Category: Qualifying Series

Happy New Year from the NAH!

In 2017, the NAH will be hosting the WHBPC and will be welcoming polo players from around the world. We have already begun preparation for the upcoming competitive season which for us means hosting the NAHBPC and the WHBPC, along with administrative support to the regional qualifiers. The bidding process for these two major events has already begun. We will soon be collecting and announcing the cities who will be hosting the regional qualifiers.

In the meantime we have been working very hard to address issues that our community currently faces: Growth, inclusion, and competition. We have several new things coming at you in 2017. A brand new website, a new pilot program to help small clubs host tournaments and regions grow their competition field. But one big announcement to begin the new year…

Squad is here. The time has come.

In 2017, both the NAHBPC and WHBPC will be held in the 5v5 Squad format. This is something that the community has been experimenting with for several years now. Europe has just recently come off their continental cup which was a huge success in Italy, and Fixcraft PHBP tournament fostered a great deal of enthusiasm with players. The NAH is very pleased to say that we will be the first to take this format tothe the world stage.

These changes will help solidify bike polo as a world class team sport. It will allow the community to use multimedia outreach for sponsorships, partnerships, and local support with far greater success. The format allows for so many important changes to make the game into a true team sport. Allowing teams to create flow and strategy within a game, which is much longer than your average 12 minute game. It allows organisers to create even more comprehensive schedules, volunteers such as referees and goal judges will have a clear schedule for working and will aid in their time management as we continue to have player/ref conflict. The longer games and more flowing game play allow engagement from a spectator. These changes are very welcome from both an organization standpoint and also a spectator’s standpoint when considering involvement in the game.

This doesn’t mean that 3v3 is over or “dead.” It only means that the NAH believes that the Squad format is the exciting shake up opportunity that is needed in 2017.

In the upcoming weeks we will be awarding a host city for both the NAHBPC and the WHBPC and with that we will know the number of days and courts and will be able to announce how many teams each region will be awarded. Until then we would like to begin working with regional reps and members of the international community to help facilitate and discuss this change. 2017 will be a year of experimentation for everyone and we will do our best to help facilitate where needed throughout the year.

As in the previous year, the NAH is putting no obligation on the regions on how they qualify teams. Regions will know the date to send team lists to the NAH, but beyond that, we leave it to the regions to decide how to manage their qualifier tournaments. Stated more explicitly, regional qualifiers do not have to be held in the Squad format.

e.g., A 3-player team wins the ESQ, and then finds 2 additional players to form their 5-player squad for the NAHBPC.

Other polo organizations in Asia, Europe, South America, and Australasia are under no obligation to make their continental championships Squad format leading into the WHBPC.

e.g., A 3-player team qualifies at the EHBPC, and then finds 2 additional players to form their 5-player squad for the WHBPC.

With that said we will be releasing further documentation in the coming weeks with detailed information to aid in the transition for the organisers of all of our qualifiers and suggestions to our global polo community regarding the WHBPC. This document will include sample tournament layouts for a variety of scenarios. It will also include rule revisions for squad and how to manage a squad event with a court ill suited to line changes on the fly.

This allows for some flexibility for both the regions and players while still keeping us on track for the NAHBPC and WHBPC.

Happy New Year!

Please contact Mark Aseltine (mark@nahardcourt.com) with any questions regarding the 2017 tournament series.

Thank you to everyone who filled in our survey. We had over 350 responses, and it’s provided us with some great info. I’m going to discuss what these results mean for NAH tournaments going forward, and what needs to happen to achieve those aims.

 

Demographics

We received responses from a wide range of players, both skill and experience wise, which makes us comfortable that these responses cover a large cross section of the community.

The majority were from North America, though 14% were from other parts of the world.

We had a wide range of experience in the responses, though there is a trend towards those in the 3-7 bracket.

Almost everyone responding played a tournament last year, with three quarters have played at at least 3.

Two thirds of those responding have played at least 10 tournaments since they started.

Two thirds have played in an top level tournament.

We had a very wide range of responses in terms of tournament placing, with roughly equal numbers for most of the categories, except for DFL and finalists.

More players players rated themselves as a 3 out of 5 in skill than the other categories, with roughly equal distributions on both sides of the curve.

Format

These responses will shape how future NAH tournaments will be structured.

It’s clear from these results that 3vs3 and 5vs5 squad are the most popular formats at the moment. Most players would be happy to play either format. There was some interest in other formats, but not enough to justify the NAH hosting anything at this point. This means the NAH Bench will not return in 2016.

Specifically for the NAHBPC, there was a stronger preference for 3vs3 compared to squad. With PHBP pushing forward the squad format in 2015, and many other tournaments around North America starting to host squad tournaments, at least for this year we will stick with 3vs3 as the primary championship format.

More people prefer to play Swiss Rounds than Round Robin groups, though there significant interest in both formats, so it’s possible Round Robin may be included at some level. With the size of NAHPBC, we will stick with Swiss Rounds, at least for the first day.

Double Elimination is the preference for many players for the final day, though the “Worlds” format of round robin leading to single elimination also had a reasonable amount of interest. There was little interest in pure single elimination, or a best-of series. We may experiment with some element of round robin on the final day this year.

Two thirds of players wanted as many teams as possible, though there were many comments around increasing the wildcard, with a smaller main event.

 

2016 Tournaments

We wanted to find out if we should hold an NAHBPC this year, and what other tournaments players wanted us to host.

Three quarters of players do want an NAHPBC championship this year, and almost everyone wants us to continue organizing tournaments. As such we will try and make an NAHPBC 2016 happen, if a club is able to host it.

There was also considerable interest in experimental formats. Given the lack of interest in formats other than 3vs3 or squad, we would consider hosting a continental squad tournament, if the right host club can help us make it happen.

 

Qualifiers

We asked if qualifiers should be open or closed, and if players should be able to play in more than one.

In both cases, player voted for no change to the 2015 format. As such, we ask that regions prepare to host qualifiers, or tournaments that could be qualifiers, so that if an NAHBPC takes place, we have the process to select teams to play in it. If the NAHBPC does not take place, the same players would be eligible to play those tournaments in either case.

Other Comments

There are too many to list them all, and many repeated options in the survey (such as requests for certain formats), but some comments that came from multiple players, and weren’t covered in the questions, include:

• Make all NAH tournaments co-ed
• Unlimited Goals
• Points/Ranking system, instead of qualifiers

We’ll consider these subjects too, though there may be no changes for 2016.

Hosting NAHBPC 2016, NAH Squad 2016 and Worlds 2017

For NAHBPC to take place in 2016, we require a host. Many players have requested we return to Lexington, but they are already hosting Bench Minor this year, and would consider bidding for Worlds 2017. Too many tournaments will burn out any host, so this means we require a new location for 2016.

Ideally this means a club with access with three permanent courts, though building some temporary courts is an option too. We have a budget of $6000 from player registrations, hopefully extra sponsorship money is available, though nothing is guaranteed. Any money beyond that would need to be raised by the host, through their own sponsorship connections.

If we cannot find such a court, we would also consider a two court bid, though this would require a smaller NAHBPC, with less teams. If your club would like to bid to NAHBPC 2016, please email tournaments@nahardcourt.com, by the end of April.

 

Given the interest in squad format, we would like to host a squad tournament. This would likely be small, for this year, a 12-16 team tournament on two courts, over 2-3 days. If your club would like to bid for such a tournament, please email tournaments@nahardcourt.com, by the end of April.

 

Summer/Fall 2017 is likely to be when the next Worlds takes place. After France and New Zealand, the NAH would like to see this take place in North American again. As such, please email any bids or questions to tournaments@nahardcourt.com by the end of June.