INSTRUCTORS FORUM
Eyes wide open A big component of hitting the ball well is visual by Adam Snow
Hitting the ball well is certainly one of the fundamentals of playing well. If every time our mallet makes contact with the ball is essentially a pass—either to a teammate, to oneself, or through the goalposts—then it stands to reason that the better we execute our passes, the better we can play the game. For me, a big component of hitting the ball well is visual—both seeing my preferred pass and, then, looking well at the ball. In other words: the quality of my focus on the ball combined with a sense of where I want to send it. At different points of my career, I found that different strategies proved more effective. So, it becomes a never-ending challenge of refining what works best for you here and now ... or the next time you get to go onto the field. There are many variables related to hitting the ball well. Certain horses “give us the ball big,” by which I mean that it looks, and therefore is, easy to hit. This pony is typically balanced and low, and rates well—all things that contribute to the proper timing. Another important factor is your riding. With a quiet lower body and legs snug to your horse, you can be confident in your ability to arrive to a spot on time, and hitting the ball well becomes easier. A good grip, holding the handle with your fingers spread (like a musical instrument not a club) allows for everything to line up at the nadir of your swing, and also for the bottom of the mallet head to be consistently flush with the surface of the turf as it sweeps through the ball. Playing with a mallet that feels (and sounds) good—balanced, but also with a cigar that makes a crisp sound (tak!) on contact—is a confidence builder that helps you swing easy. And let’s not forget about arriving to the ball with a little time and space! When preparing for a tournament, one thing I choose not to dwell on a whole lot is swing mechanics. Admittedly, I may tweak something here or there, emphasize plane and follow-through when coaching, and I always watch what good players are doing; but fiddling with my own stroke is pretty low on my list of priorities for hitting the ball well. There are several reasons for this. First, the same fundamentals essential to baseball, tennis, or particularly golf swings, are generally applicable to polo. So, if a player is interested in generating more torque, the studies are readily available. With the helter-skelter nature of 12 POLO P L A Y E R S E D I T I O N
our sport, not to mention the shifting, galloping platforms, your swings are constantly adapting. And I also believe the swing I developed as a kid on a bike, with a little mallet in my hand, is by and large my swing today. So, trusting this stroke (actually forgetting it) is, in my opinion, the way to pass the ball most effectively. That’s why I choose to emphasize timing (and trust) over mechanics. And this means using my eyes. With all sports I played, I have always been conscious of zooming in and out. Zoom out (and look around) for awareness about positioning of your teammates and your opponents; zoom in to focus on executing the specific play at hand. But how about after we are zoomed in? I have the ball, my teammate is open for a pass, laying it in front of her will create a scoring opportunity for my team. What is the process from here? With time and space, I pick a target in front of my teammate. This is usually a divot, a piece of manure, or a discolored spot on the grass, or—in the case of a longer pass (remember that, here, pass means to a teammate, to myself, or through the goalposts!)—a tree branch at the end of the field. Then, my eyes return to the ball. Without time and space, I just look at the ball. How do you know where to hit it, if you aren’t able to look up and pick a target? In the above scenario, you at least have a sense of where on the field your teammate is open for the pass. My advice is to trust that sense and focus on hitting the ball well. In the other two pass options—to yourself or through the goalposts—you do know where they are. In other words, I’d rather hit the ball well with only a general, intuited sense of a target, than hit it poorly with a precise target in my mind’s eye. Now, with mallet back and ready, and your horse arriving to the ball, comes the moment of truth. The moment for execution. Where are your eyes? For longer passes that require some loft (this includes 60yard shots), I look for the bottom of the ball. This is the point where the ball becomes obscured by the grass it lies on, and often there is a wedge-shaped shadow there. If I can find a blemish or logo on the bottom half of the ball, so much the better. When I’m passing the ball to myself at speed, I look for a spot on the middle of the ball, and take it a little earlier.
