Polo Takes Over

If it seems like I haven't had much to say recently, I can only blame polo.

Andy, Anthony and myself got into the South Central Bike Polo Championship. All of the out-of-region spots filled up literally in under a minute. I'm really excited we got in, especially since our in-region tournament is like 600 miles away. The MIDWEST tournament is closer than that!

My confidence level varies. I really would like to finish top 12 (down from top 8) and feel relatively confident we can do it, but if I think about it or read the league of bike polo forums too much, I get a little shakier. Thus, all I wanna do is practice practice practice, but get thwarted by work and weather.

Our only experience with polo people outside Memphis has been pretty limited up to now. There's been Stefan from Denmark, the Little Rock folks and recently some people came through from Missouri. While we did really well in LR in a Bench Minor, it was kinda biased in my opinion. All the Memphis peeps were pretty into polo - had to be, to travel. Whereas LR was pretty much anyone that felt like coming out that day. Stefan was unquestionably good. Accurate shots, aggressive play. I wouldn't say he outclassed us, but he definitely pushed us. And Missouri, while perhaps not as good as us overall, had their strengths - definitely the best goalie I've played against. I feel pretty good about my skill level, but just can't get comfortable because I really have no idea what we're up against.

In short, my polo 'tude has changed. When I first started playing in Memphis, I was mostly just interested in making it happen. Now that the scene has solidified a little bit (though I'm still ALWAYS tryin' to get new people) and the polo-verse looms ahead, I kinda wanna do well. I mean, I always wanted to win, but that was second to playing in general. Now that I'm going to a tournament, it's like I've consciously decided to aim for something else. I won't be devastated if we don't do well, but I do feel like we have something to prove. It's a bit crazy how something I do for fun has turned into something I kinda stress about.