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Polo for commoners

By A Treasure Coast essay by Paul Janensch

http://stream.publicbroadcasting.net/production/mp3/wqcs/local-wqcs-959885.mp3

Fort Pierce, FL – We have only a few more weekends to see polo this season on the Treasure Coast. Polo will be played at Pointe West in Vero Beach on Sunday, April 3rd and April 10th. And it will be played at the Polo Club in Hobe Sound on Saturday, April 2nd, 9th and 16th. Even if you don't know what a chukker is, polo is a fun to watch. My wife Gail and I went to a match in Vero Beach on 12th Street west of 74th Avenue. Spectators park on the east side of the field and back in so they can tailgate. There is no concession stand. So bring snacks and a cooler with your choice of beverages, plus folding chairs and maybe an umbrella to protect you from the sun. Each polo team consists of four mounted players. The match we saw had four chukkers, or periods. Players score by smacking a small, hard ball into the opposing team's goal with a long-handled mallet. One of the best players was a woman - the only one on the field. To hear a running account of the match, you can tune to an FM frequency. The field is big -- 300 yards by 160 yards. But sometimes, the horses gallop along the sideline right in front of you. You may associate polo with British royals, Argentine playboys and rich Americans. But we common folk can still enjoy a well-played chukker. For 88.9 FM, this is Paul Janensch.

Treasure Coast essayist Paul Janensch was a newspaper editor and taught journalism at Quinnipiac University in Connecticut.