We’re so close to this years Bench Minor Tourney that you can almost touch it.
Actually you can. We’re at Bicentennial Plaza right now putting up the boards for the court. If you’re already in town, stop on by and give us a hand. Think of it this way, you’ll get to be the first ones in the pile for pickup when we’re done.
In case you missed it on the LOBP Thread, we’ve got some details on the weekend’s festivities:
Basic Schedule
- Friday
- 3 pm – Pick up at Daley Bicentennial Plaza
- 8pm – Registration at Reggie’s Rock Club, 2105 S State St. Show up at least to collect your registration info and sign the event waiver. If you don’t sign, you don’t play.
- Saturday
- 9:00 am – Breakfast / Team check-in at Daley Bicentennial Plaza
- 10:00 am to 8:00 pm – round-robin matches
- Sunday
- 9:00 am – Breakfast / Teams meet at Daley Bicentennial Plaza
- 10:00 am to 2:00 pm – finish remaining round-robin matches
- 2:30 pm to 5:30 pm – single elimination brackets
- 6:00 pm – Final Match
- 8:00 pm – Closing Party at Cobra Lounge (235 N. Ashland Ave)
Schedule of matches
Saturday
East West
10:00:00 Simpson Joker
11:00:00 Birdie Julian
12:00:00 Williams Maija
13:00:00 Joker Birdie
14:00:00 Julian Maija
15:00:00 Simpson Williams
16:00:00 Birdie Maija
17:00:00 Julian Simpson
18:00:00 Joker Williams
Sunday
10:00:00 Maija Simpson
11:00:00 Williams Birdie
12:00:00 Joker Julian
13:00:00 Birdie Simpson
14:00:00 Maija Joker
15:00:00 Williams Julian
Single Elimination bracket
16:00:00 1st place 4th place
17:00:00 2nd place 3rd place
18:00:00 FINAL
Each match will consist of two 25-minute halves and a five-minute halftime. There will be 5 minutes between each match. In addition, due to some of the additions noted below, we have accounted for this schedule to run a bit over.
We’ve also set up a good ole Google map of important locations around the city.
We’re only a week away from this year’s Bench Minor Polo Tournament hosted right here in Chicago.
We’re starting to put all of those hard worked plans into action. Prep for the construction of the boards has already started and soon we’ll be setting up in Bicentennial Plaza in Millennium Park right downtown.
We’ve already got some friends from afar in town and we can’t wait til the rest of you get here. Keep counting the days. I know we are.
Well, with less than two weeks until Bench Minor 2 kicks off here in Chicago, it looks like everybody is getting excited.
Just check out what our friends from Minneapolis came up with.
We’re making the final arrangements and getting ready for what will surely be some of the best polo this year.
It seems as though some folks over at the Huffington Post caught wind of our plans to host this year’s Bench Minor Tounrey and stopped by the courts last week. Check out the full write up on their site.
After the Midwest Championships in Bloomington most of the Chicago Hardcourt crew headed back to the Windy City. But three of Chicago’s finest decited to say on the road and take a trip down to Savannah, GA for this year’s Southeast Bike Polo Championship.
Chicago’s Matt Lane teamed up with friends Brian Dillman from Milwaukee and John from Madison to form Team Europe and defeat Team Silent Majority (Chris Roberts, Alexis Mills, and Mark Capriotti). But Matt Lane was not the only Chicagoan in Savannah. Chicago’s Joe Panizzo and Greg Valentine teamed up with Birdie Watts from Milwaukee to form Team Matthew Robert Lane (a nice homage to a fellow Chicago slayer) and secured themselves a ninth place finish.
More details and awesome stories when our slayers come back home.
This past weekend, May 21-22, the Bloomington, IN bike polo club hosted the Ninth Midwest Bike Hardcourt Polo Championship.
As usual, Chicago Hardcourt sent down its best slayers to compete in our regional championships for a chance to qualify for this year’s North American Hardcourt Bike Polo Championship to be held in Calgary this fall.
Chicago fought hard this year with two teams qualifying for North Americans. Chicago’s Chris Williams teamed up with Como friends Pete Abram and Nick Kruse to grab a seventh place finish. And Chicago’s Team Machine Politics (Ben Schultz, Joe Panizzo, and Matt Lane) took second place, losing a close match up with our good friends and rivals the Beaver Boys (Brian Dillman, Eric Kremin, and Joe Burge) from Milwaukee.
There was some amazing polo this year at Midwests. We even had some amazing upsets. Charlie Hill from Columbia, MO lead his team to an amazing and unexpected third place finish earning him this year’s MVP.
Bloomington did it right this year. Despite being a small club and a fairly young club, Bloomington was able to set up an impeccably run top notch tournament and provide awesome hospitality for everyone who came down. Awesome job guys and thanks for all the awesome times.
This past weekend, May 7-8, the Austin Texas Polo Social Club hosted the third annual Ladies Army Polo Tournament.
Chicago Hardcourt sent three of its finest poloistas; Megan Mazzei, Suzy Bichl, and Kelly Strosser, to participate in this best of the best all ladies polo tourney. Our slayers from Chicago didn’t hit the podium this year, but fun times were had and amazing polo was played.
We’ll give you more of the awesome details when our ladies come back to the midwest.
This past weekend, March 26-27th, Little Rock, AR hosted the first South Central Bike Polo Regional bike polo championship. This was the second stop on the 2011 North American Hardcourt bike polo regional tournament tour in which the top eight teams from each tournament qualify for the 2011 North American Hardcourt Bike Polo Championship in Calgary this fall.
Chicago, being an out of region club, was only able to send one of it’s fine players to compete in Little Rock and compete he did. Chris Williams teamed up with Como friends Pete Abram and Nick Kruse to take third place and secure a spot in the North American Championship tourney this fall.
Awesome stories and pictures after we extract them from Chris.
This past weekend, March 26-27th, seven of Chicago Hardcourt’s finest players made a trip to Milwaukee, WI for the 10th Milwaukee Messanger Invitational 2v2 Polo Tourney.
On Saturday there were messengers racing around town and on Sunday there were polo players slaying on the courts.
It might still have been cold outside last weekend, but Chicago’s ‘Lefty’ Joe Panizzo, teamed up with Milwaukee’s left handed Zack Rueter, were definitely hot taking second place. There was plenty of ‘lefty bullshit’ to go around but Milwaukee’s Brian Dillman and Joe Burge overcame the abundance of lefty opponents and defended their title taking first place once again.
A nod to one of polo’s most profound quirks. Thanks!
On April 1st Chicago Hardcourt is throwing an awesome party at Cobra Lounge over at 235 N. Ashland Ave.
We’re gearing up for this years Bench Minor Bike Polo Tournament that we’re throwing right here in Chicago. The show is bound to be a memorable night with the amazing bands that we have playing:
Droughts
Cave Bear
Fleshbroker
and
Knife Fight (KDM)
The doors open at 8pm and if you get there before 9pm our awesome friends at Goose Island are giving you access to an open bar of delicious beer.
So show up early, stay late, and help us out with a little cash at the door so we can make sure that this years Bench Minor will be the best tournament of the year.
With three of every delicious beer imaginable residing in a ice cold cooler, we reached in and found out who our teammates, and drinking partners, were going to be for our weekend of awesome polo in Como.
This past weekend, March 18th- 20th, Chicago Hardcourt headed down to Columbia, MO for their ‘Pullout’ bike polo tourny. With a plentiful supply of beer and awesome polo friends, we had a blast in Como over the weekend. We partied it up around town and threw down at the polo courts. Even when when Como decided to douse us with a bit of rain, the puddles couldn’t stop us. Chicago’s very own Jerod Walz even lead his team to victory, not even conceding one loss throughout the tournament despite the frequent attempts of puddle splashing sabotage.
Thanks for the awesome weekend Como. We will see again soon.
Last weekend, March 11-13, Chicago Hardcourt headed down to Lexington, KY for some spring break bike polo partying.
Lexington always knows how to have a good time and this past weekend was no exception. There was a plentiful supply of delicious bourbon, an awesome 2v2 tourney, and with so many of our good polo friends from around the country in attendance, an amazing weekend all around.
Chicago’s Rob Glatfelter even ended up winning the hatpull 2v2 tourney with his teammate from Cleveland Lou. Lexington’s hospitality has always been unmatched and this weekend was no exception. Thanks Lex, we’ll see you again soon.
Today we officially kick off the Bench Minor festivities with the drafting of players for the 2011 Bench Minor Bike Polo Tournament to be hosted right here in Chicago on June 25th-26th.
The draft starts at 9:00 pm CDT as the six General Managers pick their teams from the pool of more than 150 registered players. Unofficial rankings have put five of Chicago’s top players on the list of hot commodities with three of Chicago’s finest in the top twelve including number one ranked ‘Lefty’ Joe Panizzo.
With so many players being registered for the tournament this year and only 48 open spots, the draft should be quite the event. We’ll be sure to keep you posted on the draft and all things Bench Minor.
While the rest of the Chicago Hardcourt crew was partying it up in St. Louis, Chicago’s Machine Politics was throwing down in Boston.
On the weekend of Jan. 15-16, the same weekend of the St. Louis Lock-in, the Boston polo crew hosted the Winter LockDown: a small 26 team indoor tournament enticing some of the best polo players in the country to flock to snow-blasted Boston Massachusetts for some heated polo action in the middle of a frigid winter.
Seattle’s Guardians (Dusty, Julian, and Seabass) defeated Cinnamon Rolls Royce (Paul Rauen, Mark Capriotti , and Ian D) to take first place. Chicago’s Machine Politics defeated Milwaukee’s ‘Beaver Men’ not once but twice to take 3rd place over the reigning world champs.
On the weekend of Jan. 15-16 St. Louis hosted the second annual St. Louis Dead of Winter Bike Polo Lock-in.
With temperatures in the ‘burr’ range, and with a fair amount of snow on the polo courts outside, the St. Louis polo crew rented out the St. Louis Skatium for a full non-stop 24 hour bike polo bash.
Put together 65 polo players from around the country and an over abundance of delicious beer in a nice cozy indoor polo rink for 24 straight hours and you have yourself a ridiculously crazy good time on yours hands.
The St. Louis crew did it right. Everyone had a blast, everyone played until they dropped, and no one even came close to getting any frost bite!
While the rest of you were nursing your hangovers, Chicago Hardcourt was in Madison, Wisconsin playing some intense bike polo.
On the weekend of Jan. 2-3 the Madison Bike Polo crew hosted a four city bench minor style friendly tournament at their new indoor spot. There was pickup on Saturday, followed by a delicious trip to Ben And Jonny Hunter’s new restaurant “The Underground Kitchen.” Then on Sunday a fierce ‘friendly’ Madison vs. Milwaukee vs. Minneapolis vs. Chicago nine on nine tournament.
The Chicago team; consisting of Ben Schultz, Joe Panizzo, Matt Lane, Chris Williams, Greg Valentine, Tucker Schwinn, Rob Glatfelter, Keith Evans, and Charlie Seeman, took second place to Milwaukee after losing by one goal at the last second of an intense 40 minutes of polo magic.
Chicago Hardcourt was more than just ‘the Chicago team.’ Minneapolis was unable to bring a full crew down so Chicago players Omar Basiony, Jerod Walz, Megan Mazzei, and Ace joined their squad for the day to help out our friends from up north.
It was a great weekend that the Madison crew put together and a perfect way to start an awesome new year!
Madison’s hospitality and food has always been top-notch. The Brothers Hunter and all of the Madison polo crew have time and again given the polo community a royal welcome.
Their new restaurant, The Underground Kitchen, embodies this idea. Great beers on tap, meats cured and made in-house, seasonal vegetables,and the whole place was built out using reclaimed wood and found objects (mason-jar light fixtures), long communal tables and the like. Brilliant. The menu changes regularly so though the sauteed spinach and bouillabaisse were warming and glorious and the chocolate tart was rich and smile-inducing – it may be different when you visit.
No matter. Whatever you choose will be satisfying and you’ll feel right at home. Thanks UFC!!!!
A couple years ago, Truvativ produced a multi-speed internal crank with a robust construction meant for all mountain riding and freeriding which would allow you to shift quickly on the fly under load and without pedaling. The Hammerschmidt at first glance seems like the resolution for issues when trying to run multiple gears on a polo rig. Recently, I found one for cheap and was building a new polo bike from scratch and thought I would give it a try. After riding for three months in various conditions from wet hills of the Cascadia to the crappy salt-ridden streets of Chicago in Winter, I decided to give it a review on CHC.
One of my initial reactions after the system was installed was an involuntary, shit-eating grin that refused to dampen itself. With the bike in the stand, the cable actuated trigger would shift from high gear to low gear without any hesitation between the 24t and the 38t gear. I was eager to see what it would do on-and-off the court.
While playing polo I found the system to be helpful in only a hand full of circumstances. The difference in gearing was a sizable jump from the low gear to the high gear. My 24:16 gearing proves to be an asset on the court in acceleration and close quarters turning, but the 38:16 is sluggish even though you are getting more move on your pedal stroke. Shifting during the game seems to be appropriate on larger courts or big grass courts but only when necessary for fast brake or “Oh Shit!” moments when scrambling to the goal. My only gripe is that the gear differential couldn’t be closer for better on-court application.
Off the court, the crank performs like a dream. It has allowed me a privilege not often afforded to polo players; the ability to have multiple gears with out having to remove my wheel and possibly change my chain. I can also change between gears for climbing hills (a.k.a. Polo gear) to flats and descents (a.k.a. Slayer gear). When I get caught at stop lights, I can drop into my low gear to scurry across the intersection during breaks in traffic without the hassle of pedaling in awkward circles to get my chosen “scurrying gear” with derailleurs. The drive train is enclosed by a guard which prevents the chain from dropping, and the internal gears are protected from the elements which is wonderful for my winter commute to work.
Overall, this is a great innovation from the folks at Truvativ and is a must if you have a frame with the necessary ISCG tabs on the bottom bracket and willing to pay the price ($550 crank, $90 shifter) which ain’t too shabby in comparison to a crank with a double, front derailleur, shifter, and singleator. Plus, it won’t break!
3rensho fork crown, built for a skinny 26″set-up, 28mm rake to go with a 73-degree head tube angle – oh and Joe made those dropouts himself.
Wicked-looking. Sturdy. Made for polo.
When you order these – and you SHOULD order these – mention you play polo. More importantly, mention that you’ll be running a front brake.
I noticed that the “hooked canoe” (look it up, paulcomp.com) and the noodle on my front brake had each split about two months into use. I called Paul (the company) and spoke to Paul (the person) and after a short discussion about bike polo and subsequently double brake levers, I mentioned my front canoe and noodle. He basically said, “Hmmm.” About a week later six – SIX – replacement canoes and two noodles arrived in the mail. Stellar.
I’m down to three spare canoes and I’m on my last spare noodle, so the cracks weren’t a fluke. (Still no such problem in the rear.) But as play for the ball mostly happens in the front, this makes sense. And I’d still take this problem given the performance than deal with other brakes; other noodles break much faster. Perhaps we’ll see some beefed-up canoes and noodles. Until then, Paul stands solidly behind their products. Gift yourself with the most durable, best performing linear pull brake on the market – simple design, easy to adjust, easy to clean, made in the USA.
If you own or know of an empty warehouse or other large space currently unused in Chicago, Chicago Hardcourt Bike Polo is looking for a home during the winter months.
We’re serious about our fun and our competition. Hardcourt bike polo is played in over 275 cities (and quickly growing) worldwide and Chicago competes internationally, currently ranked 2nd in the world from our visit to Berlin this summer. An indoor practice space would greatly help us ensure that we continue to improve and grow our community, while also remaining competitive for what looks to be a phenomenal 2011 season.
The details: we’re not picky but ideally looking for 120 x 60 of open indoor space that we can outfit with temporary plywood boards. We are willing to entertain multiple scenarios – rent, shared space, sponsorship (eager to discuss details), barter (make building improvements, maintenance, etc.) – whatever it takes to let us play the game we love!!!
After three years of shoveling, we’re ready to move on up to the Big Time. Assistance from any of you gracious folks would be most welcome. Just send us an e-mail: polo@chicagohardcourt.com
Thanks!!!
Chicago Hardcourt is excited to be hosting the 2011 Bench Minor Hardcourt Bike Polo tournament on June 25th and 26th. Pictured is the 2010 winning team, Rabid Peacocks.
The 2010 Bench Minor was a huge success with players from around the world flocking to New York to get in on the action. 2011 will be no exception. We’re already hard at work so that we’ll all be having a blast in June.
As with last year, Paul Rauen from NYC will commission a player draft which will happen in January or February. More details as we get closer to June.
On Friday November 12 Chicago Hardcourt took 18 of its finest polo players to Lexington, KY for the Midwest Open Polo Tournament and ended up taking both first and second place.
Team “I Do Kremin” comprised of Joe Panizzo (Chicago), Eric Kremin (Milwaukee), and Jonny Hunter (Madison) defeated Team “Hunter’s Hero’s” comprised of Ben Schultz (Chicago), Brian Dillman (Milwaukee), and Ben Hunter (Madison) in the final match to take the Rudy Cup and the Midwest Open Championship.
Chicago rocked Lexington with both quantity and quality: With 18 Players participating, comprising ten teams with Chicago players on them, and with three players observing, Chicago Hardcourt had the largest polo constituency in attendance. And with five teams in the top ten, including first and second, Chicago also had the best results. The MVP was even given to Chicago’s fearless leader Ben Schultz.
It was an amazing weekend that the Lexington polo crowd hosted. There was an impeccably run tournament, over generous hospitality, and of course enough polo to satisfy even the most desperate polo feind.
While the whole Chicago Hardcourt crew couldn’t make it down to Austin, Texas for the Massacre-ade Ball tournament this past weekend, a few of our players did make the trip.
“Lefty” Joe Panizzo teamed up with friends Eric Kremin from Milwaukee and Nick McLean from Lexington to take first place in the tournament and wrap up ATX’s awesome Halloween polo weekend.
Awesome pictures and stories to come…
Halloween is right around the corner and Chicago Hardcourt is celebrating. This weekend a few of our players are heading down to Austin, Texas for some Halloween tournament fun.
But not to worry if you can’t make it down to ATX this weekend. Chicago Hardcourt will still being playing into the night down at the Garfield Park courts this coming all hallows eve…
Chicago Hardcourt will be hosting the New School/ Old School Two on Two Bike Polo tournament on Sunday October 24th. We’re pairing the noobs up with the old dogs and making a tournament out of it.
Come on out to the courts at Garfield Park and watch what will no doubtably be one of the most entertaining tournaments of the year.
Chicago now is playing 3 days a week. The schedule is as follows.
Sunday – Garfield Park – 2:00pm till we feel like we can’t play anymore.
Wednesday – Garfield Park – 6:00pm till we can’t stand anymore.
Friday – Garfield Park – 6:00pm till we decide to go home or go and hangout somewhere else.
Our first Friday was last friday, Oct. 1st. We had around 9-12 people show up and played for about 3 or more hours. The general mood of the night was that we were there to have fun and hang out. I would say that most of the players were fairly recent additions to the Chicago Bike Polo club. I think that if you are not doing anything on a Friday night and are a little skidish about playing Polo that you should come out on Fridays. But hey if you are only off and available on Sundays and/or Wednesdays that you should still come down. We will have a bike for you, and a mallet.
The weekend of September 4th Chicago’s Ben Schultz headed over to Ottawa, Ontario to attend the 2010 North Side Polo Invitational Polo Tournament.
Ben Schultz teamed up with local Ottawa friends Robbie and Jonny to form Team “Trooper.” After a long weekend of great polo, Trooper lost an amazing final game to fellow friends Team “Regulator” (Alexis Mills from Ottawa, Chris Roberts from New York, & Chris from Vancouver) five to four in the pouring rain.
It seems as though Ben has come to have a thing for second place…
On August 21st-22nd Chicago’s Machine Politics (Matt Lane, Joe Panizzo and Ben Schultz) stopped to cross mallets in London, England on their way back to the states from their second place finish in Berlin.
As it turns out, Machine Politics has a taste for second place. After a weekend full of polo in London, Chicago lost an amazing final game to our friends from Seattle Team Frown.
We’ll see what’s next for our world traveling team when they finally get back to the states.
August 6th-8th, 2010
Chicago Hardcourt’s Machine Politics – Matt Lane, Joe Panizzo, and Ben Schultz – competed in the 2010 World Hardcourt Bike Polo Championship in Berlin, Germany. After 3 days of competition, Machine Politics finished second to our midwestern brethren, Milwaukee’s Beaver Boys – Joe Burge, Eric Kremin and Brian Dillman.
It was such a tremendous tournament, the crew in Berlin did great job and much fun was had. Most gratifying was meeting and playing with the polo-obsessed from around the world; the hardcourt bike polo community is truly the greatest.
More to come in the adventures of Chicago Bike Polo when our ‘A’ team returns to the States.
On Sunday August 1st Chicago Hardcourt was not out at the courts in Garfield Park like most Sundays. No, they made a trip out to a home outside of Elgin, IL. What would Chicago’s Hardcourt Polo players being doing outside Elgin you ask? Why they were invited to dust off their old grass polo mallets and play a few exhibition matches before a horse polo match that regularly occurs out there.
Hardcourt Players revisted their grass roots, and some players who were born into the Hardcourt world got their first taste. Chicago Hardcourt even convinced a few grass purists who never switched to hardcourt to come on out and enjoy the occasion.
The taste for grass is back. In fact, Chicago Hardcourt recently played some more grass polo in conjunction with the Cuttin Crew Classic on September 16th on the old grass courts in Humbolt Park.
