Little Rock Bike Polo sent a whopping eight people to Austin, TX for their Halloween tournament (the Massacre-ade Ball). None of the Little Rock teams did particularly well but everyone seemed to view it as a learning experience. Notes were taken about what to do and what not to do with regards to running future tournaments in Little Rock.
I didn’t realize how fast bike polo is played on the tournament level, but I soon found that out. In my team’s first game, we played three girls in onesies (they were dressed as the Jamaican bobsled team) who came out fast and furious. I know I took an elbow to the ribs and didn’t actually realize we were playing an all girl team until nearly the end of the 5-0 match! Thanks for schooling us, ladies!
Some LRBP peeps were tired several hours into the first day and took to searching out soft spots for afternoon naps!
I probably had the worst injury of the tournament when I took an elbow to the mouth from an opposing team member when I came alongside him (in his blind spot) to stop him from scoring on us. At the same time he tried to take a shot (and his elbow found my mouf) his pedal wound up in my front wheel despite me having wheel covers on. Three spokes broken, huge gash on the inside of my lip and no goal for them!
Here’s an interesting photo-sequence (click to see bigger), taken by Darcie with my camera, which features yours truly turning too sharply and foot-downing, followed by my wheel getting run over by an opposing team member. Polo is a rather civilized game, so the other team member apologized for running over my wheel and I said it wasn’t a problem and we both rode off and tapped in.