Youth clinic tries to pass on passion for polo

Saturday, they learned the fundamentals of the game in slow motion.

But in a few years, they'll gallop chukkers with the big boys.

In an effort to pass along the game of polo to the next generation, the Egypt Mills Polo Club put on a free youth clinic Saturday at its practice field on Highway 177 near Trail of Tears State Park.

Polo is a combination of soccer and croquet on a horse. Riders, with reins in one hand and a mallet in another, bat the ball toward goals on a 300-by-160-yard field.

"Keeping balance on the horse is the hardest thing," said Dustin Sanders, 16, of Jackson. "There's nothing to hold onto."

Graham Ritter, 13, of Cape Girardeau learned this last year, when he fell off a horse and was dragged for a distance with his foot caught in the stirrup.

But Graham still loves the game, even if no one else at school understands why. He has tried to get some of his friends to learn the sport, but they turned him down.

"They think I'm obsessed with polo," he said.

Polo can be a wide-open game, where upwards of 20 goals are scored. The games are divided into periods, called chukkers. Most of the game depends on the condition and skill of the horses, which have to be physically trained like athletes. They have to be calm, not skittish, when the rider swings an offside backhand next to its ear.

On Saturday, the young polo players learned basic rules and techniques that protect the horse.

Wilbur O'Ferrall, a former college polo standout from California, taught the clinic Saturday. He is an instructor with the Polo Training Foundation.

In the morning, the beginners didn't even mount the horse. They learned swinging techniques and rules geared toward protecting the horses.

"If the clinics are done right, they hardly ever get the horses injured," O'Ferrall said. "Eighty percent of the rules of polo are for the protection of the horse."

Richard Hicks, an active member of the club, said the club is trying to recruit more members, and one way of doing that is to expose young people to the sport.

He said a person who is interested in polo can join the club even if he or she doesn't have a horse. Club members have enough horses for beginners to learn, he said.

Anyone interested in polo can call Hicks at (800) 732-0178.

bmiller@semissourian.com

243-6635