COMOPOLO

so janet gave me contact info for carol, the recreation supervisor. she also mentioned that a special use permit would have to be obtained:
http://www.gocolumbiamo.com/ParksandRec/Parks_a...

and also:
"I also wanted to make you aware of Tourism Development funding available through the Columbia Convention and Visitor Bureau's Sport Development program. Their lead time for applying for funding is 120 days prior to an event. Information on the application process can be found here:"
http://www.visitcolumbiamo.com/web/tourism_fund....

I'm really into exploring bring the midwests here, especially since columbus's response was shaky at best. if we decide we want to do this, it will require a lot of work, and everyone should contribute only as much as they can or want to. in 2009 we worked for 3 months very hard and were rewarded by hosting one of the biggest bike polo tournaments ever to that date. this time around there is much more of a framework for these events, and NAH will help us with the running of the tournament.

as we move forward with this, we should divide ourselves into committees and focus on individual aspects of making a tournament happen. parties, food, courts, finding places to stay for everyone, finding sponsors are all things that need to happen. i'm sure i'm forgetting something.

we will all have to coordinate with each other, as well as people from other clubs, sponsors and NAH. start getting motivated and brainstorming constructively

i love you all

I can't seem to get to 25 points on the application.

floppy wrote:

I can't seem to get to 25 points on the application.

Really? We do sponsorship right and we have 9 points just from that section. 5 points for proving we are well organized. 5 points for event to columbia with solid history. 1 point for confirmed room nights, 2 points under the "existing" tab, 1 point for local media coverage, 1 point for retail expenditures under 20k, 2 points for "one time event with renewal potential.

I count 26! I know some of that is a little bit of a stretch but nothing there that we couldn't get away with, right?

we would not get the 5 points for new event to columbia. Remember 2009?

that makes 21.

2009 was not sanctioned by NAH

totally possible and totally want to make it happen. although i imagine trying to run and play in a tournament would be stressful.

so we need to fill this out like this week though because 120 days already puts us at June 1st and if the tournament needs to be completed by the first weekend in june were going to be cutting it close.

Last edited: Wed, 01 Feb 2012, 01:20pm by Air In Hand

Someone fill it out then. I can't because I'm in school.

ill print it off right now so at least well have it but i cant fill it out on my own, id need some help

fuck the first weekend in june is june 1st, 2nd, and 3rd. this needs to be done today! is anyone free to work on this with me?

shoot, i worked kinda late today. sorry hand!

Okay, according to Carol:

May 12/13th is the only weekend the city has available. We have to confirm that the date works and then move on from there.

But to confirm the date, we just have to wait and see what happens with c-bus and all that shaky bullshit.

we don't have to wait for columbus, but that weekend is also mizzou graduation, which is bad news....

does anyone know anyone with columbia college? the ideal weekend is the 19-20, which is after mizzou and columbia college's graduations

the parking lots at wilkes and 8th are sweet:
http://g.co/maps/vs3ch

Why do you say it's bad news? Just curious what you think.

Cons:
-Crowds galore downtown
-Packed bars --> MAY be tough to organize a registration party and Saturday night event/party

Pros:
-I'd imagine Cosmo will be empty? Maybe not.
-Maybe easier to get a themed party?

I don't know. I have a knee-jerk reaction that it'd be a tough weekend, but I can't pinpoint why.

I'm still down to help organize if we want that weekend. But goddamn, that gives us three months.

Ha, you want to have the midwest qualifier on North 8th st...

I'm really not into that. Not to mention the school would never go for that.

We need to think practical. I really don't want to spend time chasing these sorts of ideas.

What do we want to do? The two major concerns are kinda the crux of organizing any event: place and time/date.

Let's say we go ahead with May 12-13. Here's what we know:

-We're not gonna get the tourism grant money because we're not within the 120-day application requirement. We're almost 90 days away from that weekend.
-We can use the big court at Cosmo all weekend.
-Several COMO Graduations are that weekend.

i know nick haaaaaaaaaaaaaaaates the idea, but can we at least ask about oakland. if we put 4 foot sheets of ply would around the fence and built a wall down the center, we would have two sick courts. and they have a nice flat parking lot to build a third court in.

all im asking is that we at least as if its possible for it to happen.

We already did. It was included in the email and completely ignored.

COMO Parks and Rec is not going to let a bunch of bikes onto their nice tennis courts. They're explicitly against it as evident by the signs they place up at all their courts.

But Charlie indeed included it in the email. Parks and rec doesn't want us anywhere other than cosmo, and for pretty practical reasons.

In carols email or janets email? Charlie can you post the emails?

i sent nearly the same one to both.

"I was hoping we could begin discuss the possibility of hosting a major Midwest bike polo tournament here in Columbia in mid-May. This tournament would be part of the North American Hardcourt (NAH) tour and would qualify teams for advancement to the North American championships. This means that if we were to host it, people would attend from all over the Midwest. So far, no one has stepped forward to host the tournament, and it is required to be finished before mid June. We'd love to see what it would take to bring the tournament to Columbia!

For more information on the NAH tour:
http://leagueofbikepolo.com/forum/tournaments/2...
http://www.nahardcourt.com/

The facilities at Cosmo park are a good start for an event like this, but at least two more courts would have to be constructed in order to accommodate for the amount of teams (usually 48). Previous tournaments of this size have been hosted in converted tennis facilities, so we wanted to explore that possibility as well.

Thanks!

Carol Riney
Feb 2 (1 day ago)

to me, Nick, crlosciale, taltnether
I have looked at the schedule we have for events at the park and the only available weekend at Cosmo Park would be the weekend of May 12-13. All other weekends there are softball tournaments, baseball tournaments, soccer and lacrosse. There would not be room for additional rinks to be set up in parking lots.
We have the one permanent rink at the back of Cosmo Park and one portable rink that can be set up in a parking lot as was done in the past. We do not have a third rink. This would be something that you would need to locate and we would work with you on providing a location to set it up.
Let me know if this date is one that will work for you and we can go forward in getting this tournament established.

hell yeah n 8th st. whats wrong with that? minneap's midwests was on a rented college parking lot. i'm contacting a bike shop customer that works for columbia college on monday.

I'm down for trying anywhere other than cosmo. I really don't think the roads are smooth enough for polo. Idk how flat the cc parking lot is, but I know its brand new so I'd be down to try. My only concern would be the amount of wood it would take to build 3 courts.

Also, I don't think it would hurt to ask directly about Oakland rather than just a general tennis court comment. What about boone county fair grounds? I've never been but if roller Derby has events there maybe we could too

what are you going to do for boards if you do it in a lot?

Build courts will either donated or discounted wood

Good luck on getting that kind of donation! Have you thought about the cost of that?!

North eighth, lol. Wilkes, lol.

When we have cosmo? See, this is the kind of thing that will make this unsuccessful. I'm out, bitches.

Ain't even flat dawg, go look.

While watching the hockey game last night, Floppy pointed out that not only is no one stepping up to do Midwests, but what about ESPIs, Northsides, Southeast etc. NAH hasn't even bothered to update the website for the 2012 "tour". I think '12 could be the year without a real season. Bench style in '13? Who cares because the world ends on Dec. 20th?

Polo has jumped the shark.

we're exploring possibilities, kruse. people dont like how big cosmo is...

What people?

Asthmatics?

When they originally wrote the rule book, Cosmo was too big. I am not sure there is a rule book anymore....

But wouldnt tennis courts be pretty small? I have not seen oakland courts.... We know we can use cosmo and we have used cosmo, that should be a heavy factor in our decision making. If time and money are of the essence, trying to figure out new courts and boards might stretch us thin. Are we gonna host or what? I hate for us to argue about this....

It seems if we want to compete in a Midwestern Championship, we're gonna have to host it.

As nice as it'd be to have it at Oakland or 8th and Wilkes it doesn't make sense to do that right now. We have a little more than three months to get this together.

Choosing Oakland or a parking lot--assuming that would be permitted--gives a total of zero (0) available courts right now. Cosmo has one (1) ready right now.

Parks and Rec has at least they'll work with us on setting up a second and third court at Cosmo.

I'm lobbying for Cosmo given the time frame. If that's the direction we go--and this decision should be finalized by the end of this week--I will do my damnedest to make this tournament worthwhile.

Will it be as rad as ESPIs looked last year with covered courts and an abundance of kickass prizes? Maybe not. But it will be a Midwestern Championship tournament. To me, that sounds better than no Midwestern Tournament.

snarles bill wrote:

we're exploring possibilities, kruse. people dont like how big cosmo is...

x2

I would never in a million years invite people to play on some slanted ass parking lot with flimsy plywood courts in the ghetto of como.

I wouldn't even attend that shit and I live 400 yards away.

We need to be practical and weigh the disadvantages of talking about and chasing these pipe dreams. Pragmatism reins supreme in these situations. Cosmo is what we have. The flat parking lots right next to it are what we have. A reasonable parks and rec is what we have. You want to have it one week later so you say "fuck P&R", lets move it to a parking lot in a bad part of town and pay $2500 to build 3 courts out of plywood plus what the school would charge us?

That is the opposite of pragmatism.

Sorry, I guess I'm always a dick in these situations but the things being talked about in light of a less-than-ideal weekend are changes that have repercussions that result in it being an event that is much larger in scope of work than I want to take on. It changes it from being do-able and reasonable to being a big pain in the ass and something I'd rather avoid.

Last edited: Mon, 06 Feb 2012, 02:59pm by BoozeKruse

I agree building courts on nothing will be shitty and flimsy, but building at cosmo would still give us a flimsy court just next to a giant court. You know? Where are you looking to build the second court and what did you want to build it out of? I'm not trying to negate your idea; I'd love to be able to host, I just want to understand where your idea fully.

Those parking lots across the skate park from the big court have cement parking bumper things lining the whole way. Walls would not move with proper design that integrates the cement blocks into the support. And they're flat parking lots. And they are next to a permanent roller hockey court.

Aren't they really rough? Or maybe I'm not picturing the right spot. That's my biggest concern for that spot. My other concern is the big difference in size of the two courts. Play on a big court and play on a small court are a lot different, and if the two courts are vastly different then that could alter how the tournament ends up.

I've said everything I feel I want to say about this.

The last Midwest Championship (Bloomington) had different sized courts. Tough luck...

I'm with Kruse. That weekend is our only chance. Let's suck it up and host the best tourney we can with the time and resources we have.

Hell, it could be a lot of fun having it during grad.

Think practically and that's the only weekend and court option that makes sense. Let's fucking do this.

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its also possibly to shorten Cosmo with boards lengthwise if that were a true problem. what time do these tournaments normally start?

We put together a random pick up court on the second day close to the pavilion in 2009 although it was last minute people enjoyed the effort, but the court was shit. Kruse didn't you play over there?

Jon start time has been noon sometimes but I have seen 9 AM as of late.

Nic I agree.asdfjkl; The quick, brown fox jumped over the lazy dog.

floppy wrote:

Kruse didn't you play over there?

I did.

i like the idea of an early start time!

Midwesterns in Bloomington last year did a pretty good job starting by 10:30. With three courts, the games were finished well before sundown even though they had lights.

The vets can speak more to the organization of that tourney compared to previous big tourneys, but the reception on LoBP seemed very good.

If we had two courts, started at 9 or 10 and kept it well organized we could do it. I think we might as well reserve the weekend and do it at cosmo. We need a regional qualifier. We could do a low key tournament with no prizes like Austin is doing, and focus our efforts into making sure we break even.

Charlie can you ask if we use the other rink walls? If we linked them together and they had the concrete parking blocks behind them, they wouldn't move too much. And it would probably be cheaper than building a whole rink out of would.

Two courts isn't enough. We would need three total. Another way to do it would have cities send their top 1 or 2 squads to cut down team numbers. Two courts might work then. The portable lights we rented in 2009 were horrible.

9am to 8pm for two days seems like plenty of time for two courts. i know people love to mix getting wild with polo tournaments but if we're trying to have a serious tournament than i think we can have people take it more seriously so that the tournament runs efficiently. it just takes a well organized staff to keep things smoothly, and if the courts are close to each other than it wouldnt be like sending people across all of cosmo to get ready.

Limit the number of teams to a manageable size for a 2-court tournament.

You guys should host this thing in St. Louis. You do all the work. We'll take all the glory.

do we want a midwest championship this year? that's how we need to frame it, for ourselves, everyone else in the midwest, and NAH. NAH will help with logistics if they want to see the tournament happen

i would like to see a 48 team tournament unless its absolutely impossible. the rink, a wooden court borrowed from another club and the border patrol would work.

i understand the amount of work is daunting, but at this point we have to ask ourselves if we want a qualifier or not.

Mmm not. Im going to go qualify in Austin and then go to MKE and then play in city based bench tournaments until october!

Charlie, that's sort of my point. It's a huge task and no one else is stepping up for it so why should we bust our ass for it to ne something subpar. We should just do less teams and have people scramble for the open spots. If people have the option of scrambling for the 32 spots or not having a qualifier Im sure they'd rather scramble. We could be really strict and be like "you have to be at the check in on Friday by 9pm or you will lose your spot" and we could tell people to show up that didn't make the first 32 and they could take their spots. If no one else is willing to run it, we can run make it more competitive as well as easy on us

We could even have a four day tournament with one court and just tell people if you can't make it than we are sorry, maybe next year your club will step up haha. I mean if no one else is doing it, than we should do it in a way that doesn't cause us all to kill each other to make it work. We should set it up in a way that works best for us.

As a general rule, you need a court per 10 teams. At DPI4 recently, there were 36 teams on 3 courts and it was a really tight squeeze to finish, even with 10 min games.

You've gotta have 4 courts for 48 teams. Austin is really stretching it with 32 teams on 2 courts

How do you explain Bloomington going so smoothly with 48 (right?) teams and three courts?

You make a good point, but what city can pull off four courts? Was Bloomington the exception that proves the rule?

A tournament that doesn't showcase the best polo isn't one worth having. There are two ways to make sure you showcase the best:

1) Have small number of teams and make it invitational.
2) Have large number of teams to make sure everyone gets in.

We can't do #1, we would have to do #2. I just am losing interest because we didn't get that much of a response from LOBP, and everyone is waiting on Columbus who is being sketchy as fuck about it.

We put it out there, and no one said "yes do it" except Chris Williams. So lets just let it burn out and fade away like a beautiful smoldering fire and start focusing on something new and refreshing -- city/state based play.

Also, we digress.

Let's say we can get the extra white boards to set up a second court somewhere in Cosmo. We need to limit the number of teams greatly, correct?

This seems to be the only logical possibility.

princent wrote:

As a general rule, you need a court per 10 teams. At DPI4 recently, there were 36 teams on 3 courts and it was a really tight squeeze to finish, even with 10 min games.

You've gotta have 4 courts for 48 teams. Austin is really stretching it with 32 teams on 2 courts

I'd say the ratio is more like 12 teams a court, but your point stands. If DPI couldn't do 36 teams on 3 courts then they're retarded. This has been done multiple times in other places.

My concern with city-based play is that it will limit the competitive play for new, determined players like myself. That is to say I may not get to play in new format tourneys for a little while.

I get it. The idea is to drive players to get better so they earn spots on cities' teams. I dig that, I really do. And I'd bust my ass to get on my respective city's team.

I'm just uncertain where I'd get the chance to play highly competitive polo outside of the bench style tourneys. "Old-fashioned" 3v3 tourneys? Friendlies? Trips to nearby towns for intense pickup? All possibilities.

Is my uncertainty irrational? Will teams have 9 players?

Don't do it!

Your intentions are good, but people are going to unleash a wave of complaints no matter what you guys do for a tournament. Don't try to put a Midwests together because no one else wants to step up.

If you decide to do it, you should limit the teams to 24 total.

On Saturday, have a morning group and an afternoon group, each consisting of 12 teams, play swiss rounds style.

Then on Sunday, say the top 12 teams from Saturday play double elimination.

To be selected for the 24 teams, you should designate a certain number of spots for each state (two or three), and make them host a small, in-state tournament to decide what teams qualify for your mini-Midwests. This keeps the number of teams small but makes sure that you still get quality teams.

(quick thought while waiting for something to load at work)

notsochristian wrote:

My concern with city-based play is that it will limit the competitive play for new, determined players like myself. That is to say I may not get to play in new format tourneys for a little while.

I get it. The idea is to drive players to get better so they earn spots on cities' teams. I dig that, I really do. And I'd bust my ass to get on my respective city's team.

I'm just uncertain where I'd get the chance to play highly competitive polo outside of the bench style tourneys. "Old-fashioned" 3v3 tourneys? Friendlies? Trips to nearby towns for intense pickup? All possibilities.

Is my uncertainty irrational? Will teams have 9 players?

Christian,

I've thought about this aspect as well. I actually think it could be great to have a new format tournament with one court for A-team play and another for B-team play. In St. Louis we have the benefit of multiple courts. While not in the same location this could really work out well for something like this. In the new format there would be less tournament play anyways and more team vs team games/events. In this scenario it makes total sense to have a B-Team "exhibition" before the A-Team "main event".

The new format is the future. The future is bright.

Oh yeah, nine players is too many.

BoozeKruse wrote:

I'd say the ratio is more like 12 teams a court, but your point stands. If DPI couldn't do 36 teams on 3 courts then they're retarded. This has been done multiple times in other places.

Late start (10:30) and winter sunlight hours... delays, mechanicals, lunch, etc.

Its getting harder to run these tourneys, because expectations have gotten very high. I'd say come up with an interesting idea for a tourney that you can handle, and that you'd actually want to throw

I like this idea Trent. As we have been talking about bench tourneys today it came up that a city like Quads might not be at our level. This settles that issue. Of course to make it work well, organizers would have to make everyone feel like they are meant to be there.

Like beers in a cooler?

The Kindergarten teacher said it best: "Stop Whining"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EL8e2ujXe8g

Yeah, I wasn't suggesting 9 players be on a team. Seems like 6 is more reasonable?

My only complaint...I want the Jenny Cup...I want to drop kick it across the Missouri River.

What happens if we win the Jenny Cup and lose it (Aka: watch it sink to the bottom of The Lake of the Ozarks)?

all this talk of "no midwests this year" is just silly.

if Columbus won't (likely) and COMO can't (possible) then i'd like to point out that Bloomington has the time, motivation, and resources to do it again this year. i'm not sure everyone would be too keen on it being at the same location two years in a row, but if the options are that or no jenny cup, then i'll make it happen. seriously.

i didnt get to play last year so i dont mind :-) and even if i did i wouldnt mind haha i just want to play in the midwests!

Bloomington should just host every year. Spring and Fall.

Nice signature, Ben!

"I've played this sport longer than you, I've won more tournaments than you, don't you fuckin' tell me how to play this game."

yrahcaz wrote:

all this talk of "no midwests this year" is just silly.

if Columbus won't (likely) and COMO can't (possible) then i'd like to point out that Bloomington has the time, motivation, and resources to do it again this year. i'm not sure everyone would be too keen on it being at the same location two years in a row, but if the options are that or no jenny cup, then i'll make it happen. seriously.

I say just host it, Zach. COMO has a problem with to many indecisive know-it-alls that talk to much rather than actually accomplishing anything. And to be honest any courts we would potentially produce wouldn't compare to the one's your club provided last year.

With that said, Floppy and I are planning a city-based bench tourney sometime this fall, most likely in Oct, to make use of the big court. More details later.

YIMYOM wrote:

COMO has a problem with to many indecisive know-it-alls that talk to much rather than actually accomplishing anything. And to be honest any courts we would potentially produce wouldn't compare to the one's your club provided last year.

First of all, you're very surly in the morning.

Second of all, we could easily produce courts of the same quality, especially the ones they had on their tennis courts. What kind of memory do you have of those? While sufficient, they were nothing special and it is foreseeable that those could be accomplished in Columbia. I could do it myself.

Third of all, the only thing we are indecisive about is if Parks and Rec would let us use the parking lots that are closer to the big court. I'm going to talk to charlie about sending an email asking about that today.

Don't be such a dick, Tim. We're all just trying to make calculated decisions here. No need to talk shit on your club.

I'm not a dick, just a realist that lumps himself into the know-it-all category. FYI, I never talked shit on the club, we are who we are and you know it.

if you guys can do it, please do. i'd much rather return to COMO and enjoy myself then spend the whole weekend working my ass off.. think of us as the last resort. since RCA park is almost always available to us we could probably pull the tourney off with as short as 1 or 2 months notice.

but again, i'd rather be in COMO... or columbus.

Cool thanks zach! Come to the pullout next month, either way. Lets drink some beers and play polo and party!!!

oh i'm definitely in for the pull out! just gotta make sure i can convince someone with a car to go along too...

BoozeKruse wrote:

Nice signature, Ben!

"I've played this sport longer than you, I've won more tournaments than you, don't you fuckin' tell me how to play this game."

I hope we cross paths with him in the near future.

BoozeKruse wrote:

Third of all, the only thing we are indecisive about is if Parks and Rec would let us use the parking lots that are closer to the big court. I'm going to talk to charlie about sending an email asking about that today.

you should have him see if we could use the white walls from the other court in the hanger. if we linked them together and put parking barriers behind them, they would make for a good court.

YIMYOM wrote:

With that said, Floppy and I are planning a city-based bench tourney sometime this fall, most likely in Oct, to make use of the big court. More details later.

I'm so glad to hear that you guys are doing this. I hope that you decide to host your tournament under the "Bench Style" banner. Yup, that's the name that we're using instead of New Format. Western Conf Champs, ESPI, and a tournament in ATX will all be Bench Style tournaments and will have uniform rules and formats and whatnot.

Working with the other Bench Style tournaments has many benefits. You'll be able to handle registration and bracketing online but it'll be much easier than with a 3v3 tournament. For registration, there will be no fastest click, no TBD players, no individuals registering alone, etc). With bracketing, it'll be run smoother because games won't need to be staged if you use a round robin format and there will be less turnaround time overall because there are so fewer games.

A ruleset is also in the works that deals with subbing, penalties, and is extremely explicit about the responsibilities of the ref, scorekeeper, and goal judges. It's just generally more clear as well.

I really hope you guys are willing to work with us on this, let me know if you are and I'll get you up to speed.

Whata salesman you are Pete

hey man, it's polo, I want to sell you a dream

pete wrote:

I'm so glad to hear that you guys are doing this. I hope that you decide to host your tournament under the "Bench Style" banner. Yup, that's the name that we're using instead of New Format. Western Conf Champs, ESPI, and a tournament in ATX will all be Bench Style tournaments and will have uniform rules and formats and whatnot.

I'm not real for this because Menace is a prick and I want nothing to do with "his" league. I say we write a rule set, throw a tournament, and worry about standardizing later. And Bench Style sounds stupid...mainly because it originated from Menace, who is a monster prick who deserves to get his head kicked in every morning by a moose.

TimD wrote:

...who is a monster prick who deserves to get his head kicked in every morning by a moose.

Lol, public forum bro!

I don't give a fuck, have you seen the things he's written on LOBP? I dare him to come to MO and confront me about anything I say about him...I'll bash his Soviet loving teeth in.

Sorry...I'm just bristling at the idea of that guy not being exiled from bike polo for good.

Despite the fact that Menace was the first person to champion the bench style, he's certainly not in charge here. He's our PR guy because he came up with the format. He also didn't come up with the name, I did. He also didn't write the ruleset, I did. If you hate him so much that it pollutes all the hard work that the rest of us are doing, that would be a shame, Tim.

I don't like authority being imposed on our club from an outside group without any say. Period.

...and he was only the first person to champion the idea because you can't be the second person to champion an idea! bah dun tshhhhhh

Everyone shut up this thread is dead.

Delete it or whatever then, all mighty internet wizard