When I think of the sport of polo, I can’t help but envision Julia Roberts in Pretty Woman stomping the divots and drinking Champagne. This weekend, I had the rare chance to take in a polo match at The Villages Polo Club. The Club is located in the heart of Florida’s “friendliest hometown” in central Florida (or so they say). My family retired to the Villages, FL and since then,I have taken a few matches at the Villages Polo Stadium. The stadium seats about 12,000 fans and has hosted the college football all-star game Gridiron Classic in 2004 and 2005.

This week, it was all about Polo as the Village’s Polo Club hosted other clubs in a few matches on Sunday. Andrew is doing some research on the legitimacy and professionalism of these tournaments but as far as I can tell, the Club is part of the United States Polo Association and that sounds impressive to me.
According to the Village’s Polo Club, the past 20 years have been a time of growth for the sport. The expanding sport has more than 225 United States Polo Association member clubs and over 3,000 participating players. Given the fact that Polo is such an elite sport, and has therefore, struggled in its American popularity, I feel lucky just to see an exhibition or match.

We watched about six Chukkers (periods) in all and with beers only a dollar during the frequent “happy hours” between periods…we were barkin,’ WHOO WHOO WHOO, like Julia Roberts in Pretty Woman.