A neat little video produced by the United States Polo Association about getting involved in polo. Narrated by TV host, John Walsh, this video features polo players from many different backgrounds who are enjoying the thrill of polo!
What level should you play? Play at your Proper Level of Play.
What level is that? Some present that high goal is better supervision of incoming players; others feel that the more traditional “walk before you run” approach is better in lower goal. Which way is right? They both are, depending on your resources, riding skills, and mental attitude. However, it is true, that in lower levels of play, you are going to run into personalities playing well over their heads, pros coming up the ladder trying to show their stuff, and some pretty challenging horses. If you are financially able, and you have the ability to take direction, maintain your calm in chaos, and put in the time as to your riding skills, high goal is great. Obviously, your level of participation is going to be slightly different than all those other ten-goal players running around you, but you are learning from the best the game has to offer, and it is a real thrill ride. It does take a great deal of riding skill to ride at the high goal level, so make certain to get in your riding time. For an amateur playing amongst the professional ranks, field awareness and riding ability should be your cornerstones. It takes years sometimes decades to hone your hitting skills at those speeds, but riding skills and field awareness are the more important factors to focus on. … Continue Reading
Play Within Realistic Perimeters of Your Present Competence.
You are running down the field, you alone are aware of what you are comfortable with and what you are not comfortable with, respective of speed, contact, and hitting. You need to take care of yourself, regardless of what you may be being instructed to do by a well meaning teammate. You should properly communicate any concerns or limitations that you might have to your teammates, so that you can come up with a more effective strategy for both you and your team. For example, you have been assigned an opponent that you are not physically able to stay with due to either horsepower or variance in riding skills. It is better to communicate that and try to adjust the strategy. It is true that you need to push yourself some to improve, but that should always be done carefully. Better to challenge yourself to more speed on the track and in higher goal practice matches, than throwing yourself into a competitive match, well over your head.
I have witnessed overly enthusiastic teammates encouraging a player to go to plays at speeds that they have no business attempting at their present level of competence. I have seen way too many players on horses that are not well suited to them over the years. It is true that we need to challenge ourselves to progress, but do it carefully. Polo is so much more fun when you are able to play the game for a long time.
Happy Polo !!
How often have we heard that wonderful line after a whistle? One teammate exclaiming to another, “No”?????, I thought you said, “Go”. And vice-versa. These two rhyming words have been the root of countless whistles and missed opportunities.
A polo field is the perfect setting for us polo players to practice our somewhat dysfunctional, yet colorful vocabularies. The terms on the field are supposed to offer direction and clarification. Unfortunately, at times, the direction may be accompanied by some inappropriate references to family heritage. In fact, sometimes the message is absent of any productive content whatsoever.
In the USA, often times it is an advantage for an umpire to not have any comprehension of a foreign language. What you can ‘t understand will never hurt you. But at times, a translation would provide immediate ejection from the remainder of the game. Have you ever noticed that swearing in Spanish or French seems to be absent of the hard edges of the same words pronounced in English? I guess that may be one of the reasons they are called the romance languages. Even swearing in those languages seems to carry a less offensive musical tone. … Continue Reading
Dimitrios Kambouris/Getty Images
Nacho Figueras appeared in the New York Times recently, once again using his draw as a Ralph Lauren model to publicize the sport of polo. This isn’t the type of article you’d usually expect to see on PoloGringo, I know, so I’ll keep it short. But I wanted to write briefly about this latest article to highlight the effort Mr. Figueras is putting into popularizing the sport. I haven’t seen an article featuring him yet, or a television spot for that matter, where he doesn’t take some time to share the spotlight with polo and I think many of us who enjoy the sport could take a lesson from him.
In the current economic climate, polo is having a tough time. I know membership is down in many clubs, in some cases way down. It’s time to make an effort to recruit new players and spectators rather than sitting back and saying, “If they’re interested in polo, they’ll find us.” I’d like to encourage anyone reading this site to take a few minutes every week and recruit some spectators for your club’s next home game — be that this weekend, or next, or the one after that. Knowing someone who’s playing can make polo seem much more accessible to people who may not have otherwise given the sport a second thought. Everyone knows the English princes play polo, but compartively few realize that “regular” people play as well. But it’s these “regular” people who keep the sport alive. We need as many as we can get!
So please, try to set aside 30 minutes a week to drum up spectators for your next home game. Friends, family, coworkers, or random people you meet on the street. Print up some club fliers with the next game time and pass them out. Polo is free family entertainment at a time when disposable income is at a low. It’s a great time to recruit some new enthusiasts!
Click here to read Nacho’s article in the NYTimes
Recently, there were some great questions posted in the PoloBARN message board on the subject of polo wraps. The first comment I will make is that you are always well advised to check in with your veterinarian as to the best strategy for your horses. I say this because there are various options depending on your horse’s present physical condition and previous history. Your vet will be the one you call when you are having leg problems, so why not get some advice before you have to place the call. With that said, I will share my experience in the sea of polo bandaging.
You first need to realize that we are trying to do two things with a polo wrap/boot. One, we want to offer extra support for the horse while galloping around and darting left and right. The polo wrap helps support the more delicate length of ligaments and tendons that run from the knee and hocks down to and across the horse’s ankles. Two, we are trying to protect that more sensitive area from direct blows. Now you may immediately think mallets, but the greater concern is their own hooves as well as the hooves of others. Like horses do in the wild, polo often has horses running in close quarters with one another. At speed, they are more likely to hit their own legs as well as each other’s. When a horse bangs against another leg, we are now dealing with hooves that have metal shoes on them, so you can imagine that can be an incredible blow, much more so than what would result from an accidental hit by a mallet. And lets not forget outdoor polo balls whizzing around at some pretty incredible speeds. So it is not as simple as you may think to address both issues of support and protection with a single solution. … Continue Reading
Below is a list of equipment needed to play polo and some links pointing to trustworthy sites that sell each article. If I’ve left anything off, please comment and let me know! The below list is player equipment only, I’ll deal with horses and tack in a future post.
Polo helmets consist of a hard plastic frame supporting foam or another impact-absorbing material. They’re generally covered in cotton cloth or leather and come in a variety of colors. The helmet brim is usually made of stiff cardboard and will break away when necessary.
Your helmet is the most important piece of polo equipment you’ll buy. Everyone falls off of their horse eventually – some of us more frequently than others. On top of that, polo is a fast and rough sport. It makes sense to protect the most vulnerable part of your body. The opportunity for severe injury is just too great to ever justify playing, or riding, without a helmet. … Continue Reading
I imagine that most of the PoloGringo readers are already familiar with the website Polo.tv but in case you’re not, this is a fantastic free resource. Basically, Polo.tv is a collection of video clips from the various high-goal polo tournaments around the world. They have video of the Argentine Open, the US Open, the Coronation Cup, the Outback 40-goal, and many others. There is even some snow polo and test matches thrown in there.
All-in-all this is a great resource. It’s fun to watch and sometimes, if you’re like me, you can think about your own technique too much and get stuck in a rut. It’s nice to watch 10-goalers for inspiration and ideas — especially when you have the ability to rewind and watch a specific play a few times. Enjoy!
By Tom Goodspeed
The Cliff notes for those who don’t like books without pictures.
Is the line of the ball like the line of the road? That would be the most logical guess. Or maybe the width of the ball?
Well, the book doesn’t really say, but hopefully these words will help. Picture the most recent path of the ball or the line as the width of a center line of a road. About six inches wide just for a visual. Now walk your horse alongside of this line and stop by the ball. Now this line, the most recent path of the ball continues either all the way across or up and down the field. Reach your mallet down like you were going to hit properly. Remember, we are just pretending here. Now if you are not hitting too close or two far away from your horse, you will be taking up a lane about 3 to four feet. Assuming you are on your off-side, from the line to your left stirrup is about 3 to four feet. So this lane, not line, lane, is what the right of way is all about. It accommodates your swing and your horse. … Continue Reading
By Tom Goodspeed
There are several different views as to the subject of mallet lengths. One school is to use the appropriate length for whatever size your horse is. Another school advocates using the same size for all your horses for a better sense of hand-eye. Surface conditions will sometimes enter into the equation. If the grass is long and the ball is sitting high or the arena surface is really deep, you may want to go an inch shorter. Likewise, if the grass is really worn or the arena surface is hard, you may go an inch longer.
Personally, I have grown up using different lengths and have learned to adapt fairly quickly. I have also tried to size my mallet to be comfortable on the near-side and then stand up off the ball a tad on the off-side. As I have matured in my years, well at least physically, I find it less intimidating to be reaching too far out from the horse. My mallet lengths in my closing years were mostly 52-54 inches. I usually rode horses from around 15-2 to 16 hands. In my younger days, I used very short mallets and placed a lot more focus on the off-side forehander. I had to wait until my testosterone productions lowered before I finally realized that longer was better. Wait, did I just say that? I think something is wrong with these keys. Oh well, you get the idea. Choose the mallet size that allows you the best opportunity to make all of your shots on both sides of the horse, without placing yourself at any more risk than our wonderful sport already provides. Happy Polo !! … Continue Reading
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