City Squad Recap: Swamp Rabbits Take Birmingham
On September 12 and 13, five Swamp Rabbits headed to Birmingham: Dana, Dru, Jason, Maggie, and Seema. Players also came from Atlanta and New Orleans. It was hot. It was also a lot of fun.
A brand new court
Birmingham just finished their new court, with a fresh asphalt pour and new dasher boards. It’s a bit larger than most courts, which you notice fast when it’s that warm out.
Saturday: 4v4 Pick-up
One of the best parts of traveling is playing someone else’s game.
Birmingham house rules:
At least one player from each team has to stay on their own half at all times.
There’s no game clock. When you dab or score, you swap out for someone waiting on the sideline, and play keeps going.
It took us a little while to get the hang of it, and by the end of Saturday it clicked. On a bigger court in that heat, the half-court rule was probably the safer option.
It’s not how we play at home, but adjusting to a new format is good practice, and we came away with a better feel for how other clubs run pickup.
Saturday ended with a dab-you-die game, teams split by bike frame. If you’re newer to polo: a dab is putting a foot down, and in dab-you-die, a dab takes you out.
Seema and Maggie planned to hang back until most of the players had dabbed. After an unfortunate (illegal) mallet swipe, Seema dabbed. It whittled down to 2v2: Maggie and Izzy for Team Enforcer, Dana and Tiff for Team Koncept. The Koncepts won in the end.
Sunday: City vs. City
Sunday was the tournament. Birmingham fielded two teams. Atlanta was short on numbers, so two Birmingham players with Atlanta connections joined them to even things out. The round robin ended in a three-way tie, and goal differential put GVL on top.
Your Swamp Rabbits are City Squad champs.
The team
Everyone on the roster scored at least once. It was Jason’s first tournament and Maggie’s first time playing as an official Swamp Rabbit, and all five played really well together. Jason and Maggie fit right in. Maggie’s favorite goal of the weekend was Dru feeding Jason for the shot.
“I’m just really proud of Jason for traveling for his first tournament and playing so well.” – Maggie
Off the court: meet Pete
At a Piggly Wiggly, we found a small balloon dog and named him Pete.
His buoyancy was perfect: just enough to rest his little feet on the ground. He joined us for the rest of the weekend’s adventures.
He had the saddest little face, and he was shy. You could often find him hiding behind our cooler.
While Pete is no longer on the mortal plane, his memory will not be forgotten.
RIP Pete. We’ll always love you! 💜
Come play with us
We play Tuesday evenings and Saturday afternoons at Gateway Park in Travelers Rest, and Sunday afternoons at Malvern Hills Park with AVL Bike Polo.
Loaner gear is available, and no one expects you to know any of this on your first day. Follow @GVLBikePolo on Instagram for updates.
