Bikes, mallets, balls, balance: the growing game
The escalating sport of bike polo seeks qualifying tournament, official court and local media exposure
Anna Morris | gcsunade.com- unior environmental science major Colin Maldonado (left) eyes down the ball as sophomore music major Benton Meadows raises his mallet to strike. Bike polo practice takes place at the Irwin Street parking lot.
When the term polo is uttered, the image that crosses most people’s minds is one that involves men riding on horses, mallets swinging left and right at a small ball rolling around between them. What most people do not know is that polo can also refer to the sport of urban bike polo. Invented in 1891, bike polo did not gain a significant amount of interest until 2007. Fortunately for Milledgeville, bike polo, as well as urban bike culture in general, is starting to creep in thanks to a few passionate cyclists.
Senior psychology major James Hendershott seized the opportunity to establish bike polo in Milledgeville on June 1, 2011.
“When I first moved here, I wasn’t really happy living in Milledgeville, but my dad told me ‘If you’re unhappy in the city you live in, change it to a place that you find enjoyable,’” Hendershott said.
Hendershott and other cyclists began by simply hitting a ball around in various church parking lots. After getting the word out about their sport, more people started showing up, intrigued by the idea of bike polo. The number of players grew so the team moved their playing to the Irwin Street parking lot next to The Bellamy. This spot has become their temporary court until they can gather enough money to build their own elsewhere.
Now that the bike polo team has at least eight consistent players, the next big project for them is planning a Southeast region qualifier tournament. Right now Hendershott is working on gaining money to build a permanent bike polo court. T-shirts and stickers are currently in the making, and Hendershott has been emailing sponsors. Local photographer Tom Wise has been attending recent bike polo games, attaching his video camera to his bike and riding out in the middle of the action to film the players. The footage will be compiled and made into a video that Hendershott can send out to sponsors as part of a media package. If the tournament goes as planned, the top teams will move on to compete for the best team in North America and then for the best team in the world.
It seems as if Hendershott’s wish for a growing bike culture is slowly but surely coming true; more people are becoming interested in bike polo and coming out to the Irwin Street parking lot to see what it is all about. One such person is junior exercise science major Andrea Blasingame, one of the few girls on the team.
“I like that bike polo is a challenging sport that incorporates riding a bike and working with a team,” Blasingame said. “I have become kind of tired of playing most other sports, so this has been a breath of fresh air to get back playing with a team and working on those coordination skills.”
Blasingame began playing recently, and even though she is a beginner, she felt very welcomed by the rest of the team and is even considering entering the tournament.
“Bike polo can be very intimidating at first, but everyone is very welcoming, understanding and open to having beginner players out on the court,” Blasingame said.
The bike polo team is not just for students; anyone that wants to join in can come out and play. Chris Avirett, Milledgeville citizen and manager at Blackbird Coffee, has been playing the sport for almost two months. He has high hopes for the future of bike polo.
“I hope that the future of bike polo stays both competitive and friendly as we work towards more organization and notoriety,” Avirett said.
Aside from bike polo, Hendershott is also launching other cycling events such as “Thursday Night Crits:” criterium-style racing around various parts of Milledgeville every Thursday night starting Sept. 1.
“My overall goal is to bring urban bike culture to Milledgeville,” Hendershott said.
I just want more people on bikes.”
Posted by Anna Morris
on Sep 1 2011. Filed under Lead stories, Sports.
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