So we’ve been doing side joists in my club for a few weeks. Where you line up at center court tap out spot on your side then go towards the ball which is still in the center. I think it has all the qualities of a standard joist with added benefits.
Lower speeds means it’s safer, while still maintain the thrill of two vying for the ball.
The clearly delineated half-court line helps to maintain a barrier that prevents players from colliding.
It makes it possible for lefties to joist against righties, instead of being on opposite sides you start on the same side just separated by the half-line.
Bonus, we’ve also experimented with the non-jouster being able to have rear wheels on any wall, as long as they don’t interfere with the joisting lanes, opening up tactics.
Some clubs are experimenting with a hockey style tap off, but it’s just kind of clumbsy, I think the joust is a quintessential part of polo that should be maintained.
We did this during tournaments last year in Argentina with a team with 3 lefties and it worked perfectly (a solution over to just flip a coin). However, we put the ball 3/4 to the opposite side of the court where the players are standing. It was so welcome that sometimes today if a lefty want to joust against a rigthty they just agree and make the sprint like that.
There might be a little bit of mallet touching if both get to the ball first, but the rule is you can’t cross the half-court line until the ball is touched.
I’d stipulate that jousters should start with their front wheels on the wall and their rear wheels toward the ball. make bikehandling part of the joust.
I’d also make the other players start on the opposite wall at half as well so they can’t just set up in stack formation. makes it at least somewhat likely that there’s a sequence where it’s actually 3v3 since nobody gets to start in goal.
The front-wheel idea is fun but I wouldn’t support it as a general rule. Something about not facing your opponent when you begin a head to head game doesn’t sit right with me. There’s also something insufficiently random about this method because I think I could guess the winner in most instances. Games are more fun when the outcome is unknown.
But if there were a “challenge” stipulation whereby one team could challenge the other to a “front wheel to the boards” joust that would be excellent. Both teams would have to agree of course. It would be even better if the two other players on each team could not move until a jouster touched the ball and there was some sufficiently exciting non-zero chance of scoring directly. That could be cool as shit.
