2019-08-10_The_Week_Junior_UK

Do something

The Week Junior•10 August 2019

Learn more...

● The polo section of thePony

Club website has details of how

to get involved and find local

polo clubs.To learn more,

visit tinyurl.com/TWJ-polo

● The HamPolo Clubexplains

how to becomeapolo player,

starting withawooden horse.

Go to tinyurl.com/TWJ-ham-polo

and click the video to find out

how to go about it.

Is theresafet yequipment?

Allplayersmust wearaprotective

helmet withasecur echinstrap.In

tournaments, kneepads and leather

or rubber riding boots arealso

needed.Team shirts help you spot

your teammates inagame.

Arecompetitivepolo

tournamentseverheld?

Yes. TheWorld Polo Championship

is an international event held every

three years or so.Argentina arethe

current champions. The Gold Cup is

one of the biggestcompetitions in

the UK. The finalwason21July at

CowdrayPark, West Sussex, and

Dubai werethe winners.

HOW, WHAT,

WHERE?

Howold mustyou

be to play polo?

There’snominimumagelimit ,but

youmust beconfident riding a

horse. ThePony Club,agroup that

organises pony events in the UK,

runs Pony ClubPolo for players

between six and 21 years old.

REX SHUTTERSTOCK

·GETTY IMAGES

·ALAMY

P

olo isasport played on horses and ofte

roya ls, so it may seem difficult or daunti

involved. Don’t be fooled, though;it’seasy

understand and fun to play.

Polo is one of the oldest sports in the w

Aversion of itwasplayed in Asia moretha

7,000 years ago,and it wasused to train

horses and soldiers for battles.

Matches areplayed between two

teams of four players on horses,

which areknown as polo ponies.

The fieldcanbeamaximum of 274

metres by 150 metres, which is

around four times the sizeofa

normal football pitch.

The aim is to ride and hit the ball

with along mallet (hammer) into the

other team’sgoal. Playerscanonly swing

hand. An important rule is that

k the path of the player hitting

canbeaward ed by the umpire.

in four to six periods,called

for seven minuteseach. Players

ponies between chukkas to

the animals don’t get too tired.

utdoor polo matches areusually

played in spring and summer.During

the colder winter months, indoor

polo is played in an enclosed arena.

This version of the game has a

smaller field than usual and

features three players oneach team

instead of four.

So if you likethe sound of an sport

featuring ponies, speed and tactics, try

to seeamatch this summer.

Saddleupandgetreadyforfour-leggedactionby...

“IWANTEDTO

BEBETTER

THANMY

BROTHER”

ted playing

lo whenIwas

ix years old.

used to spend

ery summer

tching my

brother play and

Iwas desperate

to be better than him. He’s

becomingaprofessional player

and Iwant to follow in his

footsteps.Polo is afun sport

which involves my love of riding

ponies, speed and hittingaball.

Jasmine

CROWD

CONTROL

In betw

eenthe action, the cr

owd

walks on the field

to“tread in

the div

ots”made

bythe horses.

It’satra

dition that helps

repair the grass.

td