Welcome To Bere Forest Canoe Polo Club's Website.

Joining Bere Forest

Canoe polo is game played on flat water (usually, but not always, a swimming pool) in specially designed kayaks by teams of five players. The basic obj ect of the game is to score goals against the opposing team, the ultimate
winner being the team which scores the most goals.

A team squad may consist of up to ten players, eight of whom must be registered by name for any given tournament and of whom only five are allowed on the playing area at any given time, leaving three to act as substitutes if necessary. Teams can be men, women or mixed, and of any age although under 18s usually play in youth leagues, under 16s etc.

Canoe polo is fast and furious and a legitimate tackle is to push the opponent on the shoulder in an attempt to capsize him/her, so the ability to roll a kayak is desirable if not absolutely essential. In the lower divisions, where players are less likely to be so competent at the Eskimo Roll, "swimmers" are not uncommon, but a substitute may not enter the field
of play until the unfortunate capsized player, his boat and paddle are all behind their team's goal line.

The rules of canoe polo in the UK are drawn up by the Canoe Polo committee
of the British Canoe Union.

Below is a word document telling you how to join if you are interested and are thinking about coming down and train with us. If you are interested then email us at djsafancourt@btopenworld.com and leave your contacts with us and we will get back to you.

To download this document just click here.