It’s about time we get an EHBA election …

Everything is in the title!
Maybe even structural changes on how we run things?

@Mega_shuffle @django nothing against you my friends :kissing_heart:

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yes and bids for next ehbpc are open ! start a thread if your club wants to host it and which year !

It’s funny this matter always comes back on the table, especially after a year saved by EHBA and Berlin Bike Polo (best EHBPC ever as far as I’m concerned) after the EHBPC organization fiasco by MTP Bike Polo (nothing against you my friend :kissing_heart:, which is the most passive agressive expression to communicate btw).

Do you know that EHBA is an open organization you can join freely if you want ?
I always read about people complaining about EHBA (which is not perfect of course, nothing against you my friends), about ruleset but rarely see something constructive. It’s always “the ruleset is shit”, “we should do that”, “they must do that”. Until now, if someone wants to do something it is possible.

Ruleset is my example. I deeply involved myself into the ruleset update process the last years. Trust me, going on Poloverse or to Alejandro saying “this is shit, change it” is not enough. The smallest change can have the biggest impact on the whole ruleset. This will make some of you laugh but all the words are discussed and chosen. At the end, trust me, if you want some change you can make them happen ! But please, don’t think anyone will take it from scratch and make the perfect document from nothing. It took roughly a year of work when the EHBA ruleset was created, besed on the NAH one !

That said, I’m not against any election of course.
But first, the question should be "who is ready to get involved into EHBA ? Not as a talker, but as a maker ".
I don’t often speak about that in public, but my experience at the french committee (8 years ?) shows that most of the time, 100% of the candidates are elected, and after a few months, 2 or 3 people are working when the others just come to debate on matters that personnally impact them. Every year, I’m asked about election, my answer is the same “Yes, please do it, you have all my support”. Every year we end alone with Arthur and Jfran, doing the very minimum with the time we have : Organization of EHBPC Qualifiers !

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Whoever told you you need to be elected to participate told you wrong. The doors are ALWAYS OPEN to anyone interested in putting any work. EHBA is an open “organisation”.

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Yet I tried to be part of if last year without success.
The communication I had with people with responsibility didn’t allow me to understand how the structure have evolved nor how to get significantly involved.

I have nothing against the fact that you, Django and Alejandro do the work, I love what you do.

And I want you to do exactly what you are doing right now.
The fact that the criticism is here doesn’t mean they want you out it means they want the sport they play to be the best they know it can be. Not everyone can be a master speaker, and not everyone wants to spend half of every evening thinking about bike polo and both are ok, and both people are allowed to care.

I would like the community to feel connected to the EHBA and I see the disconnect is getting stronger.

Having the same people do the necessary work is not a problem itself. But there’s not checks and balances, which in our democratic world, brings distrust in the decision maker. Hence my claim to reform it.

I suggest people to have permanent positions, (3-6) people responsible for what you do and more.
For those I suggest that you, Ale and Django should be permanent representant of the sport at the Euro level (if you want).

I also want to improve other things that the ehba could provide. Transparence, accountability, pathway for constructive criticism, representativeness, which I would argue are points to improve for the time being. For which other people need to be present to debate.

I also apologize about the joke. I aknowledge I could have hurt my friends. I respect you and would definetely want you to be involved with the EHBA. Sorry django sorry alejandro.

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Sorry Jason, what exactly stopped you from working on any ideas you had?

The EHBA is nothing but the work that has been done to keep it alive. The structure is horizontal. Assign yourself a task and develop it.

Accountability, transparency, representativeness… please think before you throw words like this around. Remember when the community came together when you were in trouble.

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i felt like it was very transparent and when they needed to correct stuff it was done swiftly. i rather applaud what was achieve last season rather than a sour start :joy:

  • harmonizing the hole diameter of all mallet manufacturers

  • getring rid of litigious situations with re wording and clarifiying the ruleset ( for exemple the mallet interference rule)

  • the ref meeting was also handled greatly by alejandro , which imo allowed to one of the nicest polo ever in ehbpc and whbpc. the live streaming and recording by jason made it 100% efficient and watchable at any time.

-the back up solution for euro thanks to berlin capacity and coordination and communication ( transparency) of every party involved.

nice work to all of you

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https://eurobikepolo.com/ehba/the-ehba-committee

i ll repost this link here to adress the representation of flinta p’ayer within the ehbpa : the board always had a diversitt of member. in the 2014 board i remember johana being of great help and involvment meanwhile she was still studying for her law school.

now if we talk about a 50/50 ratio its not very equal BUT not all members of the board were actually active , like bouchard say sometime people sign themselves just by good faith but dont really know what to do/ not have time for major tasks.

I reckon that’s the type of organisational structure most polo clubs have, so it’s not a big surprise that this trend continues at the European level. Also, all the alternatives need more bureaucracy, so it’s the fix-point we gravitate towards unless we actively push away from it. I for one don’t mind it, but it has some dangers!

This type of organising processes has actually a name, they call it do-ocracy and talk about it on this pretty weird website - but some points mentioned there are pretty interesting, especially the dangers they list, here are some examples:

  • Burnout. People can get too attached to the do-ocratic system and volunteer for too many jobs, or too much work, and tend to have a low TruckFactor.

  • Complacency. If a minority of people take on jobs, the others can become complacent and ignore new tasks, since “someone else will do it.”

  • Frustration. Some people don’t have the time or means to do something, but they do have (real or imagined) expertise. In a doocracy, they will feel overrun and perceive the situation as slipping out of their hands. This can cause frustration. And remember: “Fear is the path to the dark side…”

and one I’d like to add in this context:

It can be hard to get a foot in the door - especially if the way things are done is not communicated very clearly.

on the EHBA website, it says:
If you want to join as a volunteer or share ideas or feedback, please contact us.

this could be made a bit more explicit, if you really want to invite more participation :slight_smile: here’s a proposal:

We need your help to get certain things done, so please, if you want to get involved, or share ideas and feedback, contact us.

anyhow, my 2 cents on the matter, thanks for everything you do for euro bike polo everyone!
xoxo

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I think it could be more explicit in the sense of pushing people to do it, such as

We need your help to get certain things done, so please if you think something needs to change and are ready to start developing it, contact us.

Even a link to the DoOcracy thing could be useful. I think the way the website is presented kinda gives an idea that it is an actual official serious organization body, and not a smelly polo thing. Maybe the transparency part could be addressed by giving it a more DIY vibe, so everybody understands right away what they are getting themselves into. Also reminds me of Schakleton’s ad.

And to not leave it at only words: gimme access to the website and I’ll do it. This is a serious threat.

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Pass me your email, I’ll make it happen

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