Good Turnout for Utah Event
Participants in the Ogden, Utah tryouts and practice
sessions for the Fifth World Championships:
Not Pictured (i.e., photographer): John Hupp (Denver, CO); Seated:
Dennis Mullen (West Richland, WA)
Kneeling (L-R): Scott Jordan and Ernie Sanchez (San Diego, CA),
Steve Baker (Richland, WA), Dan the Mystery Man (Salt Lake City, UT)
Standing (L-R): Brent Brown and Chris Lindberg (Salt Lake City,
UT), Jerry Gradisher (San Diego, CA), Bill Matheson (Aiken, SC), Geoff
Nielsen and Peter Furmedge (Vancouver, BC, Canada), Scott Brown and
Chuck Heaton (Salt Lake City, UT), Harvey Barton (Vancouver, BC, Canada),
and Dennis McQuerry (Richland, WA)
The Bicycle Polo Association of America and
the American Bicycle Polo Association teamed up to stage the 2002 tryouts
for the U.S. team for the Fifth International Bicycle Polo Championships,
to be held June 25-30 in Paris, France. Players from Denver, San Diego, Salt
Lake City, and Washington State flew or drove in for three days of great polo,
with the Canadian national team providing strong opposition for the American
prospects to test their mettle. The event was scheduled to coincide with
the International Police Mountain Bike Association conference, in hopes of
recruiting some new players. Unfortunately, the weather was cool and windy
on Friday, and rainy early Saturday morning, so only four new recruits turned
out for the scheduled workshops. On the bright side, the weather cleared
up around 10:00 Saturday morning, and a great time was had by all for the
rest of that day and on Sunday morning.
Above all, the event provided an opportunity for players
from different areas to meet and get to know one another. In particular,
the five players from Salt Lake City had never played outside their club,
but it was great to have the opportunity to practice with them and introduce
them to the international rules. They were considerably younger than most
of the veteran players present, and gave us all a glimpse of the future
of the sport (the rest of us look forward to playing in seniors' events).
Special thanks to John Hupp, who arrived early and was instrumental
in setting up the field; and to Dennis McQuerry, who came down from Washington
despite an injured wrist and took on the thankless task of umpiring virtually
all of the sessions.