How to Play Polo Without Much Money
The sport of polo looks expensive. People say it’s expensive, and with descriptions like “The sport of kings” or “The sport of royalty” floating around, it certainly sounds expensive. Because of these preconceptions it can be difficult to take that first necessary step toward joining the polo community: seriously considering it a possibility — especially in the current economic climate.
In this article I’d like to detail a few steps you can take to get started in polo without much money.
- Take a look at the USPA Club Finder for your state and find the nearest club. If you’re in or near a university town, check with the school to see if there’s an affiliated polo club. If they don’t know, try Google or contact another club in the state and see if they know of anything closer to you. Many times when university clubs are new, they haven’t yet registered with the USPA and/or haven’t officially affiliated with their home school due to membership numbers, lack of charter, or for various other reasons.
- If the closest club is a university club, contact them and ask if they plan to offer any clinics for prospective players. These clinics are generally quite cheap and serve as a good introduction to the basics of the sport as they generally cater to both experienced riders who are curious about polo, and novice riders with no previous riding experience. These university clubs are almost always in close contact with the regular member clubs throughout the state, indeed frequently the clinics are taught by pros from these other clubs, so signing up for a clinic is often a good way to network with neighboring pros to set up further instruction.
- If the university club is not planning on offering any clinics, ask if any of the members are willing to give lessons. This is a great way to improve your riding and pick up some polo basics. Most students will offer lessons for anywhere between $25 – $50 per hour. The horse and any equipment should be provided for you — so your only expense will be the actual lesson.
- If the nearest club is a regular member club, call the club contact and ask about lessons with the club pro. The current poor economy is actually to your benefit here as pros have begun to offer sharp discounts on lessons (and horses). Again, the horses and equipment will be provided by the pro during your lessons.
- If you have a specialized skillset that may be of benefit to the pro or the club, feel free to mention it after your lesson and you may be offered a further discount on some future lessons in exchange for your expertese (for instance, designing publicity literature, editing newsletters, designing a website, etc.). It’s always worth a shot!
- After a lesson or two, and after you’ve proven that you can ride a horse, ask the pro or barn manager if they would be willing to let you stick and ball for a couple of hours per week in exchange for working as a groom during games. This is a great exchange for a few reasons: it gets you more familiar with working around polo ponies, allows you to build relationships with the other members, and builds the level of trust between you and the pro and barn manager — and how you get along with these two people, more than any others, will determine the level of enjoyment you derive from the sport in these early stages. Finally, this is a good deal because it puts you on a horse for a few more hours per week. As a novice the more saddle-time you can get the better.
- If this isn’t enough for you, talk to your pro about leasing a horse. Again, the poor economy is working in your favor as horse prices are scraping rock bottom right now and leasing/buying is incredibly cheap. Once you’ve leased, or purchased, a horse you’ll be able to play in club practice chukkers – and from that point on, well, you’ll probably be addicted!
The above is meant only as a brief introduction to playing polo on the cheap. The list is by no means comprehensive — there are many more ways to start playing without mortgaging your house. If you’d like to pass on any tips I haven’t covered already, or would like to ask a question, please comment!
Likewise, if any of my non-US readers have tips for their own countries, please let me know.
2 Comments
Just to add, if you are a beginner to both horses and polo, here are a few things you can do:
1) Supplement your polo lessons with riding lessons, which tend to run at half the cost. One of the most important aspects in polo is horsemanship, and time on the saddle, no matter what kind, helps.
2) Get a foot mallet and practice your swings with friends.
3) Make use of the wooden horse.
4) Once you get more comfortable on the horse, see if a nearby club will let you exercise the horses…worth a shot, and again, more saddle time.
5) Read pologringo, Tom Goodspeed, and Christian Moon
6) No need for expensive gear, a set of brown suede half-chaps will do until you find a pair of boots on e-bay. Ask club manager if they, or any of their members, are unloading gear for cheap. School clubs too…
My notes above won’t allow you to play polo on a shoestring, but will allow you to get the most out of the lessons you do end up having!
Great advice, Swagstar. The wooden horse is much underused and most regular clubs, if not university clubs, seem to have one. They key to getting something out of the wooden horse is to make each swing deliberate and controlled. Focus on every aspect of the swing: standing up in the saddle, leaning out over the ball, extending your arm, making a slow controlled swing at the ball, hitting the bottom of the ball, and hitting the spot on the backboard you should have picked out beforehand.
Just hoping on and knocking the daylights out of the ball for a few minutes won’t do you much good. But if you use the wooden horse properly, you can get a A LOT out of it, almost any level of player can I think.