.:EQUUS:.

I first came across this sport when I did my Certificate II in Horse Studies in high school - a couple of the students played and brought their polocrosse sticks (like a lacrosse racket) and cantered around the large indoor arena, throwing and catching a ball with their rackets. Looked like fun! But way too much coordination required for me!

While in South Africa I came to be on a five day trail with a woman who played on the Australian team for awhile and she could only sing praises of the sport.

Polocrosse is truly Australian made and is a combination of polo, lacrosse and netball. As stated on the Australian Association’s Website, “It is played on horseback, each rider using a cane stick, made up of a polo stick shaft to which is attached a squash racquet type head with a loose twisted-thread net, in which the ball is carried.” Despite being Australian made, it has gained interest around the world.

The game:
Consists of two teams, each with six players. These six players are divided into two lots of three who play alternate chukkas that last up to eight minutes in length. A full game is six or eight chukkas meaning that players get to play three or four chukkas each.

Each player has a different role - attack, centre or defense. The goals that are scored by each lot of three are added up to make the team’s total score at the end of the game.

Horses needed - number:
Unlike polo, polocrosse only allows the use of one horse per match/tournament except in the case of injury.

Potential costs involved:
Horse, tack, polocrosse equipment – helmut, boots, kneeguards and mallets, shoeing regularly, vet bills, rugs, feeding and stabling. Game entries, tuition.

Links to associations:
http://www.polocrosse.org.au/ - The Polocrosse Association of Australia Inc.
http://www.polocrosse-deutschland.de/ - Germany’s Official Polocrosse Club.
http://www.polocrosse.net/ - Polocrosse Worldwide.
http://polocrossecanada.com/ - Canada’s Polocrosse Organisation.
http://www.polocrosse.ie/ - Irish Polocrosse Association.
http://www.ridesenter.net/polocrosse/ - Norsk Polocrosse Klubb
http://www.polocrosse.co.za/ - Polocrosse South Africa.

“If you don’t fall, you aren’t riding hard enough.”

tag: polocrosse, horseriding, australia

This entry was posted on Saturday, May 24th, 2008 at 11:32 pm and is filed under Horseriding, General. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.