We need goals to strive for, to encourage competition, to attract new members, to improve our skills.

I would suggest that that APA finals in Colorado be out goal this year, that PC ask the APA if we could send 3? mixed teams down to compete in the A, B, and C mixed divisions.

To be selected to one of the teams you must apply to PC, to apply you must be a club member and PC member in good standing, be recommended by your club and submit a cheque for the estimated cost to attend.

- You must compete in at least 4 PC sanctioned events prior to Aug 20th,2008.
- Be ready or make arrangements for 1 extra horse and house the Americans should they wish to visit us.
- Attend all tryouts and practices required or make arrangements.

Contrarily, I have not found polocrosse in Canada to be off to a slow start. In fact, so far I see more enthusiasm from some club members this year than of every club member together last year. Very exciting to me, a relatively new member. I think that respectful, fair communication and good sports/horsemanship are greater goals than availability of extra horses for visiting players, or attendance at sanctioned events. Promotion of these goals over all else will naturally encourage competition, attract new members and improve our skills without leaving behind those with limited resources or availability.

good morning allison,
i agree with some of what you said, and i’m happy that your club is loaded with enthusiasm.
i think al’s reference to a slow start is related to the overall participation between clubs. the last scheduled events were poorly attended,

good sportsmanship, improving horsemanship and polocrosse skills are everyone’s goal and it makes no sense with a fledgeling sport such as we have to leave anyone behind. anyone who is interested in the sport should be encouraged to participate at the level that they feel good at. however, i for one don’t feel good when i go to a tournament and get consistently get beaten 30 to 1.

that’s what happens when we don’t do what we can to improve our skills, and it has been my experience that those skills are best improved on the field, against other players.

although i don’t claim to be as experienced and international player as some, i have seen and played against americans, australians, south africans, as well as the british and irish.
gernerally speaking, i think their game is better than ours. but then they are international players who have worked hard and developed their skills so that they can compete at international events. they have all gone through a selection process in their country because their national polocrosse organization determines who can participate internationally. of course those countries have players of all abilities, but they send players appropriate to the level of play at whatever venue they go to.

i believe that when we attend international events, we have an obligation to (1) send a team that can compete and represent our country and sport and (2) reciprocate the hospitality that is invariably shown us.
sorry about getting so long winded about this, but i want to leave with two thoughts ”
- al’s selection criteria are worthy of further discussion, and
-i would like to see more participation between clubs at scheduled events. we need to support each other!!
that’s the way i see it anyway,

dave

great comments by all

Now lets get down to business

I would like to nominate myself for Colorado, I have paid my dues and plan on attending sanctioned events.

Polocrosse Canada folk can you add this to the agenda and get the ball rolling re: this tourny. (Let me know if you need help).

Is it too early to start selection and teams while Terry is here, he would probably have some great direction re: team selection, positions, etc.

I would also like to nominate our juniors for this tournament, Morgan and Josie, they are great little riders and with some good coaching by September look out!

Does anyone know where Andrew and Leanne are? Would like to contact re: attending the classic.

bye for now
Pam

Agreed, Dave. That is why I think that selection of players should be based on much more than what was suggested. We should be looking for our strongest players, not those who can provide extra horses and house visiting players.
I would love to be out playing with the other clubs every weekend, but the fact is that it just isn’t possible for some of us. We don’t have enough trailers, and some of us don’t have enough money.

Personally, I can’t afford to keep more than one horse, I live in a one bedroom apartment, and I don’t have a vehicle that can pull a trailer to PC sanctioned events. Based on the suggested criteria, it looks to me like I am disqualified already, regardless of how I play.

Certainly selection criteria is a worthy topic of discussion, but I would suggest trying not to exclude people with rules that don’t relate to bringing out the best players. Surely there are other ways to contribute to PC and show hospitality to visitors for those of us who can’t house or horse them.

Here, Here Allison.

I think right now we are missing that competitive edge because we aren’t competing against ourselves. The past couple of years we have had the World Cup or the American Nationals to get ourselves reved up, playing our best, and coming out to all the practices and games. Down in Texas everyone was constantly being watched and judged and everyone was doing their best so that they could be on the Mens, Womens, or Juniors Development team. Perhaps we don’t need to take it quite that far but I think Canada Polocrosse should get a little more serious about who it puts in Canadian colours. And if a team from Canada wants to go down to the states as the Green Pandas they can do that, but I think teams that wish to represent Canada should have to go through a few hoops. The hoops don’t have to be flaming hoops but just hoops that get and keep people competitive and give Canada a little more legitimacy.

I think one of the first steps is to get Polocrosse Canada to sanction events. This would serve a couple of purposes. First it would allow Polocrosse Canada to know what is going on and in this manner all of the clubs, especially as we grow to know what it going on. Second it would give Polocrosse Canada more control over the events that happen and hopefully give Polocrosse as a whole a better reputation. Polocrosse Canada could then regulate requirements needed by events, such as enforcing signed waivers, code of conduct, having certified umpires/coaches, and even having emergency personal at certain events. This would hopefully in the end make Polocrosse events safer. And in the third place it would give a selecting committee, selection criteria by saying that a player wanting to compete on an international team must attend a certain number of sanctioned events. I’ve sent out a suggested form that event organizers would fill out and send to Polocrosse Canada to all the club delegates by email.

As for International Teams I think we should set up some criteria, what about this?:
Players wishing to compete must be nominated by their club and clubs must present their applicants by the date chosen by the selecting committee
Players must attend 2 PC sanctioned Tournaments a year
Players must attend 60% of scheduled games (I mainly mean our Sunday games here, I don’t know if these should also be sanctioned, maybe at the beginning of the year?)
I would also suggest that teams have not more then one international player per a section. And that that an international player attend at least one Canadian sanctioned tournament. Maybe they should have the same requirements as regular players??
I know the 2 horse idea is contentious, but it’s an idea that’s in place in Australia and a couple of other countries. You do not necessarily have to own the second horse but rather have access to one through borrowing or leasing or stealing, ok maybe not stealing but you get the idea. Maybe it’s something we don’t have in place right now or we have it for certain teams. But it ensures that players have a second horse should their’s go lame, it shows that they are serious about playing and also provides horses for international visitors to play on.

A Selecting Committee would then need to be formed. I suppose the best way to do that is to have one person from each club, group to form it. I would also suggest that the members of the committee have international competition experience, maybe require that they have played twice internationally. Another thought is how influenced do you think they should be by international visiting coaches or players?

So I think we should sanction events, decide on at least some basic criteria for playing on an international team and then hand it over to a selecting committee.

From my perspective, PC’s focus could stand to shift away from controlling every aspect of everything and towards actually promoting & supporting the sport. Find ways to get more people playing at all levels, instead of rules that will keep people from playing at higher levels. Hold tryouts for international teams so that people are actually striving to improve their game instead of checking off a list of requirements. I believe that will bring out the competitive edge you are talking about.