A family passion to grow
THERE seems to be something about polocrosse, that it is somehow more than a sport, but a way of life for those who find that passion.
The kind of passion that can see a family travelling hours across state with a trailer-load of much loved horses to compete with other families that have themselves driven hours to find people with that common love of the sport.
“It’s a little bit of crazy and a little bit of loving the fast sport, but it’s pretty fast and a lot can happen and it can come down to centimetres.
“There’s so much in it between the horses and the players and the skills between them both, so overall it’s a pretty big high just to play the sport, let alone when you play it at the level we do as well. We love it, and we’re hooked on it now, I can’t find anything else to match it.”
That’s the summation of the adrenalin rush of polocrosse from Lauren Sillitoe, one of Australian polocrosse’s most elite performers, and current member of the Australian Polocrosse Squad.
The 24-year-old is certainly someone who has grown up in the sport, and relishes the idea of giving her children that same growing experience.
Lauren, who grew up in Geraldton, Western Australia, came into the sport following her two older sisters, with the family travelling most weekends to compete together.
Her husband Chris also plays at a state level, and the pair have settled in Chris’ home state of Queensland, at Pittsworth on the Darling Downs. They share their 80-acre property with some 20 horses and their 15-month-old son, Chase.
In defining what she loves about the sport, she said it had always appealed to her competitive spirit, but had also developed into something deeper in recent years.
“I’ve always been very competitive, and thoroughly enjoyed the sporting side of it, so that was always a big plus for me,” she said.
“Then, as I grew older, learning how to do more with the horses, and I started training them myself, and seeing them go well, that was a huge part of it.
“Now for me one of the biggest parts is, I’ve got my little boy who is 15 months old, and watching him love the horses, and seeing all these other people with their kids playing and getting to play together, that’s a big part of it for me now. I really enjoy that aspect, that you can play with anyone in your family, no matter your age, gender or anything like that, just on a normal weekend.
“It’s a very family-friendly sport with a very social side to it that I know as I kid that I loved growing up in, and I love that my kids will get to grow up in that as well.”
Lauren is currently preparing for the final stepping stone to being chosen to compete at the Polocrosse World Cup in 2019: the Australian Polocrosse Championships from October 1–7 near Perth.
Although selected for the Australian Polocrosse Squad, that squad of 10 will be reduced to a final team of eight based on their performance competing with their own teams in the nationals. The final world cup team will be announced at the end of the nationals.