Beating Friends with Sticks

I made it back out for bike polo last night after laying low for a few weeks. Tempers tend to flare sometimes, especially between me and T.roy. More in the big vs little brother sense than the Hodge vs wall punching sense, but enough to kind of take some fun out of it and it usually is started by me. Talking to The Mannondale he made a good point, that it comes down to peoples' individual expectations. Like in those pick-up b-ball games at the Y or a park; some think it's ok to foul and that those fouled will call it out. Some think that a foul isn't a foul, and some think fouls just shouldn't be called. That made me realize why T.roy and I tend to butt heads more. I expect players to not cut off or risk those with the ball just to steal the ball as it's just a 'for fun' game between friends. He expects similar behavior but also expects people to yield after 3 taps and moves in on the ball, so his vision of playing the ball matches my vision of a cutting off act. Hence the flare ups. No right or wrong, just different expectations. Most try to call it if someone does something that risks anothers life/teeth/bike etc. Cutting off or anything risking yanking the front wheel out from someone is what sets me off or any needless move where someone could get hurt just to steal the ball. I guess in a word I expect Courtesy to prevail over getting the ball.

What I realized after last night is that the butting of heads (mine and others) seems to stem from my expectation of wanting to play the ball vs playing the bike. Used to be we all played the bike as we had very little ball control. So holding a line to force others to yield and dribbling the ball all the way from end to end to score were the norm. Kind of a derby with mallets, ye with best handling and larger stones prevailed. We've now attempted to abide by the 3 touch rule. 3 touches then you've got to pass it. This rule is to promote team play and ball tactics vs playing the bike. I don't think we're all on the same page there yet like we had been on the play the bike/derby version we started out playing. It's also opened the door for those who couldn't play the bike and run the ball due to others being able to keep and control the ball better to now play the bike and run the ball since those other players are now trying to play the passing game. So you have an evolution of players playing different games on the same court. Those that are moving on to play the ball and those that are finally able to do the ball hog/bike derby plays of early matches.

Needless history and growing pains aside, last night was a lot of fun. Only one notable tiff and it was really a misunderstanding gone awry. The passing game was in full effect last night. H. scored 3 or so real goals. Goals made by accepting a pass from a teammate, dribbling to set up her shot, and taking the shot. She was stoked. She was smiling. She was having fun. That is what it's about. It's not about who scores 5/7/9 goals first. I think the last 2 games played, Hennessey, H., and I made every goal with all 3 of us touching the ball. Through the wheel passes, double through the wheel passes, and break shots were handled like we knew what we were doing. That is the game I envision when I roll out onto the court.

It was a fun time and it revitalized my interest in the game. Hopefully after the holidays we'll get some more games on and it'll be more addictive fun like it was in the early stages. I also hope we can get a last game in before Jut moves to Asheville. And Fellas, I'll try to keep my trap shut if Clint promises to look left. :-)