Category: WHBPC

Bid for WHBPC 2015

Posted on by John Hayes

During the worlds, there were discussions between the EHBPA, Australasia, and the NAH regarding the worlds.

Timaru, NZ will be submitting a formal bid to host worlds in late 2015 within the next few weeks. It’s not expected that any other clubs will compete for that (assuming the bid is up to the standard expected). If there is an NA club that wants to host in 2015, then please contact tournaments@nahardcourt.com before September 30th (a formal bid is not needed, but at least a firm intention). The deadline is so that Timaru can proceed with their planning and people can get an early start on booking tickets..

North America at WHBPC14

Posted on by John Hayes

The following list of teams going, or maybe going to the Worlds. We have plenty of reserved wildcard spots for NA teams available, and possibly even some main event spots. Please let me know asap if you want to go.

All teams must register by July 28th, at http://whbpc2014.montpellierbikepolo.fr

Main event:
1) Beavers – confirmed
2) Guardians – confirmed
3) Control – confirmed
4) Mosquito – confirmed
5) Assassins – maybe?
6) Cucumbers – confimed
7) Nino Dios – maybe?
8) Taint Sabers – maybe?
9) Milwaukee, Eh – maybe?
10) Memento Mori – confirmed
11) Significant Otters – registered
12) Jon/Jordan/Branden – registered.
13) Family – confirmed
14) Ride Your Bike Machine – confirmed
15) Luke/Dana/??? – confirmed.
16) Brandon/Tiffany/Thomas – confirmed

Wildcard:
1) Ratking – confirmed

Available NA players:
Mark Aseltine
Oleha Riden
Brandon Carter.

NAH endorses the bid of Montpellier for the 2014 WHBPC

Posted on by John Hayes

NAH endorses the bid of Montpellier for the 2014 WHBPC, but we would like to request a mid-September date. We are aware that August is a holiday period in France, but having such a date means the NAHBPC, and NAHBPC qualifiers need to be so early in the season as to potentially have a negative effect on those competitions. Most WHBPC tournaments have been organised and held outside of vacation times. Having a vacation month prior to a mid-September event date would still provide the key organisational benefits. Ultimately, we will accept the final decision made by Montpellier.

NAH requests that the bid of Timaru, New Zealand be considered for the 2015 WHBPC, rather than 2014, and would likely endorse that bid. But NAH would like to request Timaru investigate whether the court size can be increased. Our recent survey has 60% of respondents requesting 40 x 20 as the minimum court size, which Timaru does not currently meet.

NAH would also start the process to find a host for the 2016 WHBPC, with an expectation that after 2 years elsewhere, it will return to North America.

Please contact tournaments@nahardcourt.com if you would like to bid for WHBPC 2016 in North America..

Survey for WHBPC planners/organizers.

Posted on by John Hayes

On behalf of the worldwide polo community, we took some advice from a LOBP thread (found here) and decided to ask the community a few questions. This is an informal surveyed, merely used for reference regarding various organizing topics. Since there is no unified world organizing body this information is pretty superficial. None the less, it could prove to be useful in the future. You can find the survey here..

After 94 elimination games, Beavers won the World Championship.

Posted on by John Hayes

What a week we had down in Weston, Florida. After a Wildcard, 2 days of swiss round play, a day full of heartbreaking double elimination games and some temporary rain: North America’s Beavers came out on top in a decisive 5-1 victory over reigning champions Call Me Daddy.

The venue was spectacular and you couldn’t ask for much more from the Florida clubs who worked to organize this event. The weather was absolutely perfect, and even the rain was a nice relief from the oppressive heat. The tournament ran almost to schedule thanks to the amazing volunteers, and the level of play brought by the players was nothing less than impressive. Watching crowd favorites and new rivalries develop throughout the bracket was both inspiring and entertaining. One thing is for sure, the future of our sport is bright, and the players of North America should be proud to bring the game they work so hard on. Congratulations to Brian, Eric and Joey. The top shelf 4th goal, and the full court 5th goal will stand out in the memory of the bike polo community for a long time to come.

Here are the top 24 from WHBPC 2013:

1st Beavers (Eric, Brian, Joey SF)
2nd Call Me Daddy (Polo, Greg, Will Paris)
3rd The Assassins (Nick COMO, Joe, kouyo SEA)
4th Edisons (David FRA, Eddy GER, Anthony TOU)
5th The Control (Andrew CRZ, Ace NYC, Forrest SF)
5th Pilgrims (Rupert, Adam LDN, Pierre SF)
7th Getting Wild (Hayden, josh CBG, Jon LDN)
7th True Danger (luca CBG, Hugo, Alex Paris)
9th Wolfgang (Quentin, Manu, Clement GVA)
9th Portland United (Jason, Arlyn, Eric PDX)
9th The Makers (Nick LEX, Ben, Chris MKE)
9th We Are Animals (Jo FR, Piks GVA, Morgan LYN)
13th Big Country (Alex, Rory VAN, Henry VIC)
13th Journeymen (Dodi BUD, Robbie OTT, Nick TO)
13th Power Rangers (Max FKB, Phil GER, Robert HAM)
13th Guardians (Cody, julian, Dustin SEA)
17th Simon Says (Nicky, Chris, Jaouad ANT)
17th Warlocks (Miguel ATX, Floris NAN, Rob Paris)
17th Switchnics (Nic, Charlie COMO, Nick MPLS)
17th The Means (Chris NYC, Alexis OTT, Nick RVA)
17th The Greens (Christopher LEX, Drew LOU, Adam TO)
17th Mucko (Jake BOS, Ngaihon, Kevin TO)
17th Bill Murray (Emmet LDN, Sterling, jake SEA)
17th Mosquito (Duane, Daren, Will SKN)

14 North American Teams, 10 European Teams!

The 2014 season will feature groundwork being laid for big structure changes, an even better ruleset, and refined referee certification! There will be more information on all of these things over the coming months.

(Photo Credit: Brandon Carter)

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