the original hardcourt blog
Japan
Loop Mag issue 6 covers Ladies Army II and Shinokaze 2010
Aug 19th
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I stopped by Brooklyn Machine Works to get a box before packing up for Berlin and seen they had a copy of the new Loop Mag. Seven full pages of bike polo and a few other small stuff spread out in the mag too. Tak has some great photos of a few North American female polo players here. Enjoy.
2010 Japanese Hardcourt Bike Polo Championships
Jul 3rd
2010 Japanese Hardcourt Bike Polo Championships
Sunday, July 25, 2010
Tokyo, Japan
Results from Riki
1st
Yellow Stick Mania (Tommy, Yu-ki, RYO/Tokyo hardcourt Bike Polo/Tokyo)2nd
雷神 (Raizing) (Riki, Arthur, Crow/Tokyo Hardcourt Bike Polo/Tokyo)3rd
Black Wrist (Hajime. Fumi. Hana-Megane/Black Wrist/Tokyo)
More info: Tokyo Bike Polo
Loop Magazine issue 5
Jul 2nd
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This issue of Loop has The Grime riders on the cover but bike polo players all over the inside. Not pictured here but Riki from Japan has a full page for his Joust polo bike. Then two more full pages of Tokyo Hardcourt Bike Polo. The NYC Bench Minor bike polo tournament gets 5 full pages with a group shot followed by 14 rider shots all of out of towners. Lee, Sean McDonell, Hugo, Ben Hunter, Brian Dillman, John Atwell, Sam Jackson, Matt Lane, Johnny Crash, Tucker Schwinn, Pierre, Clement, Ben Schultz and Kremin.
More info: Loop Magazine
Tokyo Hardcourt Bike Polo 1st Anniversary Festival
May 14th
Tokyo Hardcourt Bike Polo Festival ‘10
June 4th – 6th, 2010
Tokyo, Japan
It seems like just yesterday when I found out that hardcourt bike polo reached Japan.
For more info: tokyobikepolo.blogspot.com
A short video of bike polo from Japan
Nov 18th
the SESSION BIKE POLO from kenboo! on Vimeo.
I really like the player on the Cycle Ball style polo bike, And I see a couple of BMW’s out there too.
Lots of bike polo in Eastern Asia
Nov 5th
night polo, originally uploaded by rikitko.
Anyone that is keeping track, even if just barely, knows that bike polo has been growing in all directions. More players in the places that have been at it for years and more cities starting up clubs in the places that didn’t have regular games one or two years ago. Europe has been doing what looks like the same thing. Where as polo was heavy in the United States and Canada, now it’s definitely heavy in Europe too. I’m still looking forward to playing on a different continent. Maybe London, maybe Milan, or maybe Tokyo!
I missed the 2009 CMWC in Tokyo but by the looks of things bike polo is getting hot in Japan. Of course bike polo is happening in South America and Australia too but like I said, anyone keeping track knows that they’ve had the game going for years. But polo in Japan is new. From looking at the stats of this site I see that Japan is second highest in page views, beating out Canada and United Kingdom nearly combined. From there I searched around and found some sites to get a better picture of what they were putting up. Here are some links to what I found.
flickr.com/photos/rikitko/ More photos from rikitko’s bike polo set
blogged.bluelug.com Some game play shots.
northwheelie.blogspot.com A few about-the-court shots
bakancycle.exblog.jp A funny flier and a mallet building session
fantapista.blog34.fc2.com Mallet build how-to
blog.8to8.in More mallet building. All of these links have photos by the way.
gallery.nikon-image.com Photo gallery of game play from CMWC weekend in Tokyo
nb-log.com A couple action shots and a bike check
pinkyfiky.cocolog-nifty.com one good photo of a Japanese bike polo mallet
osakabikepolo.wordpress.com This is the home page of Osaka Bike Polo. Bookmark it, or RSS it. Then RSS my site too. Thanks.
photozou.jp More mallet building session photos
d.hatena.ne.jp Again, mallets building photos.
blog2.nobikenolife.com Hanging out, building mallets, hitting the ball around
bakancycle.exblog.jp Probably the best of the mallet building links except they cut the top of the ski pole off, tisk tisk. Other than that, it’s much like my Build a bike polo mallet How-to.
sidecarblog.jugem.jp Lots of photos
And last but not least tokyobikepolo.blogspot.com All things Tokyo and Bike Polo.
New LOOP Magazine. Issue 2
Nov 1st
LOOP is a new bicycling mag out of Japan and one of the contributing photographers is a friend of mine. Takuya Sakamoto or just “Tak” has been in New York many years as a bike messenger and working photographer. He has a website called New York Bike Dreams.
On the cover is Jeremiah ripping his new Brooklyn Element.
Inside has tons of photos with lots info like this product page featuring Fifo x BMW cycling caps.
Also page after page of riders and their bikes like Wataru here, holding a bike polo mallet on his Schwinn Madison.
And the last page sneek peek of the next issue. Looks like ZACH is finally gonna let us see what he does back in his cave.
Halloween night pick-up games in Tokyo
Oct 8th
halloween night pick-up games, originally uploaded by rikitko.
Oh man this flier is great. I wish I was in Tokyo!
2 on 2 pick-up sounds so fun.
More info: Tokyo Hardcourt Bike Polo
Pedal Speed NYC Issue
Sep 28th
In the new issue of Pedal Speed, a bike magazine from Japan, there will be a gang of photos from NYC and some bike polo too. I made the cover! Wow! There is a pre-view on Pedal Speed’s blog.
CMWC Tokyo 2009 Bike Polo
Sep 8th
CMWC Bike Polo Tournament
The Tokyo Hardcourt Bike Polo crew are hosting a tournament to go with the Cycle Messenger World Championships. Just because the “Worlds” of bike polo split from CMWC this year does not mean CMWC won’t have any polo. (It also does not mean that 2009 is the first World Championships of bike polo) Here is some text from Tokyobikepolo.
Place: Various Locations in Tokyo
Hosted by: Tokyo Hardcourt Bike PoloDate: 19th Sept. (Saturday)
Registration Time: 10:30 a.m.
Registration Fee: HDPE pipe for mallet’s head or Flanklin SHD Ball (or Mylec & Franklin’s “Glow in the Dark” Hockey Ball) per person. (both are hard to get in Tokyo!) a set of pipe and ball? two or more pipes and balls? fantastic! we don’t forget your support for Tokyo’s scene, never!Games will begin at 11:30 a.m (pick-up).Tournament will begin at 12:30 a.m.
single elim. tournament.
Only 16 teams can register to play in the tournament. If more than 16 teams register to play, we’ll randomly select 16 teams from the list. (You can register as an individual: Please find your team mate on location before the tournament begins!)
Registry Requirements: All registered CMWC 2009 Tokyo participants3 on 3
7 min./3 points.
final & 3rd place final is 10 min./5 points.
We abide by the NYC game rule.some pick-up games.
losers of tournament, some local bike polo teams, and riders from Kyoto.all games are not serious! it’s fun games for our guest of CMWC & local bike polo players.
We want to provide a hangout for all the bike polo loving messengers of the world.If you want to register, please email us at the below address with all the necessary information listed below (1~3). We will get back to you with the game location and details.
mail: tokyobikepolo@gmail.com
1. your team name
2. your name/race no. of cmwc (000 to 999)
3. member’s name/race no. of cmwc (000 to 999)We are also looking for referees.
http://tokyobikepolo.blogspot.com
Contact info: tokyobikepolo@gmail.com
Results:
1st place: “filthy fucks”
Marco Creacy / NewYork, USA
Timothy Mason / Portland, USA
Kai Edel / Cologne, Germany
2nd place: “Team Switzerland”
Dominique Candik / Basel, Switzerland
David Beerli / Basel, Switzerland
Mario Rhyner / Geneva, Switzerland
3rd place: “Team Australia”
Lane Dell / Melbourne, Australia
Joe Cavenagh / Sydney, Australia
Safa Cunt / Sydney, Australia
4th place: “416″
Shane Murphy / Toronto, Canada
Maija Eliashevsky / Toronto, Canada
Ian Brosco / Halifax, Canada
and MVP of the tournament.
Kai Edel (filthy fucks / Cologne, Germany)
and some pics are here.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/rikitko/3960580205/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/rikitko/3960580403/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/rikitko/3960580587/
