When I last put pen to paper, I wrote about the George Oliver Cup and the fact that some felt that it would save North American Polo (or something to that effect). And before I go any further let me say that while I don’t think it will necessarily “save American Polo”, I do think the idea is a very good one to showcase North American talent.
As I recall, I mentioned that all the players in that game were at the time playing polo and as a result I questioned the reason behind selecting players who in fact were working – or at least playing. I also mentioned that some of these guys were playing two leagues (as were other N Americans).
So I guess that the percieved problem of foreign intervention isn’t affecting the players we saw that afternoon. The question is then – who is it affecting and why?
If you read the letters section of the March edition of POLO PLAYERS EDITION you would be led to believe that the problem is an “exotic mystique” that is causing the situation compounded by the fact that Americans are not aggressive job seekers and cannot or will not promote themselves and the core group that is being affected are “young Americans” and the bad guys are the Argentine one to three goalers who would be grooms in their own country. The writer goes on to say that the USPA could research the problem and address this “invasion”. Great – let the government take care of me!
On the other hand – stand up and be counted and believe in yourself!
True – there are a great many foreign (remember that word) players in the USA. Some working and many not. So what are the Americans going to do – give up or stand up (and remember, we’re speaking of the young Americans)?
It seems to me that so many times, the choice is to go have a beer and complain about the bloody Argentines who are taking away jobs. That most certainly is the easy and many times the most popular way to handle it.
Very few times do we see/hear of someone digging in and saying that he/she will work harder than they do and will make it in spite of the percieved predjudice. Those guys/gals are out there and they are playing and doing other stuff as well. It can be done and there are many examples of same and they are playing/working as of this writing.
The bottom line is that it takes hard work and a huge effort – alot more than saying “I’m a professional polo player”. The truth is that there are very few who are willing to make the commitment. Those who are willing, have some talent, and some help can make it, but they will need to work much harder than the imports. How many are really prepared to do it?
I’ll continue, but in the meantime I’m watching – From The Side.