This is the first in a new series which looks at the bike polo scene in several cities in Asia. In Australasia, we hear a lot about European and North American bike polo, but relatively little about polo in countries that are geographically closer to us like Thailand, Japan and Taiwan. Here’s our chance to learn a bit more.
Badminton courts are used as Kaohsiung's day court
We were lucky to have two KBPA+ players, Mark and Yu at this year’s Australasian Championships in Perth. I was really glad my team played their team fairly early on, because they just kept getting better and better as the tournament went on. Mark has kindly agreed to answer my questions about bike polo in Kaohsiung, Taiwan.
Tell us a little bit about Kaohsiung
Kaohsiung, the biggest harbour and second largest city, is in the southern part of Taiwan. 1.5 million population in city center, 2.8 million in whole county. The weather is hot and humid, but the sunny days is much more than Taipei, the northern part of Taiwan.
Kaohsiung has a famous “Love River”, you can take a boat ride along. A small but vivid mountain call “Tsai-shan” or “Shou-shan”.
From the 2011 Takao Cup held in Kaohsiung
When and how did polo start here?
I think it was the first seasons of 2010. Young guys started to play polo under the bridge of No. 1 Super Highway.
How many people play in your city? How often do you play?
Probably 9 to 12 regularly players and we play once or twice a week.
Tell us about your courts
Our regular night court, under the bridge, is asphalt pavement in 30 x 20 m. And we do have 2 more day courts with nice cement or PU pavement. We don’t need to pay to play, but have to yield to the original users when playing the day courts, they’re hockey or badminton court actually.
The Kaohsiung night court is underneath a bridge
What have you found works to get new people playing polo in your city?
We didn’t do much works to get new player. But we like to do more in the future.
Are there any other clubs nearby? How far away is the nearest city that plays?
There are probably just 3 cities that have regular players. Taipei in the north, Taichung in the middle, Kaohsiung in the south. Taichung is 250 Km’s away form Kaohsiung. And 200 Km more the Taipei.
Do you play with other clubs in your country often? If so is this for tournaments for just casual?
We have once a year’s tournament, and one or two casual games a year.
From the 2011 Takao Cup held in Kaohsiung
Has your city hosted any tournaments or are you hosting any soon? Please tell us about them. Are they just for locals or do other people in your country come?
We, the KBPA, host almost any open tournaments in Taiwan since 2010. And we’ll host the third “Takao Cup” in November or December 2012. We totally welcome you. When the arrangements are done, I’ll invite you guys to come. I actually did invite Australia last year. We had guests from Bejing, China and Japan. Here’s the links http://kbpapolo.wordpress.com/2011/12/20/result-takaocup2011/
Have many people in your club have played in other countries? Where have they played?
Some players have played in Tokyo, Japan and Perth, Australia.
You played at AHBPC 2012, where do you think your city is in terms of skill level compared to the teams you played against? What was it like playing against Australians?
I think you’re way ahead of us. More speed, more intense, more technical, and rougher. In my opinion, we, Taiwan players should push harder. But I enjoyed very much when play with you and learned a lot from you.
From the 2011 Takao Cup held in Kaohsiung
By Virginia Castellan
