Blog
Scott in Sport: Polo
Wednesday 10th March, 11.45am, Market Square
A few weeks ago, with a bit of a craving to get back up on a horse, I asked to be added to the Polo Club mailing list and when sign-ups for this week's lessons went out, I found myself replying and offering to drive to a Wednesday lesson to get a bit of a taste for polo! I arrived at Market Square at ten to twelve, albeit a little bit late, to find my fellow three lesson goers eager and ready.
We all hopped into the car and headed off towards Hull. The atmosphere in the car was so friendly and welcoming and even though I hadn't properly met any of the girls before, I felt included straight from the off. It was quite funny driving down the A1079 and thinking that the Hull Road that is the hotspot of student housing (okay, well I live on it!) actually is a proper road and continues to Hull. Musings aside, it took about 40 minutes to get to North Cliffe and the White Rose Polo Club, where our lesson would be taking place.
After a quick change (and a disappointing realisation that my riding boots used to be much less tight on my calves!), we went into the yard and met our ponies. I was then whisked off to the office, being a first timer, to "sign my life away" as Claudia (the lovely lady in the office) told me. I giggled nervously, before signing the pretty standard form with name, age, address, next of kin, height, weight, riding experience, etc. Life signed away, I returned to the yard to meet my steed for the session, Corazón.
I used to ride quite a lot until I was 16, so hopping back onto a horse was like a welcome trip down memory lane, even if it did make me feel rather nostalgic and miss riding lots! The four of us then went to the arena, where we all warmed up, walking, trotting and cantering round. After a few minutes getting used to our horses, Tony, the HPA Coach from New Zealand, called us over and gave us mallets. My previous polo experience consisted of three lessons at school, nearly a whole six years ago (eek, that makes me feel old!), as well as a stint as a polo groom in Australia during my gap year. The latter however, although involving plenty of riding polo ponies, never involved even holding a mallet, let alone hitting a ball.
We were given our mallets and whereas the other three picked theirs up with confidence, placing their thumb through the strap and adopting the correct grip like it was second nature, I had to be told exactly how to grip the handle. Then I rested it on my shoulder and Tony threw a few mini footballs into the arena before telling us to go off to practice hitting the balls. Tony would watch us as we were hitting and give us tips and things to work on.
At the start, I was a bit concerned about whacking Corazón around the head and legs, but after a few attempts at hitting the ball and managing not to hit the horse I got a bit more comfortable. It wasn't too long before I was swinging at the ball from a trot and a canter, although I did feel like I was trying to run before I could walk. Tony gave me some tips to my swing, such as picturing having a pen at the handle end of the mallet and having to draw a straight line before you swing for the ball, so you take a straighter shot and thus hit the ball more cleanly and don't have to worry so much about hitting your horse! I concentrated on this for the rest of that bit of the lesson, and felt it made a huge difference. Sometimes I was able to hit the ball really cleanly and was so satisfied when I managed to pull off a few okay hits at a canter!
Then for the last part of the lesson, we played a chukka. Tony and I were on one team with the other three against us. In arena polo there are teams of three, compared to the full outdoor version which is played on a bigger pitch with teams of four. The chukka was loads of fun, although I kept getting confused about the rule of the line. Basically when the ball is hit, you have to imagine a virtual line stretching from the ball onwards in the direction the ball was hit. Then you must not cross this line in front of the person who hit the ball and can only either ride them off (basically using your horse to push them off to one side) or else hook or hit their mallet in an attempt to prevent them playing the ball. It didn't sound too complicated when it was explained to me before we started, but in a chukka situation, it seemed so much trickier!
Tony and I had one less on our team, but he is a professional polo coach, so we weren't exactly disadvantaged! Despite my confusions about the line, there were a few great moments where I actually managed to hit the ball well and once when I scored a goal! Having said this, it suddenly became so much harder to hit the ball in a match-like scenario compared to when we were just pootling around the arena hitting them at our own pace. There was a fair bit of riding off in the chukka too, which was really exciting, although a little frustrating for me - one of the other girls realised pretty quickly that with their man advantage it was quite easy to effectively mark me out of the game. We had a couple of riding off incidents where I felt sure one of use was going to be unseated and end up on the ground!
All too soon the next group of York members were at the side of the arena watching our chukka and signalling that the lesson was almost over. Tony called for the end of the session and we returned our mallets and rode back to the stables. I was absolutely boiling and Corazón was pretty sweaty! After dismounting it was time to say goodbye to my trusty steed and head back to the office to pay our £30 for the lesson. (Although £30 may seem like a lot, it is a really competitive rate for polo and was well worth the money!) Then it was back into the car and back to York.
Overall, it was a fantastic day and although I didn't meet many of the club members as part of a smaller lesson, the club is really sociable and the girls I was with were so welcoming. I would absolutely love to go again and hope I get the chance to next term!
If you are interested in any aspect of the club, don't hesitate to get in touch with them on polo@yusu.org and take your polo career from there!
Emily xo
