Canoe Polo
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[edit] Overview
Battersea Canoe Club Polo - As Seen On TV!
We play Canoe Polo every Tuesday evening, at our pool session at Putney Leisure Centre in Dryburgh Road, Putney SW15. Sessions start at 9pm and last 90 minutes. We also have a team in Open Div 4 South East, and we try to attend a variety of the Summer tournaments.
More importantly perhaps, we tend to think of ourselves as a social session and a friendly club first and foremost. By and large we've accepted that we're not going to make team GB any time soon! Feel free to come down and play, whether you're new to the sport or a raving polo fiend - anyone 18 years old or over is welcome, but if you've never paddled a kayak before then please first attend some Sunday beginner sessions at Clapham pool, where you'll soon learn the basics.
Current session prices are £8 for guests. Club members pay £7 a time or can take advantage of a £40 for 7 sessions deal.
[edit] What is Polo
Canoe Polo: The fastest growing paddle sport in the world. Probably.
It's a five a side game played in a swimming pool or outdoors on a lake. The goals are raised 2 metres above the water, so that a player under the goal can generally only just reach the top to stop any shots.
The ball is moved around either by throwing hand to hand or by dribbling. Striking the ball with the paddle is allowed but is generally a silly idea as you're unlikely to keep control. Polo is a contact sport so you can push any player in control of the ball with the aim of capsizing them. Contact is only allowed between the shoulder and the elbow, or the back.
There are quite a few rules in Polo, mostly focussed around not killing each other. In the main, paddles are for propelling yourself through the water, not for attempting to maim your fellow players. Also, holding people under water is not generally considered Kosher. The rules are (or will be) detailed in the section below.
Above all, Polo is great fun, and accessible to any level of canoeist. In many ways, it's the ideal solution to keeping canoeing skills going whilst living in a city. Furthermore, Battersea's late session start means that it's easy to get down after work. We look forward to seeing you there.
[edit] Rules
The actual rules can be found on the BCU site
Other resource can be located in our own Rule of the Week, a less formal look at the rules.
[edit] Schedule
Details of summer tournaments to follow.
To play in tournaments you must be a member of the BCU (Adult Comprehensive membership).
[edit] Pub
After the pool session on a Tuesday night, we generally convene in the Arab Boy for a quick drink before last orders. As we said, we're a social bunch of people, it's nice to relax, have a chat, count your fingers and discuss the brilliant goals scored.
[edit] Polo News
Hear how the Pups beat the Dogs: Results and report from Tooting Bec Tournament, 2 April 2006.
[edit] Contact
email our polo rep...
[edit] Links
More polo links:
- www.canoepolo.com Worldwide canoe polo forum site
- www.canoepolo.org Canoe polo wiki site
