Borrowed from hardcourtbikepolo, I think we need to be having this discussion here too. Read on, and please comment.
“Official” Question?” Does it need to be “Official”?
With so many tournaments going on this year, and I’m guessing next year will be even more crowded with events, one begins to think which is the BIG, big one. You have need for an international tournament, and a national tournament. Right now CMWC and NACCC are basically messenger race events with polo tournaments included. The West side, East side, North side, and Mid-West all have regional tournaments. Most of the time it’s a polo event that sometimes includes a race. As the community of devoted polo players gets more and more in touch with other regions, and reputations are developed around the best players in each region, one begins to think which is the BEST, best team. I am guessing more than a few teams want the title, but beyond the regionals there is no “Official” title. Should there be one and what should it be?
I’ll repost some comments on the subject, see more:
From Angelo in Ottawa:
CMWC Toronto. Is this really a world polo “championship” or a CMWC polo tourney? This the CMWC and that’s the main event. It’s a messenger event. I think that if this is a “World Polo Championship” it shouldn’t be piggy backed on the CMWC. It should be it’s own event. Polo isn’t just a messenger sport.
And don’t get me wrong i want this to go down. I want to play polo in TO. But what title is really on the line here.
From Brian in Ottawa:
Yes you are correct it is the CMWC polo tourney. The race is the main event. However there are 8 countries registered so far so it is truly an international polo event. Who ever wins this one will pretty much be able to lay claim to being the best at least untill the polo community holds an “official championship”. The CMWC organizers jumped the gun originally and billed this as the world polo championship. What can you do?
Also to clarify the messenger status an ex messenger is the same thing as a messenger.
Hope that helps. I will be posting a list of all the registered polo players in the next few days.
The early registration deadline has been extended till April 20th so get on it.
For those that have already registered I will email updates directly
Regards,
Brian
From Lucky in Chicago:
I’m calling the North American Polo Championships (going on concurrent to the NACCC race Labor Day weekend in Chicgao) an “Official Championship”. There are no restrictions on entry. Chicago is a centrally located city what’s cheap to fly to. Look to chicagonaccc.com and chicagobikepolo.com for registration info in the next coupla weeks.
Can I get a second?
From Kat in Boston:
in boston we’ve been talking about getting some sort of national tournament together for next year – unofficially dubbed the battle of the year. this is the proposal: any city can register a qualifying local tournament. they can make their event as big or small as they like, throw an alleycat or other events in conjunction, whatever. each city will use the event to not only determine which team will represent them, but also to raise funds to send that team to the national finals – each city sending only one team for the battle. there could be a second bracket for additional teams that didn’t qualify for the main battle bracket. what do you guys think – anyone want to help get this organized for 2009? boston’s putting in a bid for 2009 naccc’s – perhaps it would work in conjunction.
I think what some are getting at is some Lord of the Mallets type shit, “One tourny to rule them all”.
If you’d like to leave a comment please note the city where you play.
Some comments from the hardcourtbikepolo site:
April 8th, 2008 at 4:25 pm CMWC for polo does not require your a messanger or ex messanger (its polo for fuck sakes). On the coast we had a tourney in Seattle last weekend and everyone was talking about the “worlds” being in Toronto. I think every city out West is sending a least one team…I know Chicago is not as big a draw. Maybe it will be closer to the time.
I think the combination with the CMWC and other messanger events ensures teams show. The little regional tourney will never have the draw of the World Messangers. Maybe in a few years we can break away on our own…but I’m calling Toronto the worlds.
I’ll see you in Toronto.
April 8th, 2008 at 4:42 pm I wonder if the national bicycle polo association, the old school bike polo dudes on grass, would object to us saying it’s a national or even regional championship. Would they care or would they want a clarification that it’s hardcourt or what not. I’d like to see some of those guys play hardcourt. I bet they’d kick ass once they get used to it.
April 8th, 2008 at 7:36 pm Lord of the Mallets. yes.
I like the idea of regional qualifiers to send the best of the best to one central location.
One team per city?
April 8th, 2008 at 7:48 pm A little semantics: The Chicago NACCC will certainly be a North American Polo Championship “Tournament”, in that teams from all over the Continent (hopefully) will be there to compete with each other. If you’d like, and we can get everyone to agree, we could make a separate bracket or a weighted group, or something where the champions of all the regional tournaments play each other and then it would be a little more like a North American Polo “League Championship” or “Season Championship”.
But really, we say it’s a championship because we’re planning it as one. Three simultaneous courts, big prizes, pre-registration, housing, insurance, EMT’s on standby, it’s all so very official. The NACCC (and/or the WCMC) are natural allies for such a thing. If your weekly game is like a bar ride, then your regionals are like a big alley cat, and these championships are like the NACCC. A legit forum to display your otherwise underground skills. We’re pretty tight with the planning committee (hell, two of us are ON it), so we are not being restricted or sidelined. Where it benefits us, we’re one event, where it doesn’t, we’re separate.
April 9th, 2008 at 11:35 am All good ideas, I’m really liking this discussion. One thing comes to mind, and I think the Canadians will like this but I don’t know about others; it’s just an idea: If you’re going to have a tournament with only one team per city, that’s going to be a relatively small bracket. What I personally think would be fun is to take one team per city, but instead of the team being made of 3 players, put 9 (or 8 or 10 or whatever) players from each city on a team, put 3-on-3 on the court at all times, and switch players/lines in and out on the fly like a hockey game. You have 3x the total players, so maybe play 3 10-minute periods with a new faceoff to begin each period. City against city, grudge match style. That way you always have fresh players on the court (change lines when you get tired) so the game stays fast, teamwork is even more a factor than usual, and more than 3 players from each city get in on the fun.
April 9th, 2008 at 2:43 pm ^that sounds awesome!
April 9th, 2008 at 2:45 pm don’t you think that if each city held a qualifier, we’d get at least 12 teams for a worlds? although i agree that Toronto or Chicago would be a great venue for the world polo tournament, it would be silly to exclude anyone and everyone who wants to register a team there. a second bracket with open registration would be great and would lead to a ton of games. having two brackets might also encourage more cities to hold qualifiers for the following year. but lord of the mallets, what? battle of the year is a way better name. don’t you guys follow world breakdancing championships? jkjk. i borrowed it from this documentary…
http://www.planetbboy.com/