Delaware Bike Polo Hardcourt bike polo in Delaware

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UD Review Story

New sport combines bikes, polo mallets

by Isabella Livia

photo by Spencer Schargorodski

"Players raced around in the hockey court in the Kent parking lot, trash talking, swinging their mallets and bumping their bike wheels into each other while trying to hit a little red ball into the goal. Their challenge wasn't just to make a goal, but to balance their weight with one hand on the handlebars while the other tightly griped the mallet.

The cyclists are part of the Wilmington Bike Polo league, an experimental sports team. Sam Richeson, the founder of the group, says he got the initial idea for bike polo after he was surfing the Internet and came across videos of cyclists playing the game in Philadelphia.

"I watched some videos and they looked really stupid at the time, but I decided to try it out," Richeson says.

Every Tuesday, he and his friends try to go out during the evenings for a game. The game of bike polo is played in teams of two versus two or in teams of three versus three. It begins with a joust, where the bikers are stationed on opposite sides of the court, with their mallets firmly grasped in their hands. Once they get the start signal from the referee on the sidelines, the players race from their respective sides toward the ball in the center of the court.

Bike bumping is acceptable as long as the moves aren't too aggressive. Although trash talking is prevalent, it is all in good fun. The games usually last approximately 15 minutes, but the game is not finished until one of the teams reaches a total of five points, Richeson says.

He says purposefully crashing a bike into another bike is not allowed. Neither is using hands to push or grab another person or person's bike.

"Mallets can be dangerous, so no swinging like a bat," he says.

The mallets look like croquet mallets, but are made out of recycled materials, which include old aluminum ski poles and plastic piping. A hole is drilled through the side of the piping to attach the pole. Shots on goal will only count if the ball is hit with the narrow end of the mallet, Richeson says.

If players hit the ball with the wide end of the mallet, or in bike polo terms, "shuffle," then the shot is not counted, Richeson says. He contends that such rules are simple, yet important to the playing of the game.

For instance, the "foot-down" rule comes into effect when a player lets their foot touch the ground while the ball is in play. The player must then return to half-court and tap their mallet to reenter. However, Richeson says this rule gets disregarded for first timers since trying to balance a mallet and the bike is challenging enough.

Along with his friends, Richeson has traveled to Philadelphia to play in the Philadelphia Bicycle Polo league. He says some members of the Wilmington Bike Polo league have also traveled to Atlanta to play in the North American Cycle Courier Championship, a bike polo tournament.

"We lost, but, I mean, we are still the best in Delaware," Richeson says.

Junior Chris Kuhlhafer says he heard about Wilmington Bike Polo by word of mouth and had checked out their Facebook group over the summer.

"I like playing for the friendly competition, sometimes it gets intense," Kuhlhafer says.

Richeson says at the moment, Wilmington Bike Polo is just a pick up league, but he encourages people to check out their Facebook group and come out to play on Tuesdays.

"It brings two of my favorite things together-bikes and friends," he says."

Cool article!