Barbados Segway Polo Waterhall Game April 2009
Taking to the field were 8 players comprising of two teams as they battled for the win at this quickly growing new sport. The ‘Red Team’ vs the ‘White team’ battled it out for over 40 minutes, as the ‘White team’ emerged victorious with an 8-5 lead over the red team.
The red team comprising of Jason Gilkes, Daniel Hatch, Iain Watson and Mikie Hassell were unsuccessful in their attempts to win as the white team comprising of Peter Gilkes, Brett DeGale, Azriel Crichlow and Ryan Rodriguez were the first to score with a spectacular near side shot hammered through the goal posts by Brett DeGale.
The assault continued with 3 goals back to back by the white team. Struggling to “catch up”, 2 goals were had by the red team scored by Mikie Hassell and Daniel Hatch respectively, but not before another 2 goals were picked off by the strong attacking white team. The red team eventually conceded 8 goals to 5 as the White team rode off in victory!
Managing Director of Segway of Barbados, Jason Gilkes, who was part of the losing team, told Totally Barbados, that he has been following Segway Polo for a while now and only since bringing this new and innovative technology product to Barbados, did he see a perfect fit for the already fast paced growing sport of Segway polo.
“Given the tremendous support and following that already exists with Horse Polo, it just seemed like the perfect “match” ‘.
“Anyone that has ridden a Segway can actually play Segway Polo. It’s that easy. However, specific rules of Segway Polo do exist and are followed closely by the same set of rules as Horse Polo and are actually governed by the ISPA (International Segway Polo Association).”
“Although not a major sport, Segway polo is gaining popularity and teams have begun forming in the United States, Beijing, Spain, France, Germany, Australia, Switzerland , New Zealand and now in Barbados.”
Gilkes goes on to explain, that, the Barbados Advocate wrote an article about the exhibition match and since the publishing of that article, “I have received emails from some of those teams, inviting us to come and play in the World Championship Segway Polo Match scheduled for July 17th – 19th, 2009 in Germany.”
In fact it is the German Segway Polo Team who are hosting this years’ World Championship Cup that reached out to Segway of Barbados to come and represent Barbados.
“This is an excellent opportunity for us to put Barbados on the map for this internationally and fast-paced growing sport”.
“Further, we were told that if we are able to win the Championship, we would have the option to host the next World Cup of Segway Polo right here in Barbados.”
Additional Information:
April 25th, 2009
