Tola Polo: Is Fitness Important in Polo?

Jason Warren is a performance coach, helping professional polo players and athletes redefine their season by thinking outside the box through their mental and physical performance on and off the field

Photograph by Emily Gordon

Is Fitness Important in Polo? What is being polo fit?

Photography by Jason Warren

Polo is becoming more professional which in turn creates more focus on priming the body

Polo fit is playing polo without physically or mentally fatiguing. In this article I’m discussing the impact of fitness on professional players who will by definition have a base level of fitness particularly ‘polofitness’.

Realistically the only way to become fully polo and riding fit, is to play and ride. There is nothing you can do in the gym that will completely prepare you for getting on a horse and playing well.

If you watch a good polo player, they do not use much energy to ride. They are ‘with’ the horse and naturally conserve energy due to the way they ride. Same with any top sports person, they conserve energy because of their increased ability. My point here is how much fitness is required when playing polo.

How many professional polo players do not follow a fitness programme outside of riding and playing? I think quite a lot, polo is far behind other sports in that respect, and many do not feel the need or have the motivation to have one.

But there are some reasons for this:

Firstly, the horse is more the athlete than the player! Sure, the player is riding and making the plays, but most of the athlete is the horse! Unless you’re riding Usain Bolt

In polo, the horse is more the athlete than the player

you’re going to need a horse to be the athlete for you (I hope no one is offended by this sentence).

Secondly, there’s a lot to organise. There aren’t many sports with as much organisation as polo. This means a large part of a professional’s time is spent managing, riding, practicing, making young horses, transporting and so on. This makes it harder to prioritise personal performance.

Thirdly, there are an array of professionals in polo – from the 10 goalers playing high goal to the 5 goalers playing every tournament England has to offer (the ultimate polo P.I.M.Ps). Being 10 goals with a professional set up, team manager and onsite personal trainer allows more time and focus to be purely on performance. The 5 goal player driving the truck, riding young ones, managing the team and reaching for a fag to get them through won’t be as focused on their fitness.

These factors will have a large influence on how much time a player can put into their personal fitness and performance. Having said this polo is becoming more professional which in turn creates more focus on priming the body.

Is there space for fitness in polo?

If you look at any athlete or professional sportsperson, they will focus on all areas of their performance. Let us look at a Formula 1 driver, it is clear the ability to win comes as much from the car as the driver. But at the same time, they will focus on their mindset, resilience, fitness, strategy, diet, pit stop and many other facets that get someone to starting on the grid. Without all this they cannot utilise the machine. Imagine the driver and car are on fire for 90% of the race (not literally!) and then the driver starts to fatigue towards the end, that could be the difference between first and nowhere near first.

If you are looking to become a better polo player then this approach would also be the obvious thing to do! Focus on all areas of your performance, fitness being a part of that. Being fitter, stronger and more mobile of course will help you to become a better polo player, not to mention helping prevent injury. Having said that would fitness be as important to a rugby player or to a larger extent a 400m sprinter as it would to a polo player?

I would say no. A 400m sprinter’s whole focus is around their physical speed and stamina, without that they are nothing. If you look at a professional polo player, being slightly under par in physical fitness will not have as a dramatic effect as it would on the sprinter.

Like any profession, to get to the top every facet of the sport requires attention. Fitness is important to a polo player but maybe not as important as say, a rugby player or track athlete to the overall performance and effectiveness.

Find Jason on Instagram: @tolaperformance or contact him at tolaperfomance@gmail.com www.tolaperformance.com

WTR Horse Transport

Specialising in the safe transport of Polo Ponies from short UK journeys to European long journeys. Based in Berkshire.

18 tonne auto, 11 stall Tristar • Front and rear cctv of horses • Roof fans • On-board pumped water tanks • 3.5 tonne stallion box • Operators’ licence • DEFRA approved for international transport • Drivers CPC • Type 2 long journey animal welfare transport certifi ed • Level 2 City & Guilds long distance transport (driver) • Fully insured