Polo Players

Each team consists of four mounted players, which can be mixed teams of both men and women.

Each position assigned to a player has certain responsibilities:

• Number One is the most offence-oriented position on the field. The Number One position generally covers the opposing team's Number Four.
• Number Two has an important role in offence, either running through and scoring themselves, or passing to the Number One and getting in behind them. Defensively, they will cover the opposing team's Number Three, generally the other team's best player. Given the difficulty of this position, it is not uncommon for the best player on the team to play Number Two so long as another strong player is available to play Three.
• Number Three is the tactical leader and must be a long powerful hitter to feed balls to Number Two and Number One as well as maintaining a solid defence. The best player on the team is usually the Number Three player, usually wielding the highest handicap.
• Number Four is the primary defence player. They can move anywhere on the field, but they usually try to prevent scoring. The emphasis on defence by the Number Four allows the Number Three to attempt more offensive plays, since they know that they will be covered if they lose the ball.

Polo must be played right-handed.

• Outline
  

  SPORTS WORLD

  Polo

  Polo is a team sport played on horseback. The objective is to score goals against an opposing team. Players score by driving a small white plastic or wooden ball into the opposing team's goal using a long-handled mallet. The traditional sport of polo is played on a grass field up to 300 by 160 yards (270 by 150 m). Each polo team consists of four riders and their mounts.

  History: Polo originates from ancient Persia. Its invention is dated variously from the 6th century BC to the 1st century AD. Persian Emperor Shapur II learnt to play polo when he was seven years old in 316 AD.

  Rules: The rules are enforced in the game by the umpires who blow whistles when a penalty occurs. Strategic plays in polo are based on the "line of the ball", an imaginary line created by the ball as it travels down the field.

  Polo ponies: The mounts used are called 'polo ponies', although the term pony is purely traditional and the mount is actually a full-sized horse.

  Players: Each team consists of four mounted players, which can be mixed teams of both men and women.

  Equipment: The outdoor polo ball is made of a high-impact plastic, but was formerly made of either bamboo or willow root.

  Field: The playing field is 300 by 160 yards (270 by 150 m), the approximate area of nine American football fields, while arena polo is 96 x 46 metres.

RESOURCES
This article uses material from the Wikipedia article "Polo", which is released under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share-Alike License 3.0.