Labor Day Weekend Polo BBQ
Just because we can, LA is welcoming all neighboring clubs to come visit us for Labor Day weekend.
It’s a holiday, why not play polo together?
Come out for the weekend, or just for a day. We’ll play our regular Friday night games from 6-11p.m. as well as our Sunday afternoon games from 3- 9 p.m. If there’s enough interest, we’ll play Saturday afternoon as well (and maybe even a bit Monday, if people stick around).
Let us know when you’ll be in town, and if you’ll need a place to stay.
(214) 384-9902
Location
11455 Magnolia Ave.North Hollywood, CA
See map: Google Maps
Could Sanctioned Polo Courts Be in Our Future?
UPDATE: I’ve received a positive reply from Craig and will be coordinating with him on the logistics. So if you decide to send him a message, just let him know that you support the idea of a bike polo hard court and appreciate his outreach. : )
Craig Raines from the planning department of L.A. Parks & Rec has posted up a note on Midnight Ridazz expressing his interest to develop bike-specific park space. As soon as I saw it, I shot off an email to Craig inquiring about the possibility of establishing polo courts. You can email or call Craig to let him know you’d like sanctioned polo courts in L.A. too - due ett!!!! Just remember to be courteous as you are representing the L.A. Bike Polo community. : )
Craig A Raines
Landscape Architect Assoc III
Advance Planning/Planning and Construction
Department of Recreation and Parks
City of Los Angeles
221 N Figueroa ste 100
Los Angeles, Ca 90012
213-202-2652
craig.raines@lacity.org
Here is the message I sent to Craig:
Hi Craig,
I saw your posting on midnightridazz.com this morning regarding the skate park. I would like to discuss with you the option of establishing a sanctioned bike polo hard court in Los Angeles. Bike polo has been played in Los Angeles for two-plus years, and in numerous other cities across North America and internationally for the past 10 years (in its current incarnation). The sport itself is more than a century old, having originated as a method of practice for traditional horse polo players.
We have played on hockey rinks, tennis courts, basketball courts, in parking lots, and any flat, level hard surface we can get access to. Unfortunately, none of those facilities are “polo courts” - because there are none. The polo community in Los Angeles has grown to hold multiple weekly games year-round in all areas of the city, from the West side to East L.A. and the Valley.
If this is a feasible project, the bike polo community is willing to provide any input and support to establish a polo court. Please let me know how we can help each other achieve this goal.
Sincerely,
Krista Carlson
(I listed my phone number here)
Summer Tournaments and Travel Dates
Look out to the polo horizon and what will you see? Weekend after weekend brimming with the buzz of tournaments and travel, and many of the same passionate polistas screening, shooting and scoring from dawn to dusk at each new court. Drawn together is the four-corners-of-the-continent family that breathes the same air of anticipation and excitement for each new moment of polo, smells of the same blend of bike grease, beer and adrenaline, and shares your fantasies about those magnitude-8 pologasm moments, like the long shots from half court or a flawless passing play and the unstoppable goal that follows.
Ahead of us now is an endless summer of warm polo-filled days. Let’s kick off the fun with the Long Beach Friendlies. A daylong tournament on May 8 consisting of pick-up and single elimination games, the LB Friendlies will be held as part of the Long Beach Bike Festival this weekend.
Later this year, L.A. is set to host the first Southwest Regional Championships. Dates TBA.
In June there are a variety of reasons to pack up your polo bike and out of state. PDX II (June 18-20) is a good one; so is ESPI5 & Women’s Army II (June 25-27). The North American Hardcourt Bike Polo Championships are a mere month after, from July 16-18 in Madison, Wisconsin, and if nothing can come between you and epic polo, then you won’t be missing the World Hardcourt Bike Polo Championships in Berlin from August 13-14.
In September we can look forward to winding the warm days at the East Van Crown. There’s quite a few honorary Canadians that are due for a (first) homecoming. Holy shit, what an epic summer of polo!
Blog? What blog?
…we’ve been spending our time on the courts!
2010 began with a bit of politics- Krista was chosen as our club’s representative to North American Hardcourt in the first week of January. In the middle of the month, she and five other club reps in our newly formed Southwest region elected Joel from San Francisco, Mike T. from Phoenix, and our very own Alex Dash as the regional representatives. So far, the governing body is responsible for overseeing the selection of a host city for the North American Hardcourt Bike Polo Championships, with other duties to be assigned if necessary. We are not, after all, a community very inclined towards formality and rigidity.
Once all the dust settled on those decisions, it was time to hunker down and really work on throwing an epic tournament. 33 teams came from Vancouver, Victoria, Seattle, Portland, New York, Austin, Denver, Phoenix, Washington D.C., San Francisco, and Florida. Here are the official results of the tourney, as posted by Joker on leagueofbikepolo.com:
1st East Van
Alex, Pieter and Chris
2nd LA - Notice to Appear
Joker, Pistolero and Tim
3rd - Sleepless in Portland
Kenichi, Drew (Seattle) and Leon
MVP - Mini Mike
The most memorable game of the tourney, however, was probably when Natural Born PlayAZ (AJ, MiniMike, and Davey) beat the defending world champions Seabass, Julian, and Dustin for 4th place. For pictures and more information, check out the post on LoBP.com: http://www.leagueofbikepolo.com/so-cal-winter-polo-picnic-ii-polo-prizes-food-beer
With hardly a moment to breathe, we trucked out to Phoenix in mid-February for the Desert Polo Invite II. There we met San Diego, Denver, and Albuquerque for the first time, and played a whole bunch of polo in the pouring rain. Most of us camped in Justin’s backyard in that same pouring rain as well. It was yet another fun tournament with the young kids from Phoenix stealing the show. The results:
1st: (LA) Hoodfellas- Joker, Pistolero, Brian
2nd: (PHX) Grass Assault- Mini Mike, Jacob, AJ
3rd: (PHX) 13 year olds- Mailman-J, Mike T, Jim
4th (LA) Juan in a Million
5th (DEN) Mile High Club
MVP- AJ
After a few weeks without any major events, we went to Inland Empire’s first tournament three weeks ago. This friendly tournament hosted by the Claremont Colleges felt more like a chill kickback as we played polo surrounded by college students playing volleyball and frisbee. The biggest upset of the weekend was having to move the tournament off campus at the beginning of the second day, but once we relocated it was right back to the chill day of fun of hanging out with San Diego and Claremont. The tournament results:
1. L.A. Confidential from 818-Alex (Joker), David (Pistolero), and Chris (Torelli)
2. Akron House from Claremont- Ace (Eric), Jasper, Bennett
3. Snap! Crackle! Pop! from Downtown & 818- Derek, Sarah, and Guy
4. SissyGirlCryParty from 818- Matt (Stillline), Brian, and Krista
These past few weeks we’ve also taken to visiting Long Beach during their regular Wednesday night games. On our first visit, we brought 7 players to a court devoid of local players, so we played our own games on their sweet court all night long. Our next visit, two nights ago, was much more successful. We found out that Long Beach has a few local players with quite a bit of skill and an absolute TON of spectators. It makes for a great polo experience.
Be on the look out for another L.A. tournament this summer- the rumors say that our region wants its own championship…
Happy New Year to You and Your Polo Bike!
There was no shortage of polo as 2010 rolled in, and certainly the celebration meant an opportunity for more polo (as all holidays should, no?). We played the last games of ‘09 on the DTLA court and rang in the new year at the city’s prime polo temple, the 818 rink, on New Year’s day.
L.A. polo players have come a long way in the last 12 months. And we have much to look forward to in 2010, as we gear up to host the Socal Winter Polo Picnic - Round II.
This time last year, those of us who were involved in L.A.’s first true tournament were still trying pick our jaws up off the floor after the likes of skilled polo players from Seattle, East Van and New York demonstrated the next level of polobility for us to aspire to. A year ago, even L.A.’s most veteran player, the Joker himself, was still just a babe in the world of bike polo.
And while bike polo has thrived for many moons in other cities before L.A. was endowed with the fine game, the amazing growth of bike polo in L.A. has been paralleled by it’s growth in all corners of the world.
Tournament News
The tournament is a month away and we’re expecting 30-plus teams! How’s it all gonna work? Saturday’s round robin games will be held at two rinks; the secondary rink is 3 miles west of the NoHo rink, in Burbank. Sunday’s double elimination games will be held fully at the NoHo rink.
Want to know where everything is? Check out this map to find out local bike shops, polo spots, eateries and where we all live (thanks Sarah!). Still need housing? Email Joker at bikepolo dot ca.
Time for the SoCal Winter Polo Picnic - Round Two
Photo by Alex Thompson
Yep kiddies, it’s that time - time for another two-day polo melee in the 818! Remember East Van taking out Spazzlocos (Martin, Chris and Mark Capriotti)? And the 18-on18 battle royale that culminated the whole event? Ah, yes, there will be another 818 Bike Polo Battle Royale.
There will be grub by Bike N’ Bake.
There will be grog.
There will be bikefuckingpolo.
January 3oth and 31st, 2010 at the NoHo Rink in Amelia Earhart Park. Stay tuned.
Get yer fix
Games at the rink in NoHo (aka the best court in the west!) have expanded to Friday nights. Friday night games are great for getting in some extra time on the court, since there are fewer people we tend to play longer games. Also, it’s an easy entry point for new players.
Nothing beats Sunday’s games, but some of us are aching for some extra time in the 818 Polo Thunderdome! See you on the court!
L.A. Bike Polo Lives!
Hello! This site is being risen from the dead, and FYI, the L.A. Polo scene has been thriving and growing in the past few months. The most consistent games continue in the 818 at the North Hollywood Park hockey rink, while more sporadic games occur in other parts of the city. Oh, and 818 DOMINATES California polo too! Stay posted for recaps of the first half of 2009’s tourneys and travels-Many players have been making a name for themselves, not only in L.A. but across the West AND East.
Stay tuned…
New Site Launch
Just finishing up the new Wordpress theme and implementing the new Wordpress version of the site. With this rolling out of the new site, there are a few new things I could use some help with:
Writers: We are looking for contributers, so If you play regularly and have things you would like to share and discuss with LA Polo community, email us and we will see about creating an account for you.
Slideshow Photos: Right now it consist of my very amateur photography, If you have any photos that you would like to throw into the slideshow on the homepage, email the photo to us. A JPG at 1000px wide, 72 DPI and set to a high quality will be considered.
Flickr Badge: Photos tagged with labikepolo.org in Flickr will automatically show up in the Flickr badge to the right.
Tournaments: Send your Southern California flier artwork and tournament info here to have it featured on the sidebar.
Weekly Games: Right now there are 2 official public LA polo games. Of course all it takes to change this is someone starting their own weekly game anywhere in the city. If you do this, or know of any other weekly games going on in this city, send us the info and we will gladly list it on the site.
Rules: Both weekly games use the same ground rules, however the rules are somewhat dynamic. If you are aware of any new rules, or believe the rules listed on this site are inaccurate, please let us know.