Regardless of how bad the turnout may be for your Sunday pick up games, search a few message boards and you’re likely to easily come across an upcoming polo tournament or two or even a city within a couple hours ready and willing for additional players. In just a few years polo tournaments have grown from a couple per year to over 60 as of late. And with a few rims and accessories now available, we’re beginning to see polo specific equipment being brought to market. Add to all that, brands such as PBR have also begun to see to benefits of jumping on the proverbial bike polo bandwagon. Is it only a matter of time before we see a mass produced mallet attempting to alleviate the lack of ski poles or any other decent shaft material in so many southern states?

As is human nature, when people gather in activity regulation and standardization are never far behind. On the heels of the announcement of the 2009 Hardcourt Bicycle Polo World Championships came rumors of the Hardcourt Bicycle Polo Federation (the Fed) starting up. For some, this seems exactly what polo needs while others don’t want anything to do with it all. The majority of players I’ve talked with don’t have an overwhelming opinion on it one way or the other. As Brian Turner from Lexington noted, “On a strictly personal level, I don’t think it will impact the sport for me because I will always be the type of player who prefers simply playing pickup games with my friends and occasionally a neighboring city’s team.” This thought has been pretty constant in many of the players interviewed.

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