Polo Tip #22: Playing as a Team

Some define team play as combining individual energy to strengthen the team. Some see it as a chance to get together with friends and build comraderie. Maybe the game offers both. I was gifted with the experience of Intercollegiate Polo and then again the High Goal Professional Arena Leagues in Los Angeles. In both cases, I was able to experience staying with the same team for four years.

It is pretty exciting to work with the same teammates over a period of time to develop team strength. By team strength I mean the extra handicap goals of the team that are in excess of the sum of the individual handicaps. The paper might have shown our three handicaps totaling 23 goals in LA, but we were easily playing as a 26-goal team.

Why? We played together, supported each other, but most importantly, we were very clear on each other’s strengths and weaknesses and had learned to adapt our individual styles to benefit the characteristics of the team.

Knowing each other as family. Does it surprise you that some of the most successful teams in polo history have been comprised of four brothers or close relatives? You are able to anticipate the play making of your teammates because you have put in the time practicing and playing with each other. You are clear to the strategies that will be applied to the team that you will be up against next. You watch videos of both your team and your opponents. You communicate with each other as to how you will coordinate your horses. You are in sync with the strategies that are most effective for the team. You identify both individual and team weaknesses and work on improving them. You play to your individual and team strengths.

The team members are dedicated to the responsibilities of their respective positions and dedicate the necessary individual effort to carry their weight for the benefit of the team.

Having a qualified coach is a welcomed luxury. That person takes the heat off of individual players trying to resolve issues. That person brings a different perspective to the field. The players are a mix of talent, intensity, and discipline. The coach should be all discipline, even though they may be an emotional wreck inside, they have the emotional strength to calmly direct their players on the outside. The coach needs to monitor the game and make any minor adjustments from chukker to chukker. Major adjustments are usually made between games and often between tournaments. A coach’s responsibility is to try to help their team stay on track and focused. To note any holes in the team’s performance that can be corrected. To note any weaknesses of the opponents that can be capitalized on. The team as an Indy racecar, has the players as the engines. The field captain is often the car’s driver, while the coach is the car’s mechanic, making certain that the car is running at optimal performance for existing and changing conditions. In some cases more of the responsibilities of the driver are also placed in the lap of the coach, depending on the strengths of the field captain. In Professional football, some quarterbacks have the ability and authority to make and change plays as they wish. Others rely solely on the guidance from field-side. Polo is no different. You do what works best for the team.

In a great deal of the tournament polo played, we only come together for a tournament or a league and then we are on to the next team. Again, the teams that arrive a few weeks or a few months early, focused on team preparation, will have the clear advantage over team arriving the first week of tournament.

In what could be the majority of polo played, the team is more of a group of friends or fellow member joining up with or without a pro to play the sport that they love. They want to win, but they are not as drawn into the professional approach of preparation. Their focus is a blend of camaraderie and competition with the emphasis often times being on the former. They replace the prior evening’s team meeting with a post game party or night out together. They may spend some percentage of time involved with some of the components necessary for better preparation, but their underlying motivation is to have a good time. It is some number of chukkers of getting away from the frustrations of life. They are usually not interested in the game being an additional source of similar frustrations. Polo offers a wonderful opportunity of handling and adapting to the dynamics of mixing professional and amateur players on the same field. How many other sports have our mix of the two, outside of various celebrity or fundraising events?

I have heard some amateurs say, like Madonna and Sheryl Crow, that they just want to have some fun, but often times, they also want to win. That in itself can be a confusing and conflicting message. The discipline required for winning is seldom fun, until you are winning. If you are able to enjoy our awesome sport with little regard to the scoreboard, you possess a quality that I admire.

Bottom line, we should all realize that the opportunity to play this game on top of a horse is the gift. A game that attracts so many different personalities from so many different places. A game that crosses the demographic and geographic borders of our planet. We are all so fortunate. I have always been a slow learner, but I think I finally understand how fortunate.

Happy Polo !!