Thanks to Polocrosse-international.orgInternational Challenge players’ relative strength ratings

Thanks to Polocrosse-international.orgInternational Challenge Stats

2011 Dutch World cup Team 2011 UK

Thanks to Polocrosse-international.orgNederlandse team International Challenge Polocrosse – Worldcup 2011 UK

25 March 2011

All countries to participate in the 2011 World Cup

As per previous communication I paid a visit to the UK this week to have a look at the new venue, and meet the new organisers. I can positively report back as follow.

The venue itself is situated in a much more visitor friendly environment as to Bishop Burton and is located 80 miles from Heathrow Airport London and 30 miles from Birmingham Airport by road and forty minutes by train from London

It is also located in an area with a variety of tourist attractions for supporters which should keep them very busy during the days when no test matches are being played.

The fields as they are now I am positive about that we could play on them immediately without any trouble and they are continuously being upgraded till the event itself.

At the fields areas are being prepared where Marquee tents will be erected with all facilities available and more than sufficient parking and back-up playing fields if needed.

I had the opportunity to meet with Phillip Baker the owner of the grounds who is currently putting in a huge effort to have everything in place in a very short time. He also gave me the assurance that the venue will be available with all requirements for the entire period of the World Cup.

Furthermore I met with Eric Jenkinson, Quintin Cornforth and Iain Heaton the CEO of the organising committee.

All three these gentlemen are fully supportive and positive towards the running of the World Cup and never hesitated to answer any questions asked and assured a very successful event.

The entire organising committee for this event has been restructured and it was found that communication in surrounding areas has already been distributed as various places were visited and everybody of importance knew about the coming World Cup. That can also be seen in the communication received from Iain the last few weeks regarding the progress entry fees etc.

The horses available for the World Cup were also discussed and assurance were also given that the correct total of horses would be available although they might not be to the same standard of horses supplied in Australia.

In view of the fact that the organising committee had changed and the draw send out previously was done by the previous organisers also came under discussion and agreement had been reached that the draw would change as per the last discussion between Iain and Odette with the input from Bill Bleechmore which means that the draw will now be as put together by Iain after studying a variety of possible draws. I am however of opinion that at the IPC meeting a standard format must be tabled for future World Cup events which would be used by all countries hosting a World Cup. We have the two previous versions done by Australia for 2003 and 2007 which worked out well, and now this one from Iain.

Pool A

• Australia
• New Zealand
• Zimbabwe
• Zambia

Pool B

• United Kingdom
• South Africa
• Ireland
• United States of America

I have taken some pictures of the venue and the type of stabling which I am attaching to this e mail for your view.

As said I am happy with the venue and would like to thank the UK organisers for their hospitality and support during my visit and wish them all of the best for the last few months of preparation and at this stage has no doubt that they will host a successful 2011 World Cup.

If you have any further questions please feel free to ask and regular updates will be received from Iain as they proceed.

I call on all countries to be positive and support the UK in every possible way we as member countries can.

Kind Regards

Wessel Strauss

PRESIDENT: INTERNATIONAL POLOCROSSE COUNCIL

Thanks to Polocrosse-international.org2011 World Cup UK Venue Review

Organized in Holland by the Dutch Polocrosse association over the week-end of 5-6th June it was a very pleasant competition, run smoothly and efficiently by the Dutch contingent. The sun was present all week-end and riders were able to enjoy a ride in the nearby Velhuwe nature reserve before the games occurred on Saturday and Sunday. The first game pitted France against Germany which the french team won, then a game opposing Holland against Norway won by the dutch. In the afternoon France met and won against Norway and Germany won against Holland. Sunday saw a game opposing Germany and Norway, won by the Germans and the last game highlight of the Sunday was France against Holland won 15-7 by the french side.
The overall results were :
France – 1st
Germany – 2nd
Holland – 3rd
Norway – 4th

The next European do for the year 2010 will be held in France in the bay of the Somme from 5th-11th July. Jason Webb is organizing coaches from Australia to come and train groups of continental players from France, Holland, Germany, Belgium but also England. If you’re interested in participating in this fun European camp open to all ages, levels and abilities, please contact Barbara +33 6 72 19 01 31 or info@francepolocrosse.com

Thanks to Polocrosse-international.orgFrance winner of the 4 nations polocrosse Cup Holland

France winner of the 4nations polocrosse Cup Holland
http://www.polocrosse.nl/images/4_nations_2010_logo_web.png
www.polocrosse.nl
Last weekend the 4 nations polocrosse cup took place at the “Dop heets Del” in Kootwijkerbroek, Holland. The “best” players from France, Germany, Norway and Holland played against each other in sunny Kootwijkerbroek. This as a preparation for the World Cup in 2011 in the UK.
Exciting games were played, starting with the first game on Saturday France vs Germany. It was immediately clear that the Germans had a very strong men’s section who played as a real team and their no.1 player Max Scheller played brilliant and scored most of the goals for the Germans. But also the German ladies section played strong and played as a real team. Their defense against the strong Henson horses was good.
The Norwegians couldn’t bring their own horses and rode on borrowed Dutch horses. They had a more experience section and a section with players who didn’t play that often. Both section played well, fought really hard and never gave up.
The Dutch didn’t got in to the games this weekend. Mistakes were made playing against the Germans Saturday afternoon and also the French’s tactics nailed the Dutch team down. The team spirit of the Dutch was lost and they didn’t play well as a team. So it is clear that more training need to be done for the World Cup.
The French were the strongest this weekend. There horses are still better then the Dutch and German horses, but also the way of playing, tactics and stick skills were better. They deserved to be the winner of this 4 nations polocrosse Cup.
Sunday afternoon fun chukka’s were played and all teams were mixed. It was a lot of fun and nice friendly chukka’s were played. This was like the whole weekend; sociable, enjoyable and a lot of fun..like polocrosse must be!
Results
Germany vs France: 8 -12
Norway vs Holland: 3 -19
Germany vs Holland: 13 – 8
France vs Norway: 19 – 3
Germany vs Norway: 16 – 3
France vs Holland: 15 – 7

Best female no. 1: Barbara Beaufils (France)
Best female no. 2: Camilla Blom (Norway)
Best female no. 3: Linda Wermuth (Germany)

Best male no. 1: Max Scheller (Germany)
Best male no. 2: Hayo Harder (Germany)
Best male no. 3: Bruno Wallet (France)

Best overall female player: Fleur Bartels with Cimarron (Holland) – prize sponsored by Bomber
Best overall male player: Jochem Elsinga with Jelle (Holland) – prize sponsored by Bomber

Best horse: Spirit owner Leanne Boekholdt (Holland)
Best combination: Florien Luitse and Tuesday (Holland)

Thanks to Polocrosse-international.orgFrance winner of the 4nations polocrosse Cup Holland

4 Nations Polocrosse Cup 4, 5 and 6 June 2010

http://www.polocrosse.nl/images/4_nations_2010_logo_web.png

The Dutch polocrosse Association organise the 4 Nations Polocrosse Cup at Kootwijkerbroek, Holland. The best players of all “new European polocrosse countries” France, Norway, Germany and Holland will play against each other. This event is in preparation for the world cup 2011 in the UK, where these new European countries will play in a B-poule.

The location where this cup will be is called “Dop heets del” (www.ponykampen.com) and is in the middle of a nature reservoir called “the Veluwe”.

Everybody is more then welcome to come over. For more information check the website www.polocrosse.nl or send an email to info@polocrosse.nl

Thanks to Polocrosse-international.org4 Nations Polocrosse Cup 4, 5 and 6 June 2010

Playing polox in a incredible scenery and a amazing atmosphere

The “test matches” between Norway and Holland took place last weekend in Rauland, Norway. The Dutch and Norwegian players stayed at Riding center Rauland, which is located in a beautiful scenery in the South of Norway. The riding center provided also the horses for the Dutch players. The Norwegians rode on their own horses.

There were three test matches during the weekend; two on Saturday and one on Sunday morning. Sunday afternoon were all Norwegian and Dutch players mixed by the Dutch coach Desmond Phelan and some fun chukka’s where played.

Norwegian team:

Section 1:

Amund Brede Svendsen on Goldsohn, Christian Henni on Velvet, Aimee Reichelt Johansen on Goliat

Section 2:

Andrea Riise on Tinka, Christina Riise on Coriander, Susanne Neset on Odin

Dutch team:

Section 1:

Marieke Smallegange on Calimero, Having Steenhuis on Molly’s Choice and Mijndert Heineke on Frøymin

Section 2:

Maarten Luitse on Hector, Thomas Bakker on Erwin and Fleur Bartels on Aslan

Dutch reserve player; Bennie Meijerhof (who played a few chukka’s in both sections on Hector or Frøymin)

Results:

Best nr. 1 – Thomas Bakker (Dutch)

Best nr. 2 – Andrea Riise (Norway)

Best nr. 3 – Amund Brede Svendsen (Norway)

Best horse – Velvet (owner Katinka Henni, Norway)

Umpire Saturday: Anne Petterøe

Umpire Sunday: Desmond Phelan

Table: Lykke Bech Daugaard, Johan Fredrik Svendsen

Goal: Arild Neset / Paula Beers
To be honest the results are irrelevant. More important was that the atmosphere, of what polocrosse is all about, was there; fun with each other, fun with the horses, learning from each other and good laughs on the field and after the chukka’s. For the Dutch players and support it was like a holiday; staying in a comfortable chalet in a beautiful scenery and with even a sauna on Saturday evening!

It was very impressive to see the energy of the Norwegians to keep on playing polocrosse. It is very hard for the Norwegians to play polocrosse; keeping a horse and find a flat field is absolutely not easy. But Lykke, Amund and all the other Norwegian players keep on going and that is a very good thing, because there are not so many countries and players playing polocrosse in Europe!

Thanks to Polocrosse-international.orgTest match Norway – Holland 26 and 27 September 2009

In the weekend of 12 and 13 september, the 4th Dutch open tournament took place in Exloërveen (North-East Holland). They were 11 teams playing from Germany and Holland in 3 different categories: A, B and C.

The A final on Sunday afternoon was between team Holland 3 with Thomas Bakker, Having Steenhuis and Marieke Smallegange and Kananohe A with Sascha Beck, Solveign Grage and Caren Ollenschläger. It was a very exciting final with a score of 2-2 in the second chukka. But in the last chukka scored Thomas an other 2 goals; Holland won the A category with 4-2!

The B-teams played a round robin and Avalon, a German team, won this category. There no. 1 player, Max Schellerer, was in top form and scored during the whole tournament 42 goals! The Dutch B team with Nathalie Garben, Niels Kemperman and Mijndert Heineke became second. Followed by Stelingen B1 and the 4th place was for Stelingen B2.

Also the C-teams (the beginners) played a round robin. It was a pleasure to see that there were many new Dutch players who played there first tournament. Kananohe C, who played more tournament before, won this category. But it was very close with new coming playing team Holland C3 with Leanne Boekholdt, Charlotte vd Haar and Roseline vd Haar. These girls did an amazing job together and played really good as a team. Third place was for Holland C1 and fourth for Holland C2.

The tournament was a great success with exciting games and a lot of fun! www.polocrosse.nl

Final result:

C
1. Kananohe C Best no.
2. Holland C3 1. Leanne Boekholdt
3. Holland C1 2. Joline Poulie
4. Holland C2 3. Yvonne Gucinsky

B
1. Avalon B Best no.
2. Holland B1 1. Linda Wermuth
3. Stelingen B1 2. Hayo Harder
4. Stellingen B2 3. Jake Chrupalla

A Best no.
1. Holland B3 1. Caren Ollenschläger
2. Kananohe A 2. Maarten Luitse
3. Holland B2 3. Having Steenhuis

Thanks to Polocrosse-international.orgThe fourth Dutch open tournament: Holland keeps the trophy!

The Netherlands, July 2009
Polocrosse Vereniging Nederland (PVN) / Dutch Polocrosse Association (DPCA)

It’s been two years since the latest update of the Dutch Polocrosse Association. Throughout these years a lot has happened. We, the board, thought it was time to replace the old information for new.

The membership has increased enormously. From only 15 members in 2007, to 45 members in 2009. This is caused by decreasing the contribution for the membership, and by Dutch polo players getting an interest in polocrosse. In the Netherlands, polocrosse is played in four different regions nowadays; South-West, Mid-Netherlands, North-East and in the North.

During our visit in Australia in 2007, we have spoken with many polocrosse players from all over the world. We went back to the Netherlands with many ideas to get more people interested in the sport in our country. Preceding the World Cup 2007, we spent a lot of time by giving demonstrations at any kind of horse events and by organizing national trainings. By then we only had one Dutch Tournament. By talking to all those experienced polocrosse players, we found out that many of them discovered polocrosse because a friend or family member took them to a game. Competition seemed to be very important to increase the level of playing. Back in the Netherlands we decided to organize tournaments at three locations. By doing this we could attract local players from these other regions and our clubs arose. We still have international tournaments on the calendar; every year we play tournaments in France, Germany and the European Challenge in the United Kingdom. Unlike the United Kingdom and Ireland, we don’t have a similar pony-club system in the Netherlands. That makes it very hard to reach young kids with talented ponies, because dressage and show jumping are far more popular among them. The riders have never heard of other horse sports and are simply not interested. They have in mind that polo-related sports, like polocrosse and horseball, is a cruel way to ride your horse. As soon as they play a little game with us, some do change their minds and see that their horses actually likes the game. We can’t reach everyone, but the few we do are normally very enthusiastic.

Since we have more competition going on in our games, the playing level is increasing little every year.   Our new Irish coach, Desmond Phelan, is very keen to help us with the sport and promotion. We also have the Dutch boys from Zambia, who come over to study and play polocrosse and help improve our games. Our weakness will be our horses; owning a horse is difficult in the Netherlands, especially in the West, where the stables are way too expensive for most people. Also the lack of pastures over there causes problems. We have many warm blood horses because of the type of equestrian in our country. Getting good thoroughblood type of horses from the UK or Australia is for most of us prohibitive.

Every Dutch tournament is financial self-sufficient by finding local sponsors. We try to keep the tournament fees as low as possible, so more people can afford to participate. We still look out for a main sponsor and try to attract these big companies for sponsoring by appearing in horse magazines and newspapers.  The association cannot afford to send a group of players overseas to train yet, but it can pay fixed charges and traveling expenses for the coach.

The targets the Dutch Polocrosse Association is trying to reach in the following years, will be to grow in all kind of ways. Of course we hope our playing level will increase more by playing tournaments, improving our horses and by international coaching. But as important as that is, we also find it very important to say that everyone is welcome to play, no matter who you are or what horse you have. That we do great things with our horses (we all love to play, the more experienced players as well as the beginning players) and that we all like to have a great weekend with a nice atmosphere. We get along very well with players from other countries, and we have a lot of fun. In our opinion, having a good time with friends, is just as important as increasing our level of play in the games.

Thanks to Polocrosse-international.orgDutch Polocrosse Association (DPCA)