PROFILE
simon tomlinson Not since 1939 has England had a 10-goal polo player. However, together with the Gerald Balding Appeal, the HPA Development Committee and its chair Simon Tomlinson are determined to change that illuSTrATioN PHil DiSlEy
Three years ago, when I was given the great honour of chairing the HPA Development Committee I posed a question: ‘Why, since Gerald Balding, has Britain produced only two 9-goal players and no 10-goal players at all, despite having probably the best-organised tournament season in the world and a Pony Club programme that is the envy of everyone?’ The committee took up the gauntlet. By comparing how our children develop with how Argentine youngsters progress, we identified a number of key factors and are implementing programmes to increase the quality of and awareness among young players from the age of 10 upwards. Our aims are as follows: to instil the ambition to be better than the best; to provide coaching at home and in the southern hemisphere during our winter; to encourage better umpiring and an observance of the rules of the game; to promote team play and four-man ‘positive’ polo; to stress the importance of horsemanship, getting really well mounted, and the schooling and making of polo ponies; and to teach horse mastership and pony welfare. Steady strides have already been made, with the result that the overall standard of children’s polo has consistently improved – as could be seen by the quality of the games played by the finalists in the Junior HPA sections at the Pony
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Club Championships at Cowdray in August. Each year, youngsters with potential talent are selected for development courses run by senior HPA coaches, with the support of less experienced coaches keen to improve their abilities as well. Courses are also run in South Africa by Buster MacKenzie and, over the past three years, 47 children have benefited from these intensive, week-long introductions to the Springbok sporting ethic. A summerterm four-chukka league for schools has been established too, and a ‘colts’ and prep-school three-chukka league will be instated in 2014. There are at least three major lessons to be learnt from Britain’s spectacular success in the 2012 London Olympics. Firstly, the essential ingredient is a dedicated ambition to win. Secondly, this ambition will only reach fruition if it is supported by really focused coaching and training and, thirdly, adequate funding is needed to deliver all of this. If this is true of
Youngsters with potential talent are chosen for courses run by senior HPA coaches
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cycling, rowing and track athletics, it is even more true of polo, with its multitude of different skills to be mastered and the wide scope for the improvement of both human and equine athletes, quite apart from the high cost of participating in the sport. For the Development Committee to have a chance of delivering its objectives, there is an urgent need for an income of around £250,000 a year. The HPA annual budget for development is £60,000 and this is unlikely to increase due to the many other demands and the fall in the income in recent years from the Coronation Cup, which has hitherto been the main source of funds. And what will the money be spent on? Loans to help with the purchase and hiring of ponies – children need to play three- or four-chukka polo as young as possible and this requires access to more than one pony. The funding of coaches and better players for practices – playing good-quality practices, ideally with a coach and one better player on each side is a necessity, as is the funding of a better player in each team for a tournament. The payment of expenses – no player should be forced to play as a professional in low-handicap polo. The provision of courses run by excellent coaches, who need ongoing training, and the promotion of courses abroad during the winter.
