I guess I’m disappointed because neither the leadership of the USPA nor the PTF have been able to garner anything from the blogs here or on other locations. I foolishly believed that if ideas were offered to these bodies that someone within them would see something that might strengthen the association or the foundation, but I guess not. We cannot expect to grow or strengthen if we aren’t willing to learn, and it appears that, for the most part, these two bodies don’t want to learn. As a result, we’re going to try and harness our energies on one goal at a time. For openers, we’re going to propose that the PTF fund the creation of a polo instructional booklet (education, remember) and the USPA create a certification process for instructors. Pretty simple stuff. I would like to ask all of the instructors in the polo community to request that the USPA create a certification process, and a grading process (A Level Instructor, B Level Instructor, C Level Instructor) that will allow the association to regulate who is instructing our brand new players and what it is that they are being taught. As far as the PTF is concerned, I suggest that one of their staff gather suggestions for the author of an instructional manual that will allow for a student of the game to take Lessons 1, 2 and 3 in Maryland and then pick up lessons 4 and 5 in Oregon and not miss a beat.
I offer this proposal as a positive suggestion that I believe will only make the association stronger but the PTF more relevant. If either of these groups decides to take any action, we will consider it a successful offering. If not, we are going to have to find another manner in which to help them help themselves.
4 Comments
th0000001015pm08, 32008vUTC10bUTCWed, 15 Oct 2008 18:38:55 +0000 11, 2007 at 08:46p10
What a great idea! The only reservations I have about this is that before you can be a competent polo player you have to be a competent rider. How do we first require someone to have a safe riding ability and respect for the animal before we put a weapon in their hand and call them a student fit to learn polo? It is obvious that one of the major problems with American polo is that we have allowed money to be the defining factor for participation. If you have enough of it you can buy yourself in. No questions asked, no prerequisites, no riding skills. I think the idea is great, progressive and a terrific way to promote polo. But, you have to have horsemanship skills as a priority or the problem is being reenforced. Just a thought. Keep up the good work.
th0000001015pm08, 32008vUTC10bUTCWed, 15 Oct 2008 18:48:34 +0000 11, 2007 at 08:46p10
Mike, polo instruction cannot be given by neglecting horsemanship-ask Rege Ludwig. I have to believe that your concerns would be addressed in the construction of the “official instructional manual” and the progression of the lessons themselves.
th0000001015pm08, 32008vUTC10bUTCWed, 15 Oct 2008 22:47:33 +0000 11, 2007 at 08:46p10
You mentioned Rege Ludwig, and I thought I’d follow up on that. I learned polo for the first time around age 14 in one of Rege’s Virginia clinics, after having ridden hunter trials, etc. for most of my life. After three clinics (I did one per summer, my only exposure to polo during that period), I joined a interscholastic team, and now I play for a competitive team in the intercollegiate program. In that sense, I am exactly the type of player that the PTF aims to proliferate all over the country.
Rege already gives out a booklet at most of his clinics that does a pretty good job of outlining what you learn/need to remember. It’s not laid out in specific, ordered lessons, but it would really be a matter of reorganization rather than rewriting to put it in that form. If the PTF was to pursue such a project, he would definitely be a person to consult.
The material Rege’s put together has a number of advantages beyond the fact that it already exists:
First, it is about as universal a compilation of polo theory as I have ever seen or heard of. Almost nothing in there is a topic of extreme debate among instructors. (the most common argument is whether or not he’s right about keeping your hitting-side knee on tight during your swing rather than point the toe at the ball – I’m on his side) This universality is beneficial because a beginner in a learning position suffers both in enjoyment and playing ability when he’s forced to constantly switch styles. While there are areas where people have different, rabid opinions, it’s misguided to force beginners to devote time and effort to picking between them when those resources would be better devoted to learning accepted basics. Any potential PTF project would be well-advised to make universality one of the key criteria for evaluating a finished product. Doing otherwise, and subscribing to one or another marginally accepted techniques would seriously undermine the usefulness of the final compilation.
Second, Rege’s advice is almost infinitely scalable. Everything he teaches applies almost as completely to a 7-goaler as it does to a B handicapper. No one wants to learn stuff that’s going to cease to be relevant if they play for a year. In addition, being able to tell a student that what you’re drilling into them will be important to their game FOREVER can be a useful motivational tool, one that can increase the quality of student effort and thus the amount of learning.
Finally, and perhaps most importantly, Rege’s compilation places riding first and foremost. This is important for the PTF’s purpose because for the new players with riding experience that they focus on, riding for polo represents both the largest shift they have to make, and the most serious limiting factor in their development as a player.
I think it’s fair to say that any reasonably athletic person, particularly young ones with experience in other ball sports, can adapt to swinging a mallet at a ball in short order. On the other hand, developing a strong seat to support that swing comes much less naturally. This is particularly true if they have ridden for years and have spent them practicing techniques that do not apply to the polo seat.
How quickly the new player can adjust to the polo style of riding and how hard they work on it is perhaps the most important factor in how quickly they develop into respectable players. Both of those variables can be directly affected by the importance their first instructor places on the riding aspect of polo. It is true that the work put into that is less fun than the work put into the swing, but it can pay off in spades if the rider doesn’t start off with bad habits in their polo seat.
Even though this project likely won’t happen, I encourage you to take a look at Rege’s handbook if you can get your hands on a copy. It’s interesting, both in the content and it’s applicability to what you mentioned.
I’ve enjoyed reading your blog, keep it up.
th0000001015pm08, 32008vUTC10bUTCWed, 15 Oct 2008 23:46:21 +0000 11, 2007 at 08:46p10
Mr. Scott, I can only echo your admiration of Rege Ludwig. It would be my intention to orchestrate this project beginning with a symposium which would invite several of the game’s top instructors. In a collaborative effort, an outline for a text would be developed and then crafted into a final text. That text would serve as the foundation for polo instruction.