- Read a few of our sample essays on your topic
- Develop your own ideas
- Your paper will practically write itself
is divided into six 7 minute periods or chukkers. Since
a horse in fast polo can cover two and one-half to
three miles per period, he'll be too tired to play a
second one right away. After resting for two or three
periods, some horses can return to the game. Still, in
championship polo, a player will come to the field with
at least six horses. The mounts are horses, mostly
thoroughbreds, not ponies. The object of the game is to
score as many goals as possible. There are four players
on a team and each assumes a specific position either
offensive or defensive. However, given the enormous
size of the playing fields, the momentum of the
galloping horses and the ball's unexpected changes of
direction, the game is very fluid, and the positions
continuously change. There are few set plays in polo,
and good anticipation is almost a sixth sense. With
thousand pound animals running at speed there is a
pre-eminent necessity for a right of way rule. The
central concept in the rules of polo is the line of the
ball, a right-of-way established by the path of the
traveling ball. Like the rules of the road, there are
do's and don'ts governing access to this right-of-way
and crossing it. Within these limitations, a player can
hook an opponent's mallet, push him off the line, bump
him with his horse or steal the ball from him.
Penalties are awarded as free hits. The more severe,
the shorter the distance to the goal. The closer hits
are almost certain goals. After every goal is scored,
the teams change sides in order to compensate for field
and wind conditions. A typical score would be 10-7.
Polo games are played on the flat or the handicap.
Every registered player is awarded a skill rating from
C (-2, the lowest) to 10 (the highest). When a match is
played on the handicap basis, the sum total rating of
the players on the team is subtracted from that of the
opposition. Any difference is then awarded to the lower
rated side in goals on the scoreboard.
Possibly the oldest team sport, polo's genesis is lost
to the eye of history. An Asiatic game, polo was first
played on a barren campground by nomadic warriors over two
thousand years ago Valuable for training Cavalry, the game
was played from Constantinople to Japan by the Middle Ages.
Known in the East as the Game of Kings, Tamer lane's polo
grounds can still be seen in Samarkand. British tea planters
in India witnessed the game in the early 1800's but it was
the British Cavalry drew up the earliest rules and by the
1869's the game was well established in England. James
Gordon Bennett, a noted American publisher, balloonist, and
adventurer, was captivated by the sport and brought it to
New York in 1876 where it caught on immediately. Within ten
years, there were major clubs all over the east, including
Newport and Long Island. Over the next 50 years, polo
achieved extraordinary popularity in the United States. By
the 1930's polo was in the midst of a Golden Age it was an
Olympic sport and crowds in excess of 30,000 regularly
SportingEvent mentioned in this term paper
Olympic,
Sports referenced in this report
cricket, Rugby,
Names referenced in this paper
James Gordon Bennett, Devereux Melbourne, Tommy Hitch, the Texas cowboy,
Locations referenced in this paper
United States, Long Island, Newport, India, Samarkand, East, Japan, England, New York,
Health Conditions included in this report
blisters, Aids,
Facility mentioned in this essay
Meadow Brook Polo Club,
Keywords referenced in this essay
ball, polo, team, batsman, the ball, game, batsmen, wicket, sport, horse, polo grounds, drop kick, Polo Club, boots, United States, team sport, Long Island, batting pads, fast bowler, penalty kick, socks, a team, place kick, cricket, right away, blisters, two thousand, national sport, playing fields, young boy, galloping, war hero, a golden age, Middle Ages, various positions, New York, match, scrum, clubs, equipment, heels, Cavalry, oval, pacy, innings, sprigging, balloonist, pinched, talcum, cumbersome,
