The Polo Report
By Steve Crowder
Sunday was the last day of July 2016. It was a very fun day at Polo in Santa Barbara. The weather was about 77 with a bit of a breeze. I doubt anywhere else they play polo in the world they can say this. The term for a player called Animal was one I heard about 25 yrs. ago in Florida. The first I heard it was from a man named Rob Walton, who was much like these players, very tough and not bothered by whomever he played. Rob reached 8-goal before getting hurt in a polo-ending accident in Malaysia. I think those facts are correct, but I always remember a very high-rated player saying one day “WHO IS THAT ANIMAL?” Rob was 6-goals and had just hit Florida high-goal. They all knew him by the end of April that year.
Game one put Farmers & Merchants Too against SD Farms. They got to town basically last night, so the results were expected. They had a long day, but showed they will be better soon as Mr. Stick Allen M will be here soon.
Game two was a surprise to me. Lucchese looked promising and tough, but they were dealing with Farmers and Merchants 1 lead by Dan Walker. Walker is playing so good and constantly setting-up his big sticks and they just took the Texans to the Woodshed and gave them a very good paddling. I didn’t think it was not a good game to watch at all.
Game 3 brought out the Animals. Five of the eight players are 30 and under and all 3 others over are tough. Justin Klentner was probably the toughest guy on the field with 3 young guns. They looked to be easy winner here, but Big Ben has a couple of Animals and a leader by the name of Snow. They were not a bit concerned about the odds. After a nosebleed loss to Farmers & Merchants 1 on Friday, they were not going to be delayed again. They lost the first by 1 and then won the next 3, pulled out front and gave 1 back in the 5th. They ended the last up by 3.
Jason and Coti were very tough all day. Adam kept them going hard, fast and direct. Ben kept the heat on every time he was needed. The game was fast and a bit rough and 25 whistles were blown, but it seemed very consistent today in the 2 1/2 games I saw.
I still think Javier’s idea to eliminate most of the throw ins would be a super idea. It’s so simple. You score, you knock in just like a practice game and you hit it out.The other team hits it from there. This will also change the idea to protect and get it over the boards. It would also eliminate a lot of fouls always called in throw ins, so it would speed up the game.
It was a great day for polo in Santa Barbara and the weather was SB gold coast weather … PERFECT.
Now if SBPC would invest in some shade cloth and a little steel, all of the crowd would be able to see and enjoy the game. Just an idea. We could see how big the crowd could get with just a little comfort and convenience. Polo continues on Friday.
RH 1-1 vs SD Farms 0 -2
FM2 1-1 vs FM1 2- 0
Lucchese 1-1 vs KR 1 -1
Over on the other coast, it was another “Animal” called Jared Sheldon tuning up the big sticks with his own style of Papa Billy Sheldon, taking no prisoners and leading NYC to the US Open Arena Polo Championship in New York.
Well done Jared Sheldon, Matias Magrini and Patron Sam Ramirez. The 2016 Champions!
Be there and enjoy the weather.
see ya