Pitch perfect

This summer, I was invited to join the Yale Polo team at the Metropolitan Intervarsity Polo 2015 – The London Challenge in Tianjin. I arrived in the city in July, feeling jet-lagged and with high expectations; I wasn’t disappointed. The Tianjin Goldin Metropolitan Polo Club Hotel, the brainchild of Hong Kong businessman and billionaire Pan Sutong, pays homage to history’s great displays of power, wealth and culture. But at the heart of this ambitious project is polo, and our team’s dreamlike stay at the hotel was soon upstaged by the privilege of playing at the club.

On our first day, we found our way to the east field for our trial ride and the grooms led out a string of top-notch ponies: beautiful, pristine and in fabulous shape. I soon realised international outdoor polo is a very, very different game from US arena polo. These horses were ready to play: they accelerated out of nowhere, turned on a dime and, when I asked my first horse to stop, it happened so quickly that I lurched out of my stirrups and very nearly on to the pitch. After an hour of jumping on and off ponies, I was exhausted and mildly terrified, but also dying to get back on every horse I tried. That first afternoon – cantering down a perfectly trimmed field, heading towards the hazy high-rises of Tianjin – is a moment I will never forget.

However, I was completely unprepared for the intensity of the game. The next day, my first chukka whizzed by in a six-minute gasp of bodies, helmets and horses that raced off, stopped, turned, pushed, pulled and hit about 20 times faster than I thought was possible. I came off the pitch shaking and exhausted, with new respect for my teammates and opponents. Although the Yale team finished the week with disappointing scores, I was hugely proud that we fought for every play and improved as a unit (and of myself, for hitting the ball a total of twice). The horses weren’t the only stars at the Metropolitan Polo club: some wonderful people have become a part of this enterprise, such as Derek Reid, director of polo preparations, John Fisher, acting deputy general manager of polo, umpire Ben Turner, head groom Alejandro Norse and the many knowledgeable Argentine grooms.

We were also able to take part in another of the club’s key ventures, the Junior Equestrian & Polo Programme (JEPP), which teaches Chinese youth basic riding, horse care, barn management and, of course, polo. The grooms were fantastic teachers, demonstrating how enthusiasm can bring together people of different backgrounds and what can be accomplished with practice and determination. Over the week, our JEPP sessions helped students master basic swings and grow confident on horseback.

Af t er a week in Tianjin, it was clear to me just how import ant this tournament is

Opposite An Oxford University player on the ball This page Antonia Campbell (second from right) with the Yale team; Yale vs. Stanford

After a week in Tianjin, it was clear to me just how important this tournament, and the club itself, is. We Yale students and the JEPP kids were at the centre of Metropolitan Polo Club’s mission: as newcomers to the hotel and to the sport, we demonstrated the investment in Tianjin as a future nexus of polo. I returned to the USA with a new respect for the physical and mental demands of the sport, as well as a deeper knowledge of its significance in the world. The website of the Tianjin Metropolitan Polo Club claims its hotel, like polo, pursues perfection in performance as well as aesthetics. I agree, and I believe Mr Pan’s creation will leave a legacy, not only of beautiful apartments and karaoke machines but of real lives – mine included – spent in the dogged pursuit of excellence.

Many thanks to Tianjin Goldin Metropolitan Polo Club, Pan Sutong, Harvey Lee and the amazing Coco Wong and Derek Reid, as well as umpires Ben Turner and John Fisher, the grooms, the world-class horses, the hotel staff and, of course, all our incredible coaches. We hope to see you all again next year!