Marco? Bike polo!

This weekend, practitioners of a rather unorthodox sport will gather from across the Midwest in Memorial Park.

The sport is bike polo, a modern twist on the sport typically associated with the European upper-crust in which players wield wooden mallets from atop horses.

“A lot of people would refer to [bike polo] lovingly as hockey, because the style is more similar to hockey than European polo,” said Tyler Wildman, who has been an active part of Wausau’s bike polo scene since it got its start in 2010.

“We started down at Marathon Park and we just used the tennis courts originally,” explained Wildman. 

With help from the Marathon County Parks, Recreation and Forestry Department, the club used old hockey rink materials to set up a makeshift bike polo court at Riverside Park.

“They’ve always been super kind and understanding and wanting us to play,” said Wildman. “We’re really lucky that they’ve always been really nice about giving us a space to play in.”

It’s a level of community support that Wildman said is somewhat unique to Wausau. In many cities, he said, bike polo clubs must make do with pre-existing infrastructure — parking lots, tennis courts and the like — until someone kicks them out and they need to find somewhere new to play.

With time, the bike polo court in Riverside Park degraded, and the club reached out to the parks department again — as well as a few city alderpersons — for assistance with finding a new locale. 

Now, the club practices at Memorial Park, where the city has provided them with a walled court. Wildman hopes that the increased foot traffic that comes with a busier park allows more people to learn about the sport’s existence even in passing, and eventually to check it out for themselves.

“We are always friendly to newcomers and visitors, and we play on Thursday nights and Sunday afternoons,”  he said. “You don’t even have to play right away. You can just come out and watch… we’re happy to let you use our stuff. We’re just happy for you to come out.”

Recently, longtime club members have begun bringing their families along to matches.

“[Adult members] are almost outnumbered by the number of children that join us now,” said Wildman. He said that it’s been nice to see parents pass on their passion to their kids.

“We want inclusion to be at the center of what we do as a group,” Wildman said. It not only creates an inviting environment, but bringing in all sorts of people is in the spirit of bike polo as a whole.

“It’s become such a home [across the country] for such a wide variety of people who felt like they didn’t fit in places,” Wildman explained. “We have tournaments that are specifically LGBT+ tournaments or women’s-only tournaments.”

This weekend’s tournament is open to all genders, sexes, ages and skill levels. It will also be casual, to ensure that everyone feels safe and welcome and has a fun time. People who have fun times, he said, are more likely to stick around and play again in the future.

And if someone can’t make it to the tournament, they’re always welcome to show up for a regular meeting.

“It’s very laid back,” he explained. “We’re also very welcoming to newcomers if anyone ever wants to try it out. We have gear, loaner bikes. We just ask that you bring a helmet.”

The 3v3 Wausau Bike Polo Tournament will take place all day at Memorial Park this Saturday and Sunday. For more information on Wausau Bike Polo, including upcoming events and regular meeting locations and hours, check out their page on Facebook.