HARDCOURT BIKE POLO
Hardcourt Bike Polo is a variation of traditional Bicycle Polo in which teams of 3 players ride bicycles and use mallets to strike a small ball into a goal. It may also be referred to as "Hardcourt", "Urban Bike Polo" or simply "Bike Polo". The first annual North American and European Hard court Bicycle Polo championships were both held in August 2009.
Rather than use traditional wooden polo mallets, Hardcourt Bike Polo players started making handmade mallets in the spirit of the DIY ethic. Since then, a number of companies have appeared, which are producing more distinct equipment, specifically for bike polo. Typical mallets are constructed using heads made from UHMW, and aluminium shafts similar to ski poles
The European tournament drew over 40 teams from Great Britain, France, Switzerland, Spain, Italy and Germany and was won by L'Equipe, a team from Geneva. The North American tournament featured 36 teams from Seattle, Vancouver BC, Milwaukee, Chicago, New York, Ottawa, Portland, Washington DC, and elsewhere and was won by Team Smile from Seattle. First prize for each tournament were tickets to the 2009 World Championships.
The first ever world championships where held in Toronto in 2008 as part of the Cycle Messenger World Championships. Heat Lightning (Doug Dalrymple, Paul Rauen, and Zach
Blackburn) became the first ever world champions, using a high energy "die by the sword" playing strategy.
The 2014 World Champions are the French team Call Me Daddy, also 2014 European Champions. Call me Daddy also helf the French Champions title for three years in 2011, 2013 and 2014. They lost their title against The Birds in 2015 at the La Rochelle Bike Polo 2015 French Open.
