overview
-Team selection guidelines
-Humor and off-beat candor
| Preview | Attachment | Size |
|---|---|---|
 | 1048311_940a_625x1000.jpg | 66.91 KB |
x2
Hold on tight, y'all
For the love of God Eric Bryce Crandall, Give me the details.
relax mike. tryouts for the seattle team will take place the first week in march. it will include, but is not limited to: bike polo, mile run time, 100 m run, style points, obstacle course, biathlon results, plus an apple pie cook-off.
I want a press conference for this Crandall.... get somebody filming, some cameras with bright flashes, a tired ass coach, and an obnoxious reporter in the crowd!!
*** Official Response ***
We will be inviting 6 teams:
Portland
Seattle
San Francisco
Los Angeles
E. Vancouver
Nanaimo
What we're looking for is groups of people who play together regularly (weekly). A player can be considered a member of that club if he plays with that club weekly. We understand that this might be hard to enforce, but we know who will be moving around and how often folks play pick-up. We gots that insider information. The goal is to have the teams be comprised of folks who play together often and have good teamwork as a result of playing together regularly. We want the teams to be able to practice amongst themselves during their normal pick-up nights. Hopefully this tournament is able to show how important teamwork and bench strategy are when playing a bench style tournament. The team that wins probably won't be the team with the most superstars but rather the team with the best teamwork and strategy.
If there is a guy from San Diego who has been playing weekly with the Los Angeles squad, he will be eligible to play with LA in our tournament. If there's a player who is moving to E Van and hasn't played with them more than once or twice is not eligible to play with E Van. A player who moves to Seattle and has been there for a few months and playing weekly will be eligible to play with Seattle. You know who you are and we know who you are. At this point in bike polo, the community is thankfully small enough that we don't think we need things like proof of residency. Don't try to bullshit us, we will call you on it. When you finalize your roster, we will let you know if any players on it aren't eligible.
Teams will be 5-9 players and will be figured our entirely by your club. We will have a contact point for each club who is *not* a captain, merely someone who lets us know what their club's line-up is. You guys can settle it however you want. You can have a club vote for a single captain then have him/her decide. You can have a vote for all 9 players. You can throw names into a giant punchbowl, but that probably isn't the best strategy. The point is that your club needs to come to some sort of consensus on how the team is selected. Rosters must be finalized and sent to me and Crandall via email by 1 month before the tournament date. Also, there very well may be a date coming shortly. More on this soon.
The tournament format will be a round robin followed by a single elim with 4 teams. Every team will play each other once before the playoffs. You will play 4 games on Saturday and play your 5th (the only team you haven't played yet) on Sunday morning to determine playoff spots. The playoff will be ranks 1v4 and rank 2v3 for the semi-finals. It'll be exactly like the bench minor in Chicago for those of you who were there.
I will be reffing every game that Portland isn't a part of. I'm going to be running around the court and shit, getting in everyone's way, blowing whistles in your faces, and throwing yellow cards fast enough to slash tires. Having fun will be illegal and you will be penalized if I feel that you are having fun while on the court. Shuffles will count (not really). I'm going to need 1 other similarly grumpy and obsessive about the rules yet overbearing and loud person to ref the games that Portland will be playing. Contact me if you're interested. A ruleset is in the works for our tournament... among others.
Lastly, I can't make this announcement without at the very least suggesting that our tournament might be the part of something bigger.... there are several bench style tournaments that are confirmed already. Keep your eyes peeled for the future is now.
Thanks Pete. I was confused about the number of players -- poster says 8 but I'll a. ssume 9 is the correct answer.
Interesting to hear of your plans for ref domination. Seems sarcastic (not really). Normally i'm happy to ref. Obsessive and loud i can do. Grumpy and overbearing i try to avoid. Running & whistling on court is definitely not gonna be me. (Assuming i make it to the event.)
Can we vote not to have Pete as a ref?
You've never seen me ref, why don't you want me to ref?
Oh, one part I forgot to mention:
Each time can have 2 non-players on their bench. One coach and one equipment manager/mechanic/great motivational speaker.
Also, Pete. Can you confirm the dates for this? I know what it says at the top of the page but I hear there has been talk about other dates? Please confirm.
We know that you folks have a wedding, we're figuring it out, don't worry, you will be included.
I'm up for reffing 2 games the first day and one the second day Thats 3 hours solid . Hopefully we will have enough others to cover.
i'll give back rubbs, wash feet, carry coach's clipboard, scream at reffs giving out yellow cards and give motivational talks to the first team that picks me. Oh and I have a bit of reffing experience if I'm needed, too. Providing happy team endings(its the new format), I just want to be involved.
Yours in Polo,
Reese
Hey Pete , Getting Refs together then allocating them to particular games B4 the tournie starts (with the option of swapping with one another if necessary) would be great for everyone and obviously if someone wants to reff more they can request more reffing time.
This is gonna be an Epic Bench Minor..Can't Wait!!!
Ouch dude. Nanaimo, but not Oly. Guess who's not invited to the next west side invite?
^ lol
The tournament was posted well before the teams were announced. If you wanted to be considered, you could've emailed me. That's what Nanaimo did.
oh burrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrn! do people still say that?
sorry brah. nalympio?
how about a team for the outcasts? Ashland, Eugene, Olympia, Moscow, Sacto, Santa Cruz, San Diego? We'll all send our best gun, it'll be like the globetrotters?
*****************************
*** OFFICIAL UPDATE ***
*****************************
It is likely, but not yet confirmed officially, that the dates will be the weekend before, June 15-16.
Also, we would like to announce that we're going to be allowing in 2 more teams, one full of stragglers from the northwest, the other full of stragglers from the southwest. Eureka, Ashland, Pullman, Santa Cruz, Sacramento, Olympia, Eugene, we're looking at you! I'll be in contact with the clubs in order to figure out how roster selection will work for the 2 multi-club teams. It'll need to be as democratic as possible, we're not choosing a captain and leaving it up to him.
To clarify, teams will be 6-9 players, not 5-9 or 6-8 as it says above.
I'm also going to need 2 refs from different cities for the games that Portland is playing. Let me know if you're interested.
I can reff to your standard Pete. You will get away with nothing .....Nothing I tell you NOTHING.
Only kidding, Polo Shall Prevail. Count Me
Are the dates still un-official ? Cause whats wrong with July 7, 8 weekend, or 14,15 weekend? Just asking...
******** official response ********
Dates will likely be pushed to 2 weeks after NAs, July 21/22.... trying our best to work with the parks n rec folks!
so the Western Champs are after the NA's? isn't that like the world series before the playoffs? or maybe the polo season starts July 12th? not that I care, just trying to understand.
dates, dates, dates - ah gahd dates... I understand the need to have confirmed dates asap... let me assure you I am doing my very best to get them worked out...
If it helps with the delay in dates - I've put in an application for alcohol permits(beer garden) so that you can enjoy adult bevy's at the event...
officially straggling! anyone else? I'm in Ashland and can maybe rally some more...
We're inviting a mixed team from Pullman, Olympia, Eugene, and Ashland. I'll be contacting those clubs after dates are confirmed.
Pete, you have me so confused with all of this.
what is confusing? we're trying to secure dates for 2 weeks after NAs in MKE which would be July 21-22.
*** OFFICIAL DATE CONFIRMATION ***
July 14-15
That's right, it's the weekend after NAs for 3v3 in MKE. It's the only option available after the decision to change from the original date.
Rest up for that week in between. Or practice. Just come ready.
You know that makes this a (pre) birthday tournament, right?
You ready Mike?
Oh wow, we finally got dates nailed down!!! I truly wish I could have made it two weeks after NA's, but we're playing at a primo facility that is in high demand from all sorts of "sports"...
If it makes you feel better, I'm negotiating to have a beer sponsor/garden at the event space...
Hey Nice one peeps. Appreciate the effort. Can you change the dates at the top of this page now to avoid any confusion for peeps that have yet to check it
nice one pete. thanks for the confirmation.. hope to be there !
Feel the rythom feel the ryhme come on ya'll its bobsled time!
"bench format" aka "new format": making bike polo exclusive since 2010.
Any format for any game that aims to produce the highest level of competition is going to exclude people based upon skill. What's wrong with this sort of exclusivity? Or are you talking about some other kind of exclusivity?
East Van, you'll have been a member of their club for a while come tournament time.
You're part of E Van's club and not Portland. I don't see what the issue is.
Also, I contacted Menace first then started included Eric (and others) in the emails. I don't see why that's relevant.
I don't understand what exactly you want me to do or what you think is wrong about how the teams are decided. You're living and playing polo in E Van so you should play with their team. If you were living and playing polo in Portland, you'd play with Portland. It's simple.
If you're here and you're playing with us come tournament time, then you're on our team, it's that simple. You're acting like I wouldn't want to play with you if you moved back. That's wrong. You should play with the club of your current city of residence.
If you were at Alberta tomorrow, I'd say 'welcome back, glad to have you on the team'.
****** OFFICIAL UPDATE ******
Victoria/Nanaimo unfortunately had to withdraw as they feel that they could not field a complete team, so we're cutting it back down to 6 teams:
Portland
Seattle
E Vancouver
Los Angeles
San Francisco/Sacramento
MIXED TEAM
This enables us to facilitate a true round robin. Everyone will play everyone else (5 games each) before the final four single elimination playoff. The mixed team's composition is TBD, but will be something along these lines:
2 from Ashland
2 from Bellingham
2 from Pullman/Moscow
2 from Olympia
1 from Eugene
If your club has any interest in fielding a player for the mixed team, please contact me. I'll be contacting folks from the clubs listed here shortly.
I'm coming, I haven't heard any replies from anyone I sent mail to, so maybe they'll take your word for it. Let me know what you find out.
ill be coming down.
I'm coming solely as a heckler, spectator, and maybe an officiatator (which makes me official dictator over the games I'm reffing)
but serious, I wanna ref!
I thought bike polo was a friendly sport.
what this x count thing? i click on one with out knowing..smh...
Sorry i was really looking forward to PDX but with NA's a week before i can't see how i could possibly make it..
I will be there with bike and mallet. But I am not on a team (yet?).
If there are any open spots, i'll be available and ready.
San Francisco have announced there team .To keep the interest going . Anyone wanna put up a coozy as a side bet ....................coz yer all going down.
Have fun guys.
I'm not going to make it the weekend after the NAs. East Van will be representing but I think a large portion of our players going to the NAs can't do two weekends in a row.
A least I don't need to deal with Pete's refereeing.
Hey Portland!
I think this is a great idea, but I'd like to make a suggestion that might make for a higher turn out at both of your proposed tournaments.
I propose you move the co-ed tournament to the weekend of this tournament and run a one day co-ed and one day bench minor.
I foresee the weekend of the co-ed tournie (March 30-April 1) as being difficult for people in Cascadia to travel to, especially women as there is Polo Retreat (April 6-8 on Gabriola Island, BC) and Ladies Army (April 27-29 in Lexington, KY) - both previously announced and expecting high attendance. That's a lot of traveling in one month.
We'd really like to support you, because we love playing with you folks, but I'd like to suggest you consider combining these two tournaments. Could make things easier for organizing on your end too!
- Pitbull
(I am going to duplicate this post on the other tournament.)