Friday:
As Radio 6 music announced our departure, eight Bristolians and their coach travelled to take on the Belgians in an international canoe polo showdown! The early arrivals staked their claim to some primo campsite real estate before heading into the historic city of Ypres. Dinner was devoured, ice cream was savoured, medieval architecture was appreciated, and The Last Post rang out over the Menin Gate in solemn tribute to fallen heroes. As we signed the evening off with a Belgian beer at camp, a Dutch team took an early lead in the competition with a “my speaker’s bigger than yours” playoff against the venue. The asynchronous Europop/DnB battle provided quite an experience for the ears!
Saturday:
The punchy Tannoy system took no mercy on the later arrivals amongst us as its 7am wakeup call announced the order of play alongside a heavy helping of Europop (a theme was emerging)! The Dikkebusvijver “pond” provided a beautiful backdrop for an epic eight-pitch setup, and the teams we cross in Aberfan milling amongst those from as far afield as Singapore provided the atmosphere for an exhilarating competition. First order of the day was to ref Southampton Chess Club’s battle against a local team. Nick and Mike showed the pros how its done while the rest of us navigated electronic score boards and Shot Clock’s from the table.
Time to play! Mike put a banger of a goal through the net of Viking B in our first match to chip a way at their lead, finishing with 5-1 on the board. A closely fought hustle followed against a Belgian team who just scraped the win after Sarah chalked one up on a break to end at 2-1. TURNOVER!!! The final match of the day was a lesson in trick shots, backwards sprints and what you can achieve with lots of training and more shoulders than a team has any right to! A 9-0 defeat was the best we could hope for as Caspar joined us for a friendly to give us some tips and cement his bond with Steven who demonstrated the intricacies of a Banana shot…
A final round of reffing gave Nick the chance to perfect his ‘lost-at-sea’ image whilst Steve’s shore-side coaching heckling of BKS Jeugd lead Mike to call “TIME” when it most certainly was not! Time for an ice cream accompaniment to some seriously impressive polo from the higher leagues before a BBQ and evening shenanigans. A heated round of The Hat Game left Steve, Sarah and Phil victorious, and wishing their polo skills were as good as their sound effects! Not to be outdone, James showed his true colours on the dance floor with an enthusiastic rendition of the Cha-Cha Slide!
Sunday:
Tannoy, Europop, polo – we know the drill now! No more matches to ref today, just a head-to-head with a young and fiery Liverpudlian team and a grudge-match against our new campmates of Hat Game fame. We couldn’t quite sneak a ball into Liverpool’s net, but it was one helluva game; we dug deep, we fought hard and left them surprisingly disgruntled with their 1-0 win. Finally, it was Blackwater’s turn, and they got the full force of our weekend’s work. We pulled out all the stops. Keats and Lisa dominated in goal, John’s confidence around the ball left him untouchable and James’ dramatic swim ran down the clock while we re-grouped and came back stronger. Screams of “Banana” rang out across the water when Steve scored, in spite of his claims that he actually threw a ball straight for a change! And Nick held-up under the pressure of a whole team yelling “SHOOT” to pull level and finish the weekend with a 2-all draw. You’d have thought we’d won the whole tournament with the level of celebration!
The 28th Tournament De Paddel 2024 was quite the experience. We returned as international polo players, having finished a respectable 11th in our group. More than just a competition, Bruges was a celebration of the sport, an opportunity to cross paths with teams from around the world, and a chance to explore one of Europe’s most charming cities. Until next time, Dikkebus!
