Who A polo match comprises two teams, each with four players. The players on each team are numbered 1 through 4, which represents a general role as follows:

1 I Goal Scorer. Pushes forward aggressively and seeks openings into which teammates can hit. Marks the opposing team’s number 4 or Back.

2 I Energizer. Always involved in the play while quarterbacking the offense and trying to neutralize the other team’s top player.

3 I Field Captain. Typically the best player on the team; directs the flow of the game.

4 I Defender. Plays at the back of the game to prevent the other team from scoring.

Every player on the field carries a handicap from -2 to 10 goals, based on his or her skill and horsemanship as determined by a national handicap committee, with 10 representing the top of the game. More than 80 percent of players are rated one goal or less. This handicap does not necessarily correlate to the number of goals a player will score but rather his or her net worth to the team. The handicap system is designed to make all games even and competitive. In an eight-goal tournament, the rating of all four players on a team may not exceed eight goals. If one team is eight goals and its opponent six, the latter stars with a two-goal advantage.

What Polo is played in six seven-minute periods, or chukkas, with a 15-minute halftime. Teams change ends after each goal is scored. To help you follow along, here are some basic terms the announcer will use during the game: 

Throw-In: Teams line up facing the umpire, with players on their respective side of the center line for the umpire to bowl the ball between them to commence play. After a goal is scored, teams return to the center and switch sides before recommencing play.

Knock In: Occurring when the offensive team hits the ball over the back line wide of goal. The defending team then plays the ball from the point at which it went over the back line.

 Offside/Nearside: When seated on a horse, the offside refers to the player’s right side and the nearside refers to his left side. Shots can be played forward or backward on either side.

Hook: A defensive tactic used when a player makes contact with an offensive player’s mallet before it hits the ball. This contact makes it nearly impossible for the offensive player to hit the ball.

Ride Off: When a player uses his horse to push another player away from hitting the ball, or out of the play. Ride-offs are only legal when the two horses are parallel, the players are saddle-to-saddle, and they are going the same speed.

 Line of the Ball (LOB): This refers to the path along which the ball travels after it’s hit.

 Neck Shot/Tail Shot: The former is played under the horse’s neck; the latter, beneath and behind the tail.

 Tack Time: A stop in play called by the umpire if a player’s tack is broken to ensure the safety of all players and horses on the field.

 Divot Stomp: During half time, all spectators are invited onto the field to put back the divots made by the horses to ensure the field is safe and smooth during the second half.

Where A regulation-size polo field is 300 yards long by 160 yards wide, roughly 10 times the size of a football field. Goals are located at each end of the field and are eight yards apart and 10 feet high. Side boards are usually about a foot high and run along the side of the field from end line to another. A ball may travel through the goal at any height. The teams also switch directions after every goal to compensate for sun, field, or wind advantages.

When Polo is played throughout the world. It is the national sport of Argentina, which produces more top-rated professional players than any other country in the world. The handicap system is widely recognized internationally for ease of international play. The Myopia season runs June through September on historic Gibney Field, the oldest continuously used field in the country, adjoining Winthrop Field with a feature game each Sunday at 3 p.m. Across Route 1A, a Coaching League and Junior Polo program take place in the Joseph Poor outdoor arena.

Equipment

Helmet: With or without face guard

Mallet: Usually made from bamboo, length ranges from 49 to 54 inches, depending on the pony’s height and the player’s preference

Saddle: English-style

Tail: Braided and tied up to prevent interference with the mallet

Bandages: Horses’ legs are wrapped for protection

Knee Guards: Protect players’ knees during ride-offs

Boots: Brown leather

Polo Pony: In the United States, thoroughbred horses are often bred with Quarter horses to produce polo ponies

Bridle: Two sets of reins for better control

Whip: Made from nylon-wrapped fiberglass with a leather handle for a better grip

How The rules dictating the flow of the game are vital to those playing, but often little understood by those watching. Two mounted umpires on the field consult each other each time one blows a whistle to stop play. If the umpires are in agreement, a foul is called and a penalty shot is awarded to the fouled; if in disagreement, they consult a referee, or “third man,” who is seated on the sideline. If they determine no foul occurred, a throw-in restarts play.

The dynamics of polo revolve around the line the ball is traveling when hit and the right-of-way of the player most closely following this line. No player can cross this line if it would cause any danger to the player most closely following it. A defending player can attempt to ride a player off of the line or prevent his shot by hooking the mallet. Crossing the line is the most common foul in polo. Other fouls include dangerous riding or use of the mallet, and unsportsmanlike conduct for overtly appealing a foul or arguing with the umpires.

Foul shots are awarded to the team fouled. Penalty levels range from one to six, depending on the severity of the foul, the danger of the play, and where on the field it occurred. Most penalty shots are taken from the point of the foul or 60 yards from a defended goal, or at 30 or 40 yards from an undefended goal.

Why As in any equestrian sport, polo is all about the horses. Polo ponies (mostly thoroughbred horses, but traditionally called ponies) are the most versatile of equestrian athletes. They run up to 35 miles per hour, as race horses, stop, pivot like a cutting horse, bump and “ride off” each other, and occasionally contend with being accidentally hit by a ball or mallet.

The quality of a player’s horses—most players play four to six in a game—is a source of great pride and prejudice for each player and often makes the differences between a winning and losing effort. The challenge and thrill of coordinating athletically with horses is the ultimate reason that participants thrill to the sport.

There is hope on the horizon for polo in America, as the United States Polo Association has begun to take an active role in growing and cultivating talented young American players. The USPA established the Team USPA program in 2009 to grow and sustain the sport of polo by identifying talented young American players and providing opportunities to enhance their abilities. Step brothers Will Tankard, son of Cissie Snow, and Nick Snow, son of Crocker, were both selected to the program last year and have strong connections here at Myopia.

Tankard, originally from Tennessee, is rated at three goals and will be playing in July and August with the Colloredo-Mansfeld family on their Black Oak team. Nick, a four-goal player, is no stranger here at Myopia, having honed his polo skills on Winthrop and Gibney field and returning often to play during the summers. Both players were selected to play for their country for the World Championship Federation of International Polo tournament to be held in San Luis, Argentina.

In the first two years of the program, more than 150 applications were submitted from American polo players aged 18 to 25. After an extensive selection process, the USPA announced the first 24 players chosen for Team USPA and introduced them to the program at a four-day clinic in Wellington, Florida. In February 2011, 12 new members were welcomed to the program in the same initiation clinic in Wellington.

The introductory clinic in Florida focuses on familiarizing all of the kids with each other and also gives them a chance to show their skills on the field. An important aspect of polo is camaraderie, and clinic facilitators believe that the relationships between these young players will help them grow and last a lifetime. The players are also introduced to high-goal professionals, sponsors, and team managers, which can lead to numerous job and mentor opportunities, as it has done for past participants. Over the course of the four-day clinic, the new Team USPA members attend lectures by top industry professionals on topics ranging from polo 101 to sports psychology to mallet craftsmanship. In addition, the players participate in coached practices and games, where their talent is scouted from the sidelines by team managers and pros.

This past season in Florida, six Team USPA players trained to compete on the USA National Team in the Federation of International Polo (FIP) Championship Tournament. Team USPA members Nick Snow, Mason Wroe, Calixto Garcia-Velez, Chris Collins, Steve Krueger, and Carlitos Galindo practiced weekly with their coach, Charlie Muldoon, and team captain John Gobin in Boca Raton, Florida. Should the team prevail in the Zone A Playoffs held in the Dominican Republic, they will compete in San Luis, Argentina, this fall for the world-championship event.

Team USPA has provided these exceptional young athletes opportunities that every amateur polo player dreams of.

In the summer months, the program heads to Sheridan, Wyoming, where the focus is on working with green (untrained) horses and playing better polo. Professional American players like Owen Rinehart, Tommy Wayman, Julio Arellano, Jeff Blake, Red Armour, and Tiger Kneece work one-on-one with the participating Team USPA members to help improve their polo skills. They are given the opportunity to play with some of the best American players of all time while they learn about training horses and the art of choosing the proper bit. They also complete their USPA Umpire Certification with Head Umpire Steve Lane.

As the program grew, Team USPA Director Kris Bowman and Team USPA Chairman Charles Smith decided the next step was to set up a place where these young American pros could “hang up their hats.” With former 10-goal players Adam Snow and Owen Rinehart committed to helping Team USPA reach their maximum potential, they concluded that the best place for the Team USPA stables would be right down the road from their farms in Aiken, South Carolina. During the spring and fall seasons, Team USPA members are invited to keep their horses at this facility and to practice with Snow and Rinehart twice a week. Each player is matched up with a mentor for additional one-on-one training, during which they are exposed to the daily routines of their mentors and the care of their horses.

Team USPA has provided these exceptional young athletes opportunities that every amateur polo player dreams of. After all, the best way to improve is to learn from the successes of one’s predecessors. To date, 25 of the 33 members of Team USPA have been mentored by a top professional since they’ve been in the program. In addition to all the efforts made to support Team USPA members, the United States Polo Association has launched the Young American Outreach Program in an effort to help all interested young polo players. The program has helped these individuals find jobs and mentorships in the sport, offered free umpire certification clinics, and facilitated participation in Team USPA clinics and events.

The goal of Team USPA is simple: to elevate the level of polo being played in the United States. Every member of Team USPA has improved since being accepted into the program. When these participants travel to clubs around the country to play polo, they’re now offering more to the game than ever before, thanks to their experience with Team USPA.

Coles can always be found field-side with his canine companion

With a 90^th birthday under his belt, Myopia mainstay Charlie Coles reflects on life and times at his beloved polo club.

One of the most familiar faces in the Myopia crowd is that of Charlie Coles, an MIT and Harvard Business School graduate and Myopia alum, who celebrated his 90th birthday this past March.

Since picking up the game of polo with the famous Winthrop family in his mid-30s, Coles has been devoted to the field at Myopia. He has traveled all over the world, playing in Argentina, England, northern Africa, and all over the United States, but whether traveling as an individual or part of a team and no matter where or when he played, Coles says he always represented the name Myopia. In fact, until a few years ago Coles could have been seen trotting on horseback down the field, playing with the same passion as the first day he started.

Throughout his life, Coles has tried his hand at a number of sports—competitive skiing, sailing, football, and fox hunting among them—but polo was his true love by far. “Polo is a fantastic sport because it’s not only very dangerous, but [it involves] working with four or five horses and having a complete compatibility with them in a game,” says Coles. “You respect your horses and they respect you.”

That bond and trust is what Coles now misses most about the sport. Having a mutual respect takes patience and a lot of practice, he says, but for Coles, the relationships that formed between himself and his animals will forever be unbreakable.

That same dedication to the horses is evident throughout Coles’ whole family. Coles and his son, Carlos, have eight horses, which they keep on their farm in Wenham during the summer. Carlos  has followed in his father’s impressive footsteps and now is a dominant player on the Myopia field. And although the senior Coles no longer is active on the field, he can be seen sitting sideline at any and every game in which a family member plays. As Coles puts it, “Polo is a game about generations,” and he hopes to see it continue throughout the years.

While at Myopia, Coles racked up a remarkable list of achievements. In 1986, his horse was awarded the title “Best Playing Pony.” When in his late 60s, Coles was part of the Senior Team that won the Nationals. He won numerous East Coast Open Tournaments and, most impressively, he was rightfully named a Myopia Equestrian Legend in 2001.

These days, Coles stays active in the polo community by not only attending the matches, but also by taking care of and practicing with many of the horses that Carlos rides.

“I think polo is the most exciting animal-human sport,” Coles says. “It involves teamwork between people and horses. It’s incredible—tremendously exciting.”

Coles says he admires the grace and intelligence of the horses and how they work with the players. And although he enjoys a well-played match, when asked to name his favorite part of the game, Coles answers like a true polo competitor with a single, solitary word: “Winning.”

With much of polo’s history rooted here, India is a country rife with first-hand opportunities to experience the sport—both the classic and pachyderm versions. U.S.-based tour operator Micato Safaris offers over-the-top and in-depth itineraries in India that put guests right in the heart of the action. Here, one example, the “Polo with the Maharajahs” tour, which will have you grabbing for your mallet—and your passport.

Φ Day 1  Depart the U.S.

Φ Days 2-3 Delhi

Polo is a game that signifies power, adventure, beauty, elegance, grace, teamwork, class, and, above all, tradition. Guests will delve into the history of polo in India as they travel through some of the polo capitals of the country.

Begin in Delhi, the capital city of India. During their stay, guests will explore Old Delhi, including an exciting rickshaw ride through the famed bustling alleyways of Chandni Chowk bazaar. They will also venture into New Delhi to see such sites as Humayun’s Tomb, thought to be an architectural inspiration of the Taj Mahal. A special tour of the hotel’s unique priceless collection of well-preserved paintings, engravings, and lithographs is not to be missed. Last but not least is a first look at a polo match in India at the Jaipur Polo Grounds. Enjoy high tea afterwards with members of the playing teams.

 Φ Days 4-5 Jodhpur

Jodhpur traces its history of polo back to the 19th century. The Jodhpur players were the Indian champions in the 1920s and, in fact, were responsible for the start of polo in Jaipur—which now is better known for polo in India. The current Maharaja revived polo in Jodhpur in 1993 and maintains high standards for the game today.

During this visit to Jodhpur, guests will have the opportunity to view the famous Marwari horses of the region, learn about them, and interact with some of the best polo players India has produced. While you are here, a private match will be arranged, during which guests who ride can try their hand at the game.

Guests will also visit the imposing Meherangarh Fort, one of the largest forts in India.

 Φ Days 6-8 Udaipur   

The fabled romantic city of Udaipur— known by many names:  Venice of the East, City of Lakes, and City of Dawn, among them—is the next magical stop on the itinerary.

During their stay, guests will visit the City Palace and enjoy a boat ride on the tranquil water of Lake Pichola, including a stop to explore Jag Mandir Palace, perched in its center. They will also visit the temple groups of Eklingji, comprising more than 100 ancient temples dating to the 10th century, and Nagda, the site of two fourth-century temples.

 Φ Days 9-11 Jaipur

Next, guests will journey by road to Jaipur, known as the “Pink City” because of the pink terra cotta hues of its buildings. Here, they will have the opportunity to explore the imposing Amber Fort and City Palace, see the delicate stone screens of the Palace of the Winds, and wander through the 18th-century Observatory.

The association of polo and the kingdom of Jaipur is legendary. Explore the history of polo in Jaipur through a private visit to the Rajasthan Polo Club. Enjoy cocktails one evening at the Taj Rambagh Palace’s Polo Bar (their specialty drink is a “polo-tini”!) and spend time discussing the nuances of the game with master players of Jaipur.

Guests will also have the opportunity to have some fun with a fascinating version of the game—elephant polo!

 Φ Days 12-13 Agra 

An interesting drive south takes guests to the capital of the great Mughal Empire in the 16th and 17th centuries, Agra, perhaps best known as home to the ethereal beauty of the Taj Mahal, a true monument to eternal romance. Sunset and sunrise visits to the Taj, built in memory of emperor Shah Jehan’s beloved wife, ensure ample time to enjoy this iconic structure.

 Φ Day 14 Drive to Delhi; Depart

After one last leisurely breakfast, tour guests enjoy the drive back to Delhi. There, a room will be available at The Imperial Hotel until guests are ready to be escorted to the airport to board their international flight back to the United States.

The rate for this tour is $14,750, based on 10 people traveling. Rate includes domestic airfare, meals, accommodations, ground transportation and transfers, and most gratuities; excludes international air. For more information, visit micato.com or call 800-MICATO-1.