Stop Fleecing New Players

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I’ve written before about regulating instructors and umpires but what we all have to realize is that unless we police our fellow players and pros there will continue to be newcomers who will get ripped off, injured and in general turned off by the game. I have taken this comment and elevated it to a post position because I think that there is an important message in it for anyone who wants to understand what has to be done to grow the game.
I agree with the observations made by Wrung and embrace the simple approach to the game outlined.

Comment from Wrung:
The ability of a person to be able to join a polo club; take lessons; particpated in league and tournament play (primarily arena polo) would allow young professionals who are in the heart of their earning years to be able to participate and compete without making the demanding time and money sacrifices that more serious polo would ask of them.

Bingo, bingo, bingo — with bloody bells on.

If you want to grow polo, this is how you do it. The rest is window dressing. I’ve been taking lessons on school horses at a club for four months. I’m already getting not-so-subtle pressure to buy horses and “step up to the grass.”

I really enjoy playing polo but there is just no way I’m in a position to commit to buying horses at this point in my career — both profesional and polo. My schedule is too hectic, I may have to move to D.C., etc. I’m sure there are lots of people like me.

The real problem with polo is that there are really two kinds of people involved in it. There are people who enjoy polo and people who live off polo. While the people who enjoy polo are, as a group, some of the friendliest and most enthusiastic people I’ve had the pleasure to meet, too many people who live off polo evaluate you based on the likelihood that you will hire them, buy a horse from them, etc. If they decide you’re a potential revenue source, they can’t do enough for you. If they decide you’re probably not going to invest tens of thousands of dollars in polo in the very near future, they consider you a waste of space.

That’s exactly the situation at the polo school at my club. I have been told — and directly — that the real purpose of the polo school is to recruit people who will become patrons (patrones?). If you’re just interested in learning to play well, you’re tolerated, at best, and pressured to buy horses, etc.

Even worse, is the treatment that potential patrons receive. I’ve seen it first hand and it would be funny if it weren’t so sad. People deemed likely to spend $100,000/month to sponsor a team are fawned on and outright lied to. Worse, they are pushed along at a ridiculous pace to do things they’re just not capable of. One poor potential patron — who can barely ride — is getting treated as the second coming of Cambiaso. After maybe five lessons in the arena, this person has been pushed onto a grass team. All the pros fawn all over this person and keep telling him what an amazing player he is. This is beyond absurd as I can ride circles around this poor guy and I suck. It is painfully clear that they are planning to carve this guy up like a Christmas turkey.

Treating this guy this way isn’t doing him or polo any favors. If they let this guy enjoy the arena for a year or so and let him actually learn the game, he’d probably become a committed player and stay involved for years. Almost certainly, though, they’ll suck him onto the grass for a season and he’ll burn out in disgust.

I don’t think treating people like me like used kleenex is any good for the sport, either. I very much enjoy polo and I want to be involved as I can be. But that’s a decision I need to make and I’m simply not going to be influenced by sneers from someone who wants to sell me a couple of horses. There are lots of people like me. We work hard and we expect to enjoy our precious leisure time. Getting condescending crap from people who are supposed to be there to enhance our experience is not part of the plan. It puts us right off.

There’s another key thing about people like me. We are honest with ourselves and we don’t like to suck. We get our ego boost from actually getting better, not from having people tell us how wonderful we are. For me, and for people like me, the idea of being a -1 and then hiring three pros to play on your team is anathema. I refuse to play in a match where my major contribution is likely to be not falling off — if that.

If you want to grow the sport, go find some competitive professionals — investment bankers, attorneys, MDs, etc., and provide them with an environment where they can learn to play and improve. Don’t give them the impression that playing polo is an all or nothing proposition but let them deepen their involvement at their own pace. After a few years, you’ll end up with a bunch of enthusiastic, committed 1 and 2 goal players. When these people finally do get to the point in their lives where they’re willing and able to be proper patrons, they’ll pump as much money into the sport as anyone could possibly wish.

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Filed under Argentine Polo Association, Hurlingham Polo Association, International Polo Club Palm Beach, International polo Federation, Polo, Polo, Polo Training Fountaion, United States Polo Association, United States Polo Associction, camacho cup, westchester cup, women's polo