Sometimes when you want to win so bad, things begin to go South. Call it my jinx, but that has been my ‘go to’ mantra for every polo game I participate in. Last week, I went for the Kano Polo Club Competition with my horses – Nicole, Shap girl, ShapShap, Jaiz, Crypto.
As the plane flew over the rusty rooftops of the Kano metropolis, my mind was not on the game, no. My mind was on the possible rich network of people I was going to be interacting with over the course of the weekend. Don’t get me wrong, I love the polo game. I have been playing it for close to 30 years but networking excites me. There is so much that can be achieved by just meeting the right people.
But back to the sports of Kings (Polo). This ancient game of wits and skill can be quite addictive and challenging, though not as popular as football, it requires just as much as a regular football game or even more. It is, of course, played on horseback by a team of four players and requires chasing a ball (which weighs about 170g to 182g) across a field (270 x 150m) with a mallet that is about 160g to 240g in weight into a goal with posts, 8 feet apart.
Just a regular Nigerian polo player
I started playing polo right after the University when I could afford to get my horses and train them.
I am no Pieres but I can hold my own on the field. At the just-concluded Kano club tournament, my 4 man team – Dattaku, managed to make to the 2nd round after we drew our first game with 2 goals from yours truly. However, we were ousted by 11 goals to 2 in our second game. No hard feelings really, cos like I said, the weekend was more than a game. It was a time of reaping worthy interactions.
