New NAH Rules Director

RULES Director announcement

Hi polo people,

I’m Joel Crandall based out of Asheville, North Carolina. I’ve been playing since 2012. Since then, I’ve helped officiate two World Championships, a handful of NAHBPC and regional qualifiers, as well as hosted a number of annual tournaments here in the Blue Ridge Mountains. I’ve been asked to step up as the new NAH Rules Director replacing Joe Rstom (Joe will continue to advise on rule development but play a less active role).

In the upcoming 2019 season, I plan to work alongside NAH and EHBPC leadership to draft a Rules Development System. This will clarify the process of implementing new rules and making amendments to existing rules. My goal is to have this system functioning by the 2019 World Championship in Cordoba, Argentina in September, however, no major changes will be tested for the 2019 season, as Qualifiers have already accepted the existing ruleset.

This Rules Development System will be the funnel which will help eventually create an International Bike Polo Ruleset in three languages: English, Spanish and French. I have ideas I will be sharing with the committee being formed to oversee this system, but my ears will always be at the club level.

I plan on being easily accessible in a professional setting while in this position. It’s exciting to participate in the bike polo community from a new perspective and I will do my best to serve the sport effectively.

 

Please feel free to contact me by email at joel@nahardcourt.com. 

Cheers, Ya’ll.
Joel

joel crandell

Seattle will host 2019 NAHBPC

2019 NAHBPC

The NAH is pleased to announce that the 2019 NAHBPC will be held in Seattle, WA.

Seattle is one of the longest standing clubs in North America and the NAH is excited to work with a club with such rich bike polo history and experience to host this year’s NAHBPC.

Seattle’s bid includes significant overhaul to their current court facilities, aiming to provide the best court infrastructure possible for this event. The NAH Events Team has already began working with the host committee and will work closely with them in the upcoming weeks and months to provide a top-quality tournament experience.

The 2019 NAHBPC will be held on July 26-28th. The NAH encourages regions who have not yet scheduled their Regional Qualifying tournaments to do so as soon as possible.

Additional updates regarding the 2019 NAHBPC will be posted here on our website and via the NAH Monthly newsletter.

Thank you for your support and good luck on the court!

The NAH Events Team

Call for 2019 NAHBPC Bids

ball for bids

Welcome to the official call for host bids for the 2019 NAHBPC. This year, the NAH would like to introduce the new NAH Events Team who will help organize and coordinate this year’s Championship. Shannon Fey will be our new Event Director. She will take over as lead organizer, supervisor, and point-person for this year’s NAHBPC. To help her with organizing, Dan Vee will act as an Event Coordinator. Davey Kim will work with them on sponsorship and as in past years, Mark Aseltine will work on the competitive aspects of the tournament as the Tournament Director. Together they will work closely with the NAHBPC host to deliver an excellent tournament experience this year.

NAH event team

The Events Team has already begun working on organizing and planning the 2019 NAHBPC and are working to address feedback the NAH received from past hosts and players. In addition to organizing the NAHBPC, the team will put together a number of Standard Operating Procedure documents and resources for the NAH Events Team and host clubs to create clarity on expectations and responsibilities of hosts and NAH when organizing and throwing these kinds of tournaments in the future.

what we need

The specifics for the NAHBPC 2019 are as follows; The event should start no earlier than July 10 and end no later than July 28, 2019. If you would like to host outside of this time window, please contact Mark, the NAH Tournament Director, to discuss the feasibility.

Call for bids is open effective immediately and will close on Monday February 25th. The announcement of the successful host club will be on Friday March 1, 2019.

The 2019 World Championship in Argentina will be held as 3v3 instead of squad. The format of NAHBPC 2019 is still under review by Regional Reps and the NAH Executive Team. The NAHBPC format and allocation method for WHBPC spots will be announced before the NAHBPC takes place.

Sponsors

The Events Team has already secured a couple “early bird” sponsors for the 2019 NAHBPC! We’re excited to have Black Star Bags, Enforcer Bikes and Donata Bike Polo as some of our podium sponsors this year!

NAHBPC podium sponsors

Amenities Needed

For a full list of the amenity requirements, please see the bid submission form. A minimum of two courts is required but ideally three courts are made available. The facility should also have basic player amenities such as shade, water, toilets, and access to food for purchase. Organiser amenities, such as power and reffing stands and tables, should be provided. The NAH Events Team will work closely with the host club to outline responsibilities and requirements and help supervise and assist in organizing the tournament.

Funding

Hosts can plan to have up to $4000 (two court) or $5000 (three court) for this year’s NAHBPC provided to them by NAH. The budgeted amount provided to the host club will be recouped by the NAH by collecting reg fees from players; if host club need more than the initial budgeted amount they will be responsible for fundraising extra resources. Registration fees are collected and kept by NAH. The NAH can provide these budgeted funds up front to assist a host club in quickly and successfully meeting the 2019 NAHBPC tournament and event requirements.

How to Apply

We feel that with the new Events Team we have the ability to support any club in North America to take on hosting the 2019 NAHBPC and we encourage you to submit a bid. Interested hosts should consider how else they would fundraise for the NAHBPC in conjunction with NAH funds. Bids and questions should be submitted via email to (events@nahardcourt.com) with the documents provided here.

For any questions regarding the competitive portion of the event, please contact Mark Aseltine directly at mark@nahardcourt.com.

For any questions about the general running of the event, please contact Shannon Frey directly at events@nahardcourt.com.

For questions regarding hosting the NAHBPC, please contact former NAHBPC hosts Thanh Nguyen directly at morrowtvn@sbcglobal.net or Matt Krofcheck at thiscarcrash1@gmail.com.

 

NAH Communication Guide

nah communication

Hello everyone,

With a new president and new incoming team members, the NAH would like to take a moment to remind the polo community of some great ways to engage your NAH representatives;

Moving forward, NAH team members will not use personal Facebook pages or email address to discuss NAH business. While many of us will talk polo and share polo related content, we need to work on drawing some boundaries between our personal lives and NAH business. Any messages posted on or sent to a personal page or email will be disregarded. NAH team members will also not participate via their personal profiles in public forum discussions regarding NAH matters (rules, tournament format, etc.).

The members of NAH realize these discussions are important to the development of bike polo and encourage those participating to provide thoughts and feedback directly to the NAH via DM (to NAH social media sites) or email. Email addresses of NAH team members can be found on the NAH website; www.nahardcourt.com/contact

In addition to emailing, you can also subscribe to the NAH mailing list to get announcements and important news delivered directly to your mailbox. Sign up here.

Communication is a high priority for us as is creating better transparency this 2019 season. In order to achieve this we will continue to develop lines of communication within the North American bike polo community and abroad to help grow this sport we all love and to create productive interactions and relationships.

Please respect the NAH team and the need to keep personal and official lives separate. But also please keep your thoughts, ideas and comments coming! We love hearing from you and want to keep the communication lines open.

To help spread the word, please share this post with your club.

Thanks everyone,
Looking forward to an exciting 2019,
Your NAH team.

Posted in NAH

NAH 2019 Projects, Volunteer!

NAH would like to invite you to volunteer, contribute and get involved in some of the projects we’re planning to work on over the next year! See something here you like and want to get involved in? Send Jenny an email at jennifer@nahardcourt.com explaining your interests and we’ll loop you in!

list of nah projects

volunteer skills

project details

1. NAH Website Development

Project description and goal:
The NAH website is hosted on WordPress and is in need of a solid overhaul. NAH is working to develop and launch a new website that will provide info/resources to NAH players and more general information for users visiting the site to learn more about bike polo and NAH.

Where we’re at:
Right now we have a sitemap, landing page wireframe, and user profiles (with prioritized users) developed.

What we need/next steps:

  • SEO and keyword research to help the NAH page rank better for bike polo related searches
  • Unique content about bike polo and NAH for each web page/topic
  • UX design and strategy for website/individual page layout/wireframing

Who we need:
We need experienced volunteers and volunteers who are interested in developing skills in these roles:

  • Content writers
  • UX designers
  • Web developers (front and backend)
  • SEO strategist

2. Membership Program & Database

Project description and goal:
NAH will spearhead the development of a player and club membership program and membership database. A membership program will allow NAH to generate funds to create the play experience many players are asking for, such as live streaming, paid refs, etc. In addition, having a membership program and database will allow NAH to better communicate with players and regions directly and quickly.

For this project to be successful, it needs careful research, planning and buy-in from the community. Regional Reps will be heavily involved in the development and implementation of this program.

Where we’re at:
We’re in the process of gathering resources and identifying a number of grassroot sports to study their membership programs. We’ve outlined the information we want to capture and manage in a membership database. In addition, we’ve brought onboard a database manager who currently manages Habitat for Humanities membership database to help use build a robust database system that will grow with us over the next years.

What we need/next steps:

  • Develop and refine the database taxonomy and structure
  • Research and draft a membership program plan

Who we need:
We need experienced volunteers and volunteers who are interested in developing skills in these roles:

  • Researchers
  • Folks experienced in building/managing databases

3. Tournament Organizer Handbook

Project description and goal:
NAH and a few volunteers are working on creating a Tournament Organizer Handbook for clubs to use as a resource when hosting or considering hosting a bike polo tournament. This handbook will be updated annually as we continue to develop the content and resources through user feedback.

Where we’re at:
We’ve had community input on a number of areas for the handbook, generated content through folks brainstorming, bulleting and commenting. We have links to useful resources for clubs and an overall outline of the handbook laid out.

You can see the Handbook Draft here.

What we need/next steps:

  • Fleshing out each section of the handbook
  • Developing resources to attach to handbook
  • Beta testing with clubs to identify areas needing further development

Who we need:
We need experienced volunteers and volunteers who are interested in developing skills in these roles:

  • Content writers
  • Copy editors
  • Illustrators and designers

4. Club Handbook

Project description and goal:
NAH will spearhead the development of a Club Guide and Handbook to help clubs better build their scene and manage their club and members. This handbook will need a lot of community input and collaboration.

Where we’re at:
Right now we gathering ideas and topics and brainstorming the areas the Handbook would cover and address.

What we need/next steps:

  • Identifying key “pain points” for clubs
  • Gathering resources and references

Who we need:
We need experienced volunteers and volunteers who are interested in developing skills in these roles:

  • Researchers
  • Content writers

5. Spectator’s Guide to Bike Polo

Project description and goal:
A one-page pamphlet with written content and photos explaining the sport to spectators. This pamphlet could be printed out by clubs to handout to spectators at tournaments or to spectators at pickup.

Where we’re at:
So far we have collected some examples of other spectator guides from other sports.

What we need/next steps:

  • Research, planning and design for pamphlet content

Who we need:
We need experienced volunteers and volunteers who are interested in developing skills in these roles:

  • Designers
  • Content writers

6. NAH Strategic Plan

Project description and goal:
NAH will develop a strategic plan that outlines NAH’s mission and goals over the next two, five and 10 years and specifically back these goals up with case studies, research and input from the community. In addition, NAH will create milestones and KPIs (Key Performance Indicators) to measure our progress.

Where we’re at:
Right now we are gathering resources on how best to plan and engage in this process.

What we need/next steps:

  • Collecting resources and references
  • Conducting case studies, especially of other grassroots sports

Who we need:
We need experienced volunteers and volunteers who are interested in developing skills in these roles:

  • Applied researchers
  • Folks experienced in report and policy writing
  • Nonprofit and program management

 

Posted in NAH