review

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Franques

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Franques

Claire Franques 

Professor Koss

Intro to Comp

18 October 2021     

The only sound of human voices muffled by long neighs, clopping hooves, and the annoying buzzing of flies. The TCU Polo team shows their commitment to the sport by making an hour-long journey to Prestonwood Polo Club. The Club is located outside of Dallas on hundreds of acres. The polo fields are as large as nine football fields. The team bonding begins in their car rides to practice. The second they step out of the car, they redirect their focus to getting to know the horses. The process takes ten minutes to put on their polo gear. Next, it is time to prepare the horses and mentally for practice. The team captains and coach assign each player a different horse for every practice. This gets the girls used to riding different horses with different personalities. Claire Litchfield, The TCU Polo team captain explains, “Many horses have big personalities which doesn’t work well with all of our girls. We have to carefully match the personality of the horse with the personality of the girl.” In the US Polo Association within a college team, a team rides half their own horses and half the other teams horses, so a player has to get accustomed to riding horses they are not used to. The players continue to grow their knowledge of the game by working with new horses each time. There are a lot of professional players that play at Prestonwood so the horses the team uses are well-trained. A horse needs to have specific qualities to be a good polo horse. They have to have a ‘mind for the game’ which means they have a high intelligence. Even though smaller horses are used in the sport of polo, horses have to be strong and capable of speeds beyond a canter.

Polo began as training for cavalry units. It is a game that was also played on elephants in India. The horses and gear used evolved over time. It started with as many as one hundred men using small ponies to play the game. Now, smaller mares are used and the number of players on field has lessened to four. There is always an umpire that enforces the rules of the game. The umpire wears less protective gear and holds a different type of mallet that has a clamp on the end to grab the ball. The umpire is the only person who is allowed to touch the ball with their hands. If the ball falls into a player's lap they cannot touch it. You can see the speed of the horse decrease when this happens but the player must keep moving the ball towards the goal. There are five main rules of polo which Claire explains as “Man, Man, Man, Line, Ball.” The players  have to make sure that every other player isn't trying to score and you have to play defense for all three of the opposing teams players. “You first pay attention to the men, next you pay attention to where the ball is going and make sure you are not fouling the line of the ball, last have to pay attention to the ball and get the ball to score. There are a lot of things to think about during the game.”

Polo is a game like most sports where the objective is to make a goal, except on a one thousand pound animal. The game of polo is strategic and it is largely a mental game. The many rules in the game are to protect both the players and the horses. A break in the rules is called a foul and can be committed intentionally or unintentionally. The players have to focus on their movements and the horses to not cause a foul. There are so many rules of the sport few players have all of them memorized. It is a game of multitasking to control your horse, hit the ball and communicate with your team but also with watching the plays, strategizing, marking and making sure you don’t commit any fouls. This makes communication between both teammates and the horses important. 

Communication between teammates is essential in the game of polo. There is always a quartet on the field. This is the number of girls that play at a time. The TCU Polo club is made up of fourteen girls, most who are new to the game. The older girls help teach and coach the new players on the skill of the sport. They are led by their coach who was a professional polo player. On the field, you can tell the connection and bond between the players. When a player is riding on a horse they cannot turn around to see where the ball is behind them. They must rely on the loud calls of their team members to tell them the placement of the ball. They use sceam calls, like “Stay Up!” which means an opposing player is right behind them and to keep moving towards the goal. If no one is behind the players say you're alone, take your time. That way the player with the ball can slow down and concentrate on scoring. A rider also cannot see underneath the horse or if the horse kicked the ball. Claire explains, “Communication between teammates is huge in polo because you have to look where you want to go when you are riding.”  Much of their communication is done by yelling because of the fast and loud cantering of the horses and constant talking of the opponents. The players also have to listen for calls such as, The Line of Ball, which is the line the direction of the ball is moving towards. It is important to listen to this from the referee because at any time the ball changes direction, from whatever cause, a new Line of Ball is immediately established. The communication between the players and the referee is important to the game. The game of polo is very strategic with many rules and missing a call by the ref could determine whether a team wins or loses.

The team has to communicate to win. There needs to be teamwork between a player and their horse but also the other players on the team. Defense is the most important position in the game. The players have to yell out calls to let their teammates know when the opposing team is approaching with the ball. The use of foul language is permitted during the game but this is overheard by the aggressive plays of the mens polo team playing on the field. The speed of the horses on the field next to them is faster. Their movements are more intense and there is more yelling at the opposing team. 

The movement of the horses is very fast in the middle of the field and slows down towards the goal lines. They have to be aware of which teammates are by goal and make the decision to attempt the goal themselves or pass the ball to their teammates. Many players miss the ball right before the goal line and oftentimes there is a teammate behind them to back up their shot. This is the quietest moment in the game. The player's voices are silent and there is only the sound of the horse's hooves. This is when the player needs to focus on accuracy of their own movements and the horses to successfully score a goal.  

The relationship between humans and animals can be seen in the sport of polo. A horse used in polo is called a polo pony. These horses can be of any breed but are typically smaller in size than an average horse. The size of the horse determines the length of the mallet the player uses. The performance of the polo ponies determines whether a team wins or loses the game. There have been studies on how a  horse's intellect produced a negative main effect on the player’s handicap. Handicap refers to a player's horsemanship, range of strokes, speed of play, team and game sense are the factors considered in determining his handicap. The team handicap is the sum of its players' handicaps. A player assesses the intellect of a horse before riding it in the game. Eighty percent of the game is determined by the horse. 

The horse needs to trust the player. Horses with bigger personalities need to be ridden by a player that knows how to control them. Horses that are more difficult are referred to as a ‘Mary.’ There can only be one ‘Mary’ on the field to avoid conflict between horses. Claire Litchfield says, “I like riding Mary, I have a strong personality where I am able to not let her personality overpower me. I have to assert my control on the field with sharp movements and a tight grip on the reign.” Throughout the game the player needs to trust the horse will remain focused and refrain from distractions. The horse needs to be able to move in the direction the rider wants. You can see the look of frustration on the rider's face when they are struggling to move the horse in the desired direction. The game is so fast- paced that one delay could be a missed goal for the team. The players are allowed to strategically run into each other. This defensive move is called a ride off or bump. The movements of polo horses are described in two ways, push horses and pull horses. A horse that is a push horse has to be encouraged to go fast and is not inclined to have the same speed of a pull horse. Pull horses are horses that are naturally inclined to move fast but need to be trained to slow down when approaching the goal. The rider has to be aware of whether the horse is a pull or push horse before beginning the game.

The TCU Polo team is preparing for their first tournament the first week of November. They are facing their rivals SMU, UT, and A&M. Four of the girls from the polo team will be able to compete in the tournament. The team has not played in almost two years since COVID. The team needs to prepare both the players and horses. Claire wants to strengthen the bond of team members and help they communicate better by bringing them to an escape room. The players will continue to ride different horses each practice to prepare for riding the other teams’ horses. The players prepare the horses by giving them a day to rest before the competition.