Since the 2017 World Hardcourt Bike Polo Championship, an informal group with members in official or semi-official roles in the five bike polo regions (NA/EU/ANZ/LA/ASIA) have been discussing the future World Championships.
The current group involved with this discussion are:
- Asia
Ai Tanaka
xxxaiaiaixxx@gmail.com
Member of the Japanese Bike Polo Association - Australia/New Zealand
Nick Dixon-Wilmshurst
xoqz01@gmail.com
Canberra representative on the Australasian Hardcourt Bike Polo Association - Europe
Gernot Gruber aka. Django
eurohardcourt@gmail.com
Member of the European Hardcourt Bikepolo Association - Latin America
Vero Enríquez Ruiz
vero.enriquez.ruiz@gmail.com
Member of the Latin American Bike Polo Association - North America
Mark Aseltine
mark@nahardcourt.com
NAH Tournament Director
We have been conversing for a couple months now and so far our conversations have been productive. They are ongoing and have been revolving around a few key questions.
We want to find a way to answer questions such as:
- How do we determine who hosts the WHBPC?
- What format should the WHBPC be?
- How often should the WHBPC be held?
- How do we properly represent the world community?
We have agreed that the community needs to make a decision on the host of the next WHBPC sooner than later.
We have also agreed that the region that last hosted the WHBPC (i.e. North America) should not be able to submit a bid, and that the host region before that (i.e. Australasia) should only get a chance to bid if no other region bids. That leaves Asia, Europe and Latin America as potential bidders.
The next step is to determine the bid criteria, a bidding timeline, and a method of voting on the bids. Questions on format and timing may be more difficult to resolve but we believe it can be done.
Before we go too far, we wanted the community to know what we are doing and how to get involved. All regions will be invited to add a second representative to the group as discussions continue. However, we wish to hear from all interested players so please get in touch with your reps (above) and tell them your ideas and together we can get the best results for the community.