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Adapting to arena after playing or umpiring outdoors

By Dana Fortugno

Even the best players have difficulty switching from grass to arena polo.

You have an outdoor game at 3 p.m. and then an arena game at 6 p.m. Whether you’re an umpire or a player, that can be a confusing transition. For the most part, polo is still polo and you will make it through but there are some significant pitfalls that will mess you up—I am willing to bet on it.

To be honest (I know of no other way), arena polo is a completely different game than outdoor polo. I’m talking about the rules. It takes 37 rules to govern outdoor polo and only 18 to govern arena polo. Something must be different—right?

If you have played both types of polo for many years, your brain likely has categorized both nicely and you can switch back and forth seamlessly—at least before all the changes. In the past five years, we have so many rules changes outdoor and now indoor that your trusty old brain doesn’t seem to help as much as it did years ago (when there were no changes, ever). Good times.

We have umpires who literally must umpire an outdoor game and an arena game in the same day. Yes, they are humans, so this can be a problem. We must train them to be able to do that and do it well. Professional umpires can make mistakes and can be forgiven for some mistakes but when it comes to the rules, there is no forgiveness and no room for error. Our professional umpires have a team and resources behind them to help. I am part of that team and we create the resources they use. The most recent resource (a work in progress, like everything else on my desk) is a quick conversion guide (memory refresher) for outdoor to arena polo. It’s available to everyone in text and video format on the USPA website under arena rules in the video rule book.

I need to say that there is no substitute for reading the rules or watching all the rules videos on the video rule book. In fact, when I was traveling every weekend to umpire, I would read the entire arena rules on the plane when going to an arena event. I did that every time and seldom made a rules error, but I never did both outdoor and arena in the same day—that’s a new challenge. We want our umpires to read all the rules, of course, but we need even more help when there is no time to read all 18 arena rules before the event. This guide is meant to be an umpire’s little helper.

It has many of the more significant differences between outdoor polo and arena polo. It’s based on the errors we have experienced this past year and on things that outdoor players struggle with

Quick guide to arena rules

• There is no improper blocking rule. • When the ball goes out, the whistle sounds and stops time, every time. • Change of possession when the ball goes out is an option for the host tournament committee, and if you use that option and you’re awarded a free hit between the center and the goal when going short, you get that hit at the center, in the middle of the arena. • Throw-ins are always from the center to the boards, and always somewhere between the 15-yard lines. • The distance a player needs to enter the right of way is shorter, in fact the entire game is generally more compact that way. • Similarly, turning the ball is seldom a foul because there is usually not enough room to get up enough speed by the trailing player for it to be dangerous or to deprive that trailing player of a nearside play. • Delay of game does not have the one-tap restriction, it only has the five-second restriction. • Abruptly slowing or stopping on the boards is a foul if it is dangerous to players coming in from behind. • The right of way along the boards (when the ball is between the boards and the hitter) belongs to the player following the ball (going in the same direction) even if the hitter has the ball on the nearside. • Hooks are legal only below the horse’s back (in most arena polo) and no hooking the offside back shot if any part of mallet is above the horse’s back. • The last 30 seconds of each period, not including overtime, is just the last 30 seconds of the period. • Penalty shots are taken the same period that they occurred. • Each arena has a unique goal box, so a goal may be different depending on where you’re playing. • If a player falls off, the whistle sounds and time stops. • The hitter gets two approaches on a penalty shot. • A goal can be one point or two points when hit from outside the 25-yard line and scored directly or off the wall. • The Penalty 1 has a throw-in as part of it. • Teams keep their direction for the entire period and then switch after each period. • There is a continuous play option.

when playing arena polo.

Penalty procedures are so different, you need to read them or see the video. We are certain there are more but these are the ones that cause the most trouble to the outdoor brain.

How can this help? Read the rules or watch the videos at least once. Then, review the text guide provided or watch the short video guide a few minutes before you enter the arena. This will help get your brain orientated to arena play and refresh all the things you already know but need to awaken in that area of your brain where they reside.

It’s almost like working two jobs in the same day and putting on a hat for each. When you change hats, your mindset also changes. It helps.

When I put on a suit, my brain automatically goes into trial mode and even the basic evidentiary objections start to run through my head. That’s why I try not wear suits anymore because it has that effect on my brain. When I put on swim shorts, nothing runs through my brain and that’s the way I like it.

Anyway, this is a real and measurable phenomenon, so use it to your advantage. We do. Never depend on your intelligence, it will fail you no matter how smart you are. You must use brain strategies if you want to master these kinds of things. Think of it this way, if you can be reminded of one play that’s unique to the arena and that saves you a foul and you win by one goal, it was well worth it. •

Dana Fortugno