SPORT OF KINGS HAS AN ALMOST MYSTICAL ALLURE

BORN on the wrong side of the tracks in Durban, and as with the majority of this country’s citizens, horse riding and polo were as foreign to me growing up as caviar and champagne.

Later in life, when invited to polo events by my more affluent friends, I had always found a way to avoid this elitist sport I was clueless about. The sum total of my polo experience was what I had read in the 800-page polo saga of the mink and manure set by Gilly Cooper, and from the movies where Indian royalty ride around on elephants hitting a ball.

A chance encounter in Durban recently with a passionate polo player, one Pat William Titlestad, a quiet gentleman who could have easily been at home riding a horse in the English countryside, had me intrigued about this very British gentleman’s game.

Known as the sport of kings, polo, first played in Persia some

2 000 years ago was a training game to prepare warriors for battle. British soldiers first played the sport in

South Africa way back in 1874.

Today, the sport thrives in polo centres such as Durban, Greytown, Kokstad, Matatiele, Nottingham Road, Karkloof and the Kwa-zulunatal Midlands.

Not unlike soccer, prowess on the field is a combination of speed, teamwork, physical fitness and horsemanship. There are bi-monthly tournaments in different parts of the country that ensure the survival of the game through the SA Polo Association. Equestrian sport as a whole has always been the terrain of the well-heeled, so small wonder that a large majority of South Africans have very little knowledge of polo. Unlike horse racing, which was a national hobby in the community I grew up in, polo is exclusive.

Titlestad, who owns four polo ponies and has been riding for most of his life, since the age of three, says: “That it is an expensive game is without a doubt. However, it is an initial investment for the equipment. We have a three-day tournament coming up from April 5 to 7 at the Tshongweni Polo Club in Hillcrest.

“To advocate the sport to young people, the Free State Academy near Ficksburg trains children to ride horses and play the game. The Karkloof Midlands Clinic for children in the July holidays is a way to create and nurture talent.”

All I can say is that the next time I am invited to the Inanda Club for a polo event, I will definitely be there.

Brenda Kali is chief executive of Conscious Companies and the Founder of the Conscious Leadership Academy. www.consciouscompanies.co.za