Arizona Polo Club to Host Spring Picnic and Polo Clinic to Benefit Family Promise April 20, 2013

Tailgating and the Learning the Sport of Kings; Sport Experiencing Revival; Gets Boost From Wildly Popular Scottsdale Polo Championships!

If you crave action in which the danger level rivals baseball, hockey and football, with the velocity of the ball sometimes registering 100 mph and moving at speeds up to 35 mph, it’s time to take in some polo, courtesy of the Arizona Polo Club.

Arizona’s biggest polo club is hosting what will be a great free day for families and friends. Roll up your vehicle, take the chairs out of the back and sit in the sun sipping your beverage of choice. There’s that and there’s also the chance to get out of that chair and be the one in the arena. That’s right, you can learn how to play the venerable game for free at the Arizona Polo Club’s clinic on Saturday, April 20th at 3pm. See what it’s like to be part of the fast-paced action in a sport which has players showcasing amazing control and athleticism in guiding 1,000-pound horses, mallets in hand, in tense chases after a fast-traveling ball.

Admission is free but voluntary donations of $20 for participants and $100 for tailgating vehicles are encouraged to support Family Promise of Greater Phoenix. Family Promise helps homeless families in the Valley return to sustainability through short-term shelter, employment and next step housing assistance.

For more details, check out www.arizonapolo.com.

More than 9,000 people on October 20 experienced an up-close look at the sport at the Scottsdale Polo Championships: Horses and Horsepower at WestWorld. The Arizona Polo Club set the pace with some exciting play that day, its season debut, in the opening match between the club’s U.S.-born players and its Colombian-born players.
The polo club is seeing a rise in its membership ranks, which is in line with a revival of the sport across the country. Polo has been recently featured in such national media such as CNN, ESPN and CBS’s “60 Minutes.” It’s also seeing more young people and women becoming attracted to the sport’s beauty, grace and speed. The polo club encourages young people to join the club.

One of the world’s oldest sports, polo’s origins date back to the fifth century B.C. Persian nobles played the sport atop their steeds using a long-handed mallet to push a ball down a field and through a set of goal posts in order to score points. Centuries later, in a vastly different world and thousands of miles from the site where the first player picked up his mallet, the historic game is alive and well.

“This is one of the most exciting times in Arizona polo,” said Diego Florez, the Arizona Polo Club manager. “The sport is getting more and more popular and we are thrilled to be part of its growing success. It’s a perfect weekend routine: pack up some food and drinks and head out to watch some polo and enjoy yourself and the weather. You’ll be awed by the action and want to learn more about the game."

The Arizona Polo Club has been playing on the Scottsdale horsemen park field at WestWorld Equestrian Park in Scottsdale since 1982. The team also plays at indoor facilities throughout the state.

The club’s outdoor and indoor season is played from November through April.

New members are welcome. Join the club and start watching or playing polo.

The club is also available for special events and matches as part of corporate sponsorships.

The Arizona Polo Club is a member of the United States Polo Association and is one of eight clubs of The Border Circuit (Arizona, New Mexico and West Texas).