Derby Unicycle Hockey Tournament July 2 2005

[roland]

An Afternoon of Unicycle Hockey

Well, just under a year ago I posted about trying to get a group play unicycle hockey in the Derby/Nottingham area. Got loads of responses so we started it up and now regularly get 12-16 players out every week and probaly 20 different people have played at one time or another . As part of the post I said that we'd like to try and and get enough people together to have a small tournament and now we've got round to making it happen.

As a result I'm proud to announce that the Emunicyclist (East Midlands Unicyclist or EMU's for short) have got their respective fingers out and are putting on small hockey tournament/gathering/soiree/get-together . The "do" will happen on Saturday 2nd July between Midday and 6.00pm at the sports pitches at Darley Fields Chester Green, Derby. (A map can be found at here http://www.streetmap.co.uk/newmap.sr...=newsearch.srf ) but I'll sort out proper directions etc. shortly

All are welcome rgardless of ability and we'll probably put together scratch teams together on the day unless people have a pre-formed team that they would be devastated not to play in. The cost is going to be Four of your best shiny pounds (£4) and for that you get to enjoy 6 hours of hockey including all of the great Emunicyclists trade marks - a beautifully smooth large outdoor pitch(there will be no complaints about the weather - we managed to play throughout the winter on it apart from one week when it was iced up like a skating rink), some Le Mans starts ( a local rule fortunately not implemented else where in the hockey community) and much much more. The plan is probably to go to the local hostelery for some food and liquid refreshment once play has finished but as with all good plans post hockey details are somewhat hazy and "fluid" at this stage

We'll be putting further details up shortly on http://www.emunicyclists.info and you can contact us at contact@emunicyclists.info - if you fancy coming then either respond here or drop us an email so that we can gauge numbers. I've got to suffer the hard ship of two weeks in France eating cakes and croissants and unicycling so I'll rely on my fellow EMU's to drum up enthusiasm and answer queries until I get back. So the pitch and weather is booked now we just need the players (i.e. You :-) ) Hope to see you all there

Cheers

Roland

[unicus]

:BUMP:

There has to be some interest in a unicycle hockey tournament in the UK! I'm guessing you've either missed this thread or just haven't replied on here yet.

[steve.colligan]

Assuming I can still walk after 'Red Bull' which is the weekend before, then I'll be there. I'm certainly looking forward to a whole afternoon of hockey. I'll see if bald Stu can make it as well.

Steve

[deadlydes]

i will be up for it so long as nothing else pops up before then

[GILD]

Originally posted by roland
some Le Mans starts ( a local rule fortunately not implemented else where in the hockey community)

explain that?

i'm curious because, untill recently, we started with the ball on the center spot and two riders per team standing (unmounted) on one of the two white spots in the big white circles in their respective halves (we use an inline hockey rink so it's pretty much the same as an ice hockey rink's markings)
on a count of three, the riders would mount and race to the center spot to try n claim the ball

last time we played, we used the face-off version from the official UniHoki rules

i would so love to bring the two South African Teams to your tournament
oh well...

[GILD]

here's a pic

[joemarshall]

le mans start = all unicycles in a line in the middle. All sticks and players at the goal end, ball at the centre spot. Everyone runs to the middle, get's their unicycles, rides back to the goal and picks up the stick. First person to get to the ball plays it.

It's basically a really silly way of starting a game.

Joe

[GILD]

Originally posted by joemarshall
It's basically a really silly way of starting a game.

who was it who described UniHoki as 'good fun, a great workout and not entirely serious'?


do u still play at tufnell park?

[nickjb]

Originally posted by GILD
...
on a count of three, the riders would mount and race to the center spot to try n claim the ball

All UK hockey games used to start like that a while back. We had a bit of a nasty incident when two chaps on 24"s raced at high speed with their eyes firmly fixed on the ball.

The drop ball start is the norm now.

[GILD]

yeah, i can see how that can get nasty
i'm actually partial to a coin toss and a football style start
the drop start also gets a bit messy sometimes

[maestro8]

Originally posted by joemarshall
le mans start ...
It's basically a really silly way of starting a game.

There was a le mans start at my school's time trial event... it was done on children's bicycles... so it was a silly way to start a silly race:

http://scipp.ucsc.edu/~jheimann/shoo...s/dscf0173.avi

I'd love to see some video of the hockey tourney!