The bike polo championship at Montcalm Park in Montpellier comes to an end

Three teams finished first in the ranking: Ayne, Autobayne and Diamond Dogs. DR – Mathieu Fercoq

Teams can be mixed. Boys and girls, same fight. Midi Libre – GIACOMO ITALIANO

The team in which Elodie played won the European Championship this year. Free Midi – GIACOMO ITALIANO

Mathieu Fercoq, alias Mac Fly, de Montpellier joue autant pour la compétition que pour le fun et pour retrouver ses copains. Midi Libre – GIACOMO ITALIANO

It's over for the French biko polo championship, which took place at Parc Moncalm in Montpellier from June 26 to 28. Although the competition is over, this sport is gaining more and more followers.

They dropped their bikes and mallets, took off their helmets and gloves, after three days of intensive but also festive competition. The bike polo grand mass ended this Sunday at Parc Montcalm in Montpellier.
They dropped their bikes and mallets, took off their helmets and gloves, after three days of intensive but also festive competition. The bike polo grand mass ended this Sunday at the Montcalm park in Montpellier.
The Montpellier players of the bike polo club fought like lions. On the main podium, two of the three winners are from Montpellier. The tournament gave pride of place to teams of players from various backgrounds. The first is the Ayne team composed of two Lyonnais, a Parisian and a Hungarian. The second in the ranking is the Autobahne team which brought together two Lyonnais, a Nantais and a Brussels resident. As for the third, Diamond Dogs, it brought together two Montpellier residents, a Parisian and a Portuguese.

The great bike polo family

After the efforts, it was time for the joy of finding the "community“, as they call it when they talk about themselves and the 350 players who practice this sport in France to celebrate. “Friendliness is at the heart of this sport. We all help each other, we make this sport evolve together. We are, in fact, like a big family. Moreover, in the context of tournaments, we do not go up against a city, but meet up with our friends“, confides Mathieu Fercoq, alias Mac Fly, member of Montpellier Bike Polo, created in 2011.
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A close-knit community, but also a big family always ready to welcome everyone, whether you are beginner or experienced, man or woman, because the practice is mixed. It doesn't matter if you have never practiced this sport, the doors of the club are wide open if you wish to join the twenty or so members who make it up and participate in one of the weekly training sessions at Montcalm Park. The icing on the cake: bike, helmet and mallet can be loaned to you. "There is no other sport so open in terms of spirit. By lending the equipment, this gives everyone the opportunity to equip themselves at their own pace and according to their economic means. In addition, we offer membership at a modest price, between 30 and 40 euros", specifies the player.

Absolute flexibility

Headaches, draconian rules and a coach who calls the shots are banned from this sport. “It's the only sport I've joined because there's no coach responsible for me. You just have to sign up to play straight away. Then I can create a team with whoever I want,” says Mac Fly. That's how Rémy, a member of the Toulouse and Tours clubs, played in this tournament with a Lyonnais and a Londoner. “We play based on affinities. With polo, we meet players from all over the world and we travel a lot. We are, in a way, thanks to this sport, citizens of the world“, describes it.
The only conditions required: be in good physical condition and comfortable on a bike, demonstrate skill, enjoy competition without making it the only goal, have a taste for others and a sense of community.

Élodie: “Once you get into it, you can't do without it”

“She is very strong“, warns Rémy, who plays either in the Toulouse club or in the Tours club. The thirty-year-old is indeed very strong, attracting the admiration of all her peers. Originally from Auvergne, it was in Strasbourg that Élodie Martini learned her bike polo skills.
“At the time, we had set up a community of sprocket bikes. It was Yorgo Tloupas who, after discovering bike polo in the United States, introduced it to us in 2010. We started by playing in a small parking lot with friends, then we set up the club, and that's how it started“, says the player. Since then, there's been no stopping her.

A big family

This unusual sport has been a real “revelation“, who brought her out of her shell, allowed her to travel all over the world, and offered her a cosmopolitan family. In mixed teams or women's teams, she wins in all the championships.
Combatative, she is on the field, ready to take all the risks to put the ball in the cage, but once the game is over, the competition ends. “The rivalry is only on the field. Besides, we are all friends. So much so that when we travel, we stay with each other. There is a very benevolent spirit between us", she said.
No doubt, "it is an experience to live. Bike polo is for me almost like a love story. Once you fall into it, you can't do without it. The human is really at the heart of this sport", the champion concluded.
 

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