Nacho Figueras Presents (23 page)

Each TEAM is made up of four PLAYERS. The players are designated positions from one through four and wear the corresponding number on their team shirts. Player 1 is primarily offensive; player 4 primarily defensive. Normally, the most experienced and highest-handicap players play positions two and three, with position three being akin to the captain or quarterback of the team.

HANDICAPS: Each player is given a handicap from –2 (the worst) up to 10 goals (the best). Only a handful of the greatest professional players achieve the prestigious handicap of 10.

Polo is played on a large grass field—or PITCH—that is 300 yards long and 160 yards wide. There are GOALPOSTS at either end, placed 8 yards apart.

THE GAME begins with players lined up in the center of the field. One of the two UMPIRES bowls the ball between the teams. The players then use a combination of speed, skill, and teamwork to mark each other—and to score.

Players SCORE by hitting the ball between the goalposts. A pony can score a goal for its team if it knocks the ball across the line between posts. After each goal, and at the end of each chukka, the teams change playing directions. Play resumes with another throw-in.

CHUKKA: The number of periods in which a game of polo is divided. Players change out their ponies between chukkas. There are generally six chukkas in a game (in Argentina there are eight) and each chukka lasts approximately seven minutes.

HALFTIME: At halftime, which is typically five minutes, the custom is for spectators to walk onto the polo field to tread in the clumps of turf—or DIVOTS—kicked up by ponies.

The horses ridden in polo are known as POLO PONIES, regardless of their height. Originally, no horse taller than thirteen hands and two inches (54 inches) was allowed to play the game. Though the restriction was removed early in the twentieth century, the terminology has remained.

Polo ponies can be Thoroughbreds or of mixed breed. What matters is that they are fit (they might run a couple miles during each chukka), strong, disciplined, intelligent, and love to play. Some of the finest ponies are bred in Argentina. Most ponies begin their training at the age of five, and this can last from six months to two years. As with their riders, it takes many years to master the game and most ponies reach their peak around age nine or ten. Barring injuries, a pony can continue to play until age eighteen or twenty.

During a game, a player will use as many as eight ponies—known as a STRING OF PONIES. The higher the level of competition, the more ponies in a player's string.

Ignacio “Nacho” Figueras
is one of the most recognized men in the world as the global face of Ralph Lauren's polo line. Hailed by CNN as the “David Beckham of Polo,” Figueras is also captain and co-owner of Argentina's award-winning Black Watch team. He has been featured on
Oprah
and
60 Minutes,
and
Vanity Fair
readers have voted him one of the most handsome men in the world.

Nacho currently splits his time between the United States and Argentina with his wife, Delfina, and their four children.

Jessica Whitman
lives and writes in the Hudson Valley, New York.

 

 

You can learn more at:

NachoFiguerasPresents.com

Twitter @NachoFigueras

Facebook.com/NachoFigueras

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