Ransom is the club representative for D.C. Bike Polo. Seven to nine members of the club will travel to Manhattan for city-on-city matches this weekend. Anyone interested in playing can show up for pickup games on Mondays and Thursdays from 6:30 to 10 p.m. in Brentwood Park NE. The club is also on Facebook and Twitter. What are the basic rules of bike polo?
Basically, it’s three players to a team. If a player touches the ground with their feet or any part of their body at any time, they have to leave the play and tap out on the side of the court. Contact is allowed, but it’s restricted to body-on-body contact, mallet-on-mallet contact and bike-on-bike contact, crossing is not allowed. A shot to score a goal has to come off the front of a mallet, like hitting with a hammer, not off the side, like sweeping with a broom.
Is it dangerous at all?
It’s really not; it seems dangerous and it seems fast, but usually the speeds are so slow in a game that if you do fall off your bike, you’re able to put your foot down, so we really don’t have any injuries at all, even at the big tournaments.
How old is the sport?
The idea of polo on bikes has been around for over 100 years, but the version that we play, called hardcourt bike polo, started in Seattle in the late 1990s with a group of bike messengers there.
What are you expecting with the match against Manhattan?
To be perfectly honest, we might be the runt club of the East Coast … but we did pretty well a couple of weeks ago against Richmond. So, you know, we expect to be competitive and have a good time.
Betsy Woodruff
