Polo

I went to my second session of kayak polo last night. I mentioned my first in an earlier post on pool sessions. I'd meant to go this morning instead, but when the added another "Saturday Social", I opted for it instead.

If you're interested in kayak , you can read about the NYKP on their site, and the game in general here. NYKP relies on Meetup now for scheduling, so don't be put off by stale dates on their site. It's a fun game, the NYKP people are amazing, and it's a great way to stay active in the winter seasons.

We started with some warmup drills. OG worked with me to improve my throw which, surprise, works better with torso rotation. The trick is that you end up rotating your boat as well, which is why polo players get good at one-handed ruddering - a skill I meant to develop this summer anyway.

Once we'd played pass-the-ball on a bit, we lined up and too turns shooting the goals. Each had a goalie, and a passer to collect and pass balls, and one by one we took our runs at the goals. I was much better at getting on target than last time. Now, if I could only do something about that pesky goalie.

The lead organizers had us try working a play. This was a good idea, because my experience with polo so far is that with these being pickup games, most people play with no tactics other than, "get the ball, block the ball". In the play, basically the ball started in the corner and the offense team would pass the ball, one player to the next, across the pool, to shoot from the opposite side. I's refreshing to know that tactics are a consideration - and not a total surprise that they are, considering some members have actually played competitively and won championships.

So we played. We switched up teams a bit, the took a halftime, then played some more. While I didn't score any points this time, I did play "chase" role to harass whoever has the ball. By the way, it's easy to foul in this game if you aren't careful. Player competing for a ball will clash their paddles but once a hand is on the ball, paddles can't touch it. A player with possession of the ball also can't have a paddle wielded lass than an arm's length of distance from their body. I learned this one in zealously trying to block passing options.

In between halves, people practiced their rolling skills. Most of the regulars worked on their hand rolls, which are a bit easier in polo boats than sea kayaks. I'm pleased to report I managed at least a couple of paddle rolls he side I need to improve on, but I also completely failed once and had to wet exit. What happened was, my paddle angle was in completely the wrong angle and  couldn't get it right. One trick, which tried but needs development, is o let the paddle float for a bit to let the blade align with the surface.

Well, I did a few more, including a couple in the improve-on side, and that more or less restored my confidence.

Afterwards, a few people went out to dinner, but the Cowgirl and her ride-sharemates were plumb exhausted, and we drove back to Manhattan and went home. I'm feeling it all this morning - some minor aches and creaks, but that beats the slothful loss of musculature I've been feeling in these cold winter weeks.

Till next time.

Pool

Winter is here, and that means all manner of kayak pool sessions. There's at least four I can think of in the NYC area, and I'm pretty sure I'm forgetting at least two. I got invited along to two on the same day, because hey - this cowgirl is popular. Despite icy sidewalks and a numbing winter's rain, I made it downtown by 0830 to catch the carpool (poolcar?) to the first session, put on by New York Kayak Polo, in a small community college in Jersey City, NJ.

Kayak Polo, commonly known as canoe polo in some parts of the world, is pretty much what it sounds like: polo, but played in kayaks. Simplified versions get played in camps and clubs, often in whitewater boats, but it's a discipline of its own, with its own kind of boat, reversible PFDS (to make team-matching easier on the fly) and faceguards over the helmets.

It's as insane to describe as it sounds to the non-paddling laity.The idea is, you are in large swimming pool, lined up as two teams of 4-5 players with substitutes, and the teams compete to lob a ball into a goal on either end of the pitch. You can only hold the ball fore five seconds before either passing or dribbling - which means tossing the ball forward and paddling after it. You cannot paddle and hold the ball.

New York Kayak Polo, January 2015

It's an exciting game and it really got the cowgirl's blood flowing after two weeks of behind down and out with an awful, coughing cold. I even managed to make a goal! I am thankful for my friend who nudged me to go when I considered backing out. I met up with other people in the community whom I haven't seen in ages, including D&O, two friends I made last summer on a trip to Sedge Island.

They were heading up to an afternoon pool program not far from where I live, so I took them up on an offer to go along and have some fun there. It's a more open-ended program, where we get to practice on our own a bit before instructing newcomers. So, I worked a bit on my rolls, and also took a shot at learning a hand roll. I have a long way to go on that. But, I'm happy to say, I managed hanging draws in whitewater boats with a Greenland paddle. I found it a lot easier to slice forward than with a euro blade.

That was easily twice as much paddling as I intended for the day, and couple with a weekend jaunt the day before, I was plumb tuckered Monday. So 2015 is off to a good start. As slack as I've felt, I've kept paddling, at least once a week on average.