Trevor Brady

Shannon Frey, a graduate student in geology, says that summer is the best time of the year to recruit new bike-polo enthusiasts.

A self-identified “forefather” of bike polo in the Pacific Northwest had his Bluetooth in place as he relayed one of his favourite moves on the court.

While driving his wife and vocal young daughter back from Sea-Tac Airport to their home in Seattle, Matt Messenger, a 40-year-old bike-polo guru, explained that riding up that city’s hills while holding coffee has given him the ability to multitask.

“Along with another friend of mine—who’s almost the same [skill level]—I have this kind of ”˜Old Seattle’ classic shot where it looks like you’re actually shuffling the ball,” Messenger told the Georgia Straight while holding court (so to speak). “You wait until the last minute to turn your mallet to tap it in. It’s like a visual trick. So it’s called the Messy, which is part of my whole nickname Messmann. That’s the style, making it look like I’m just coming for the blind shot.”

In hockey parlance, Messenger said, it’s like shooting the puck through a screen; with the Messy, the ball is shot through a throng of bicycles ridden by mallet-wielding keeners all out there to have fun and get some exercise.

Such a troupe of players was out in force at a recent Tuesday-night pickup game, from 6 p.m. to 9 p.m., at Grandview Park’s recently unveiled multi-use court on Commercial Drive in East Vancouver. Messenger was at the historic court opening earlier this year along with a friend who was gathering footage for a documentary on bike polo.

It is the first court in the world to be built to bike-polo specifications, with black playing surface and rounded corners. Located on the southwest corner of the park, where the tennis courts used to be, the court measures 38 metres by 20 metres.

“It’s wonderful,” Shannon Frey, a member of local group East Van Bike Polo, told the Straight on the sidelines during a break in play. “We were playing for a while over here [behind Britannia Secondary School], and when I came back [to Grandview], I was like, ”˜Wow, this is so much bigger.’ ”

Frey is also one of the three representatives from Cascadia—the unofficial geographic area stretching from Oregon to B.C. and western Alberta—elected to the umbrella organization North American Hardcourt Bike Polo. She was joined on the sidelines by about a dozen players when she spoke on June 7. There was banter aplenty, some beer, lots of squealing brakes, plenty of padding on the knees, swinging of mallets, and coordinated progression toward the opposing team’s goal and back again. The three-a-side teams regularly switched up. A game is won by the first team to score five goals.

Rory “The Bear” Crowley was soon demonstrating his wicked shot, with trademark gunshot echo, as he slammed shots on goal. He reputedly hits the ball so hard, the ball blasts through the spoke protectors cyclists use on their wheels for protection against such things.

On the other team, cycling freak Martin Hauck was showing off his own lone-gunslinger skills as he wove through opposing players, ably rolling the ball. Think Diego Maradona or Lionel Messi on a bike-polo court, with braking here and there on a dime to change direction or throw an opponent. Players use one brake with their nondominant hand. The dominant hand is the mallet hand.

The 27-year-old Frey, who is doing her master’s thesis in geology, recommended bike polo as a summer activity and said it’s a great activity for anyone to get involved in.

“Summer is the big recruiting time for us,” she added. “We’re always on the lookout for new blood.”