Congratulations to Portland Bike Polo for winning the first ever North American Club Bench Championships!
The tournament was a great success, and we can’t wait for 2015 for it to happen again.
We will be looking for feedback on how we can improve it, you’ll see some surveys soon.
If you club can provide 3 courts, and wants to host it in 2015, please let us know (we’d love to do it on the West Coast next time)..
So, to explain how the schedule will work. There are two groups of 6 teams. Every team will play every other team in their group, 4 games on Saturday, 1 on Sunday morning.
Group A and B will alternate. Games are 1 hour long, and rounds will start every 90 minutes. Those 30 minutes between the end of one game, and the next (minus any time wastage), are for the next team to get on court, and warm up. Don’t turn up when your game is meant to start, and expect to be able to practice. Be there 30 minutes before.
Saturday:
9am: Group A
10:30am: Group B
12pm: Group A
1:30pm: Group B
3pm: Group A
4:30pm: Group B
6pm: Group A
7:30pm: Group B
8:30pm: Pickup and Party
Sunday:
9am: Group B
10:30am: Group A*
—————–
12pm: QF 1 & 2
1:30pm: QF 3 & 4
3pm: SF 1 & 2
4:30pm: Final
6pm: Awards
*After this, one court will be available for pickup/spectating. The top 4 teams of each group will play the single elim.
Ties will be allowed in the group stage. In the elim, any tied games will have 10 minute overtime periods. Team must be ready to play at the start times. If you have 3 players there, you play, no waiting for the entire squad to turn up. If you are late, goals will be awarded every 3 minutes, up to a total of 20-0. If both teams are late, the game will simply become shorter. If you have more than 7 players in your squad, you must notify the ref of your 7 players before the game starts..
Read an interview that Lancaster Polo did with Ben Schultz, NAH President.
Link: http://lancasterpolo.com/2014/09/15/president-nah-4-questions-answered/.
Unfortunately Seattle can’t make it to bench, and we’ve asked a few of the teams who are next in line, but no-one can make it as a whole club. As such Nic Maglio has volunteered to captain a Best-Of-The-Rest team, formed of players willing to travel to Lexington. Please get in contact with Nic (nic@nahardcourt.com) if you want to play, and are able to make it to Lexington in 2 weeks time.
So there is an open spot at the NAH bench tournament September 27 and 28th in Lexington. If you would like to be considered for this “best of the rest” team please send me a message, I will choose a core 5 players who can be there both Saturday and Sunday. And then the remaining 2 spots for each game will be random players who can make it there.
Europe joins the NAH in supporting the Timaru bid for Worlds 2015. Any clubs in either North America or Europe who want to compete to host that tournament should contact their respective association by the end of the month.
The EHPA is ready to fully support the Timaru bid for WHBPC but would like to propose to the european clubs to express, on the LOBP and by October 1st, their SERIOUS interest to host it in 2015. The clubs should be ready to get a bid public in the following months.
Timaru’s bid:
https://leagueofbikepolo.com/forum/tournaments/2014/09/11/whbpc-2015-bid-timaru-new-zealand
http://timarupolochamps.com.
