No player left behind

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Clubs must keep established players. But too many players not only drop out, they drop out with a bad taste in their mouths. Established players are polo‛s history. Their presence creates a richness and atmosphere that would otherwise be lacking. On a more tangible level, each established player is an opinion leader. They are in the center of a network of people with an outstanding polo demographic. Do we want these people talking up polo, dropping out completely or worse — and as happens all too often — bitterly relating their bad experiences?
It is absolutely necessary to keep these people involved, if only as social members. The friends a former player brings to watch a match on Sunday afternoon may well end up as players and patrons in their own right. If nothing else, each of these former players is a valuable pair of eyes that a corporate sponsor will want to reach.
Consider opera. Opera traditionally draws corporate sponsorships from many of the same companies that would make ideal polo sponsors. While the top of the opera pyramid include many people who would be financially able to be polo patrons, the real demographic draw is the very much greater number at the lower levels of the pyramid. While an opera subscription may cost as little as three or four hundred dollars, these subscribers are immensely valuable to corporations who want to reach them. As a consequence, opera companies make every effort to retain committed opera afficionados.
It would be incredibly foolish for an opera to mistreat its biggest donors or even its smallest subscribers. Yet this is exactly what polo often does. Rather than cherishing current and former players as an extremely valuable resource, too many clubs exploit, pressure, and discard them once the well runs dry and they are no longer willing to “invest in polo.” These players, consequently, walk away from polo and do not return, even as spectators.
This is extraordinarily bad marketing. Anyone who is willing to pay club dues for even one season is an incredibly rare and valuable commodity. Every player who leaves with a bad taste in their mouth will discourage at least one person among their friends and acquaintances from trying polo. By the same token, every player who stays active in the game at some level, even if just as a spectator, can be counted on to introduce many others to the game, even if just as Sunday afternoon spectators.
The key to retaining these people is to shift the focus in polo from money to creating a sense of community. No one, not even the very wealthy, like to be viewed in solely in terms of the money they are willing to spend. Everyone wants at least the illusion of being valued for themselves. In the long, and even medium, term, creating this sense of community and camaraderie will bring much more money into the game, both in the form of active participants and corporate sponsorships.
This is going to be particularly true in these difficult economic times. Many players will feel obliged to cut back on their commitments. Some may even drop out of the game completely. But every effort should be made to keep these players active at some level. Patrons who no longer feel able to sponsor teams should be both encouraged and assisted to play lower-goal polo. Players who haven‛t been sponsors should be encouraged and assisted to keep playing, even with a single horse. Arena programs should be expanded and players encouraged to play there even if that‛s all they are economically comfortable in doing. Every player who stays active is a player who will be able to expand their polo playing when things get better. Every player kept active is also a player who is generating at least some revenue for the club.
Finally, polo needs to be like the Marines, “Once a polo player, always a polo player.” Every person who has been a playing member of a club for even one season ought to be made a social member for life. Special match days ought to be organized where former playing members are specifically encouraged to attend. Everything ought to be done to make these former players feel like an important part of the polo community even if they‛re not spending a dime on polo.
Steps like these would cost clubs nothing to implement. But they would radically transform the current what-have-you-done-for-me-lately atmosphere prevalent at many clubs. In the present climate, pretty much anyone who knows that polo isn‛t just a clothing brand is someone we should be reaching out to. There are few enough of them and even fewer who have actually played.
The Marines have another motto, “No Marine is left behind.” That ought to be polo‛s motto, too. We need to make sure that not one single player loses their connection to polo, ever — and certainly not because of the current economic mess. We are going to get through this as a community or not at all.

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