As I drove down Cowart Road Saturday to arrive at the DI Polo Complex, I still wasn’t sure what to expect.
I’ve covered a wide variety of sports in my still young career, from lacrosse and rugby to Le Mans racing, but the game of polo was still foreign to me.
Rows of exotic cars and private limousines reinforced the notion that polo was, indeed, “the sport of kings.”
But, it is so much more — and offers an experience unlike any other in sports.
Picture an elegant dinner party centered around a sport that features the speed and intensity of ice hockey — only on horseback.
For many attendees of the the second annual Reeves Charity Polo Classic, this, too, was their first polo match. The girls seemed to love getting dolled up in sun dresses and decorative hats. There was a moment where I thought this might be the closest I ever get to attending the Kentucky Derby, a lifelong dream.
I can’t say enough about the guests at the event. Everyone was welcoming and cordial. They also were happy to have their photos taken for the local newspaper, making my job a whole lot easier.
While waiting around for the match to start, I began to wonder what exactly it would be like. I’ve seen equestrian shows before, but nothing like this.
The first thing I noticed was the size of the playing field. At nine times the size of an American football field, it was larger than any other I had ever seen. However, although it was hard to closely follow what was happening at certain times, players were always in sight.
Once the action started, I picked the brain of player Brandi Smith under a sideline tent. As I already knew, you can only learn so much about something from reading. As I saw the match play out and began looking for good camera angles for photos, more questions came to mind.
Smith was friendly and accommodating. Being the sports nerd I am, I came up with all sorts of inquiries, some I’m sure she’s never even considered, such as, “Can a defender run behind and through the goal posts to block a shot?”
As you can imagine, the answer was no, but I thought I’d ask.
I found two things most interesting: the terminology and the rules.
A chukker is what hockey fans would call a period. There’s usually six in a regulation match but only four were played for the exhibition Charity Polo Classic, so you may think of each chukker as a quarter in football, in that case.
Horses are swapped off after each chukker, to keep them fresh. After each goal, the teams switch sides. This is unlike most sports, that switch sides at the end of each period or quarter, or at halftime in sports such as soccer.
I was fascinated by the speed of polo. Reading facts like the ball can travel over 90 mph and the horses can run up to 35 mph is one thing, but as they say, seeing is believing.
I couldn’t believe how close to the action got to spectators, as players would chase the ball toward the sidelines where they were standing.
For what it is, polo is a very fan-friendly sport. Although some preferred to stay under the shade of the big white tent, others stood on the sideline for the entirety of the match,.
The traditional divot stomp was something that was fun to witness, as my only other experience with it was the film “Pretty Woman,” and I didn’t see anyone stomp the “steaming divot.”
