If you haven’t heard of bike polo, don’t be ashamed. I hadn’t either, until recently. But the game has been around since at least the 1890s, when tournaments were first organized in Ireland. It’s pretty much what it sounds like: the game of polo, where you use mallets to strike a ball into a goal, but riding bicycles instead of horses.
Bike polo can be played on grass, or on hard surfaces (such as tennis courts, basketball courts, or parking lots), and can be played indoors or outdoors. Typically any kind of bike is permitted, and the game is generally played three-on-three, and the first team to five goals wins the match.
The sport has been gaining in popularity in recent years, and there seems to be several national bike polo organizations, including the American Bicycle Polo Association, the Bicycle Polo Association of America, BikePolo.com, Hardcourt Bike Polo, and The League of Bike Polo.
Here’s a quick look at some bicycle polo action in Kansas:
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Lawrence, Kansas – Scary Larry Kansas Bike Polo – Facebook, @ScaryLarryKBP on Twitter, Vimeo, Web Site
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Manhattan, Kansas – Dirty Apple Bike Polo – Facebook, news story
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Wichita, Kansas – Wichita Hardcourt Bike Polo – Facebook, web site
And highlights from bike polo in neighboring states:
- Little Rock, Arkansas – Little Rock Bike Polo – Facebook, Web Site
- Colorado Springs, Colorado – Colorado Springs Bike Polo – Web Site
- Denver, Colorado – Denver Mallet Mafia – @denverbikepolo on Twitter, Web Site
- Fort Collins, Colorado – Fort Collins Bike Polo – Web Site
- Des Moines, Iowa – Facebook
- Columbia, Missouri –CoMoPolo – Facebook, MySpace, web site
- Kansas City, Missouri – Kansas City Hard Court Bike Polo – Facebook, @kcbikepolo on Twitter
- St. Louis, Missouri – St. Louis Bike Polo – Web Site
- Omaha, Nebraska – MTB Omaha
- Oklahoma City, Oklahoma – Oklahoma City Hardcourt Bike Polo – Facebook, @okcbikepolo on Twitter, Web Site, newspaper article
- Tulsa, Oklahoma – Facebook, @tulsabikepolo on Twitter
And as a bonus, these groups have some really creative logos, as you can see in the images on the right.
If you happen to live in or near once of these cities, check out their bike polo scene!
