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When her family encouraged her to try polo early in high school, Carter Nix was hesitant. She grew up jumping and playing polo not sound like something that would interest him.
Her uncle and cousins were involved in the sport, but despite their efforts to intrigue her, she resisted for months.
After a consistent refrain of “get out there and play!” Nix reluctantly agreed to take a lesson from professional polo player Sunny Hale, whom she now calls “the best polo player to ever live”. To her surprise, she immediately got hooked.
“It’s certainly not all champagne and big hats. There’s a lot going on behind the scenes,” said Nix, who is now captain and president of the Cal Poly polo team — and international polo champion.
Nix played on the winning team of the US Open Women’s Handicap Polo Championship from November 12-14 at the Houston Polo Club in Houston, Texas, beating 11 teams from around the world. Now that she is back on campus, she encourages any interested student to get involved.
“Anyone can join, literally anytime. We always need more help here,” Nix said. “The more hands we have, the less work there is.”
Students can play competitively in college or join the junior varsity team to learn and play without the pressure of competition. No previous polo or riding experience is necessary to join the JV team, and students can learn everything they need to know about the game.
That’s what junior biology Cort Rowley did; he joined the team without any polo experience and now plays on the men’s varsity team.
“I grew up riding in the west and had never experienced riding or English polo for that matter,” Rowley said. “The entire Cal Poly polo team has welcomed me with open arms. They teach me everything they know and I enjoy every minute of it.
Due to the connection between polo and horses, it is usually very expensive to get involved in and is often associated with royalty and the extreme richness of popular culture. The Cal Poly program works to disrupt that narrative by making the sport more accessible to anyone interested in trying.
“The best place to learn how to play polo and compete in the game authentically is in college,” said Megan Judge, Cal Poly coach and owner of the Central Coast Polo Club.
For dues of around $300 per term, JV students learn to play polo and train and maintain multiple horses without having to incur the cost of owning and boarding them.
Polo first arrived on the Cal Poly campus in 1977, which is later than most other college programs that sprung up on the East Coast in the 1930s. But according to Judge, the polo program Cal Poly is not far behind.
“Even though we started in 1977, our program carries a lot of weight in the United States and abroad as well because we are catching up with the [University of Virginia’s] and the Cornells and the Harvards — it’s just that it all takes time,” Judge said.
With more regional championships than UC Davis, Cal Poly is currently the top polo college on the West Coast.
The team trains at the Central Coast Polo Club, a regional polo center in Los Osos, tucked away behind an aging electric gate that opens to reveal a polo arena and a scenic landscape of green hills and stables.
Additionally, the official opening in 2018 of the Oppenheimer Family Equine Center on the Cal Poly campus provided more space for the team to use when needed.
Workouts began in the fall term with a weekly commitment of 10-12 hours per week, increasing to 16-20 hours per week for university students during the winter term – the peak of the season. competition. During the winter of 2022, training will take place at the Central Coast Polo Club on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Fridays from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. with opportunities for weekend scrimmage.
Along with the skills needed to play the game, the Cal Poly polo program provides an encouraging learning environment that helps students like Nix and Rowley succeed in all aspects of their lives.
“The team is like a big family,” said Nix, who now hopes to play polo professionally after college. “Hard work is always seen. If you work hard, someone will always notice and it will always pay off.
