2020 NAH Season Update

Dear NAH community,

Like many of you, we are closely following COVID-19 developments. We are continuing to monitor the latest advice from our federal health agencies. Currently, the state of affairs is such that we are advising all of our regional reps to press pause on 2020 Regional Qualifier tournament planning. We are also strongly encouraging anyone hosting a tournament in the coming months to follow all guidelines put in place by your local or federal governing bodies. It is critical that we all do our part to help our health system to function as best it possibly can. This means avoiding all unnecessary contact with others.

Furthermore, we were informed last week that the WHBPC 2021, which was scheduled to be held in July 2021, will now be taking place in October 2021. This of course significantly impacts the schedule NAH announced on March 10th.

The NAH Executive team is working to reconfigure the 2020 and 2021 tournament season schedules given the concerns and information outlined above. We will be in close contact with your Regional Reps to work out how we would like to move forward in the coming months. Please stay tuned and most importantly stay safe.

The NAH Executive Team

2020-2021 NAH Competitive Series

🚨Please see our updated post about the upcoming season and COVID-19


This year we find ourselves in a unique position. For the first time ever we have significant advanced notice of the next World Hardcourt Bike Polo Championship (WHBPC): it will be held in July 2021. With that knowledge, we are able to preplan two full seasons of NAH tournaments.

2020 Regional Qualifiers will be the qualification grounds for the 2020 North American Bike Polo Championship (NAHBPC) which in turn will be the qualification grounds for the 2021 WHBPC. This will ensure that all qualified teams have adequate time to raise funds, plan their trip, and collect any travel documents required for travel to Europe.

In spring 2021 we will, as usual, host our Regional Qualifiers. The 2021 Qualifiers will be the qualification grounds for the 2021 NAHBPC. The 2021 NAHBPC will take place after the 2021 WHBPC and will not be a qualification grounds for the 2021 WHBPC*. As in other years where we have not had a WHBPC to qualify for, the NAHBPC will be the climax of the 2021 season in North America.

Timeline

Tournament Dates Year
Regional Qualifier ‘20 April-July 2020
NAHBPC ‘20 Sep-Nov 2020
Regional Qualifier ‘21 April-June 2021
WHBPC ‘21 July 2021
NAHBPC ‘21 Aug-Oct 2021

*These decisions were made with Regional Rep support and after consideration of the scheduling logistics for this year and 2021 season. Logistically, we cannot use the 2021 Regional Qualifiers and 2021 NAHBPC to qualify teams for the WHBPC because there will not be enough time to host all required tournaments. In addition, this schedule provides qualified teams a greater chance of attending the 2021 WHBPC in Europe by providing them with enough time to get needed travel visas, arrange travel, request time off work, raise funds, etc.

For any questions regarding the NAH competitive series, please contact Mark Aseltine directly at mark@nahardcourt.com.

Call for 2020 NAHBPC Bids

Welcome to the official call for host bids for the 2020 NAHBP!

This year we are hoping to host the NAHBPC in the fall. Ideally, the event should occur in October or November. If you would like to host outside of this time window, please contact Mark, the NAH Tournament Director, to discuss the feasibility.

Call for bids is open effective immediately and will close on Monday, March 23rd. The announcement of the successful host club will follow thereafter.

Amenities Needed

For a full list of the amenity requirements, please see the brand new NAHBPC Host Handbook. A minimum of two courts is required but ideally, three courts are made available. The facility should also have basic player amenities such as shade, water, toilets, and access to food for purchase. Organizer amenities, such as power and reffing stands and tables, should be provided. The NAH Events Team will work closely with the host club to outline responsibilities and requirements and help supervise and assist in organizing the tournament.

How to Apply

We feel that with a year under their belts the NAH Events Team has the ability to support any club in North America to take on hosting the 2020 NAHBPC and we encourage you to submit a bid. Interested hosts should consider how else they would fundraise for the NAHBPC in conjunction with NAH funds. Bids and questions should be submitted via email to (events@nahardcourt.com) with the documents provided here.

For any questions regarding the competitive portion of the event, please contact Mark Aseltine directly at mark@nahardcourt.com.

For any questions about the general running of the event, please contact Shannon Frey directly at events@nahardcourt.com.

Qualification to WHBPC 2019

Regional Qualifiers and the NAHBPC 2019 will be Squad. The process for shifting from Squad to 3v3 for WHBPC was discussed and decided on by Regional Reps and the NAH Tournament Director and is as follows.

Traditionally we use NAHBPC as a qualification ground for WHBPC. We have only ever needed this system when WHBPC is on North American soil. Every time WHBPC has been held abroad, there has always been more spots available to the main event than teams interested in attending. If that trend were to continue, all of the following information is irrelevant.

With that said, the NAH feels that it is important that the players interested in NAHBPC and WHBPC understand the process for selection if more teams are interested in attended WHBPC than NAH has awarded spots.

WHBPC 2019 spots will be awarded based on success at the NAHBPC 2019

This system will involve reaching out to qualified teams immediately following NAHBPC and working down the list as spots become available. If there are still spots remaining after going down the list of finishers at NAHBPC, a general call will be made. The process for qualifying from NAHBPC is as follows:

  • Team of 6 Will be awarded 2 full spots and will require 5/6 players attending
    Team 1 (Player A, B, C); Team 2 (Player D, E, + added player). Both teams qualifying.
  • Team of 5 will be awarded 2 full spots and will require 5/5 players attending
    Team 1 (Player A, B, C); Team 2 (Player D, E, + added player). Both teams qualifying.
    If only 4 players wish to attend please refer to ‘Team of 4’
  • Team of 4 will be awarded 1 spot with a maximum of 3 members from the original 4 attending
    Team 1 (Player A, B, C) qualify; Player D excluded.

Please direct any questions to Mark Aseltine (NAH Tournament Director) at mark@nahardcourt.com.

Seattle will host 2019 NAHBPC

2019 NAHBPC

The NAH is pleased to announce that the 2019 NAHBPC will be held in Seattle, WA.

Seattle is one of the longest standing clubs in North America and the NAH is excited to work with a club with such rich bike polo history and experience to host this year’s NAHBPC.

Seattle’s bid includes significant overhaul to their current court facilities, aiming to provide the best court infrastructure possible for this event. The NAH Events Team has already began working with the host committee and will work closely with them in the upcoming weeks and months to provide a top-quality tournament experience.

The 2019 NAHBPC will be held on July 26-28th. The NAH encourages regions who have not yet scheduled their Regional Qualifying tournaments to do so as soon as possible.

Additional updates regarding the 2019 NAHBPC will be posted here on our website and via the NAH Monthly newsletter.

Thank you for your support and good luck on the court!

The NAH Events Team