UNREACHABLE POLO, the differences in training
A new polo season ends in Argentina. (2020)
The difference between professional polo and non-professional polo is getting bigger and bigger.
To be located in the time of Coronel Suarez Santa Ana, the players played 3 times a week. Any player who could practice that many days could compete and excel.
Today we find professionals who play every day, some 2 games per day, since the average is 7 chuckers per day, that is 49 chuckers per week.
A professional in Argentina plays at least 4 times a week, adding 24 chuckers per week, I insist minimum.
A professional in Argentina plays 24 to 49 chukkers per week.
A European player can play a maximum of 4 times a week which would add up to 16 chuckers, having a good organization, I insist maximum.
In other words, a player in Argentina from an important organization plays twice as much as a European. And if we compute how much time is played per year in Europe and Argentina, the difference is brutal.
The differences in the amount of training show the great difference between the players
A player whose main activity is not playing polo finds it very difficult to compete in a polo match.
In a match of up to 6 handicap, which would be almost the lowest level that exists in Argentina, on an excellent court, team A played a professional, a driver from one of the best organizations, along with three young men with very good horsepower. .
In team B a professional along with three young men with a very acceptable horsepower (4 players who play 24 chuckers a week).
They scored 17 goals for the worst horse team, it could have been 22, perhaps it is a lot, but normally in this match, team A wins with a difference of 6 or more, that is, team B has no chances. Same handicap, similar players, difference in training hours and horses. Any player who starts would be very happy to participate in this tournament and with the horses of team B. It was surely a great effort for the players of team B to be able to participate in this match. But the difference is very big. Putting together a good team with acceptable, good horses, even with a professional and losing by 6 or more, is disappointing.
There are super horses, super athletes, and highly trained players, with whom you cannot compete.
Polo is an expensive sport, but it is increasingly difficult to compete (play as equals) with possibilities if one does not dedicate himself to polo.
There are many people who want to start playing polo for adults (+25), (it comes with a minimum delay of 10 years in the practice) in my opinion these people will not be able to compete, they will only be able to pay whoever competes for it. And if they try to compete (playing as equals with a professional) they will find it unattractive, disappointing, and even unpleasant.
You can greatly improve your performance with a coach who takes his job seriously, invest in good horses and from there, he will have to train for a long time, because he needs many hours on top of the horse.
The weekend player, even if he takes himself very seriously and puts all his will to improve, cannot compete as equals.
There is no longer possible time to match the professional player in hours on top of the horse, and this is a very big disadvantage. The training is of accumulated years, it is not from one day to the next.
In addition to the super horses, it is necessary to have a super physical condition that is resistant to all kinds of blows, and a lot of training / competition with players of a good level.
Competitive polo is unattainable for the weekend player.
Before it was a matter of playing low handicap tournaments to compete, but today there are professionals of all handicaps who make competition very difficult.
Luckily there are armed tournaments where it is possible to compete with the help of a professional, also "amateur" tournaments and clubs made up of non-professional players, places where field polo is practiced, in short places where they give the possibility of competing between people who do not know each other. engaged in polo, and enjoy this sport.