Beach Polo

Beach polo is a variant of arena polo, which is played on sand or on the beach.

History

For a long time there was only Beach Polo in Dubai and Miami. The idea came from the businessman Rashid al Habtoor and the Event Manager Sam Katiela. In Germany it was Alexander Schwarz and Thomas Strunck that drove the development of the Beach Polo. The first Beach Polo World Cup Sylt was held in 2008 on Sylt, organized by Jo Schneider, who had organized the first public tournament on Sylt 11 years ago. 2007 launched another tournament on Timmendorfer beach. The tournament will be held again in 2011. Since 2008 is also played in Sandbanks in England on sand. In July 2009, there were for the second time hosted the British Beach Polo Championships.

Game

Pitch

The game is played on a 100 by 40 meter field at the beach or on sand. The playing field is prepared by removed the top, soft sand layer and the underlying sand is solidified. Between the Chukka, the field is pressed with a special vehicle and smoothed so that prevail consistent playing conditions throughout the entire tournament.

Game sections

Each game consists of four " Chukka " that will last depending on the event between 5.5 and 7.5 minutes.

Team

Two teams, each with two to four players compete against each other.

Horses

For the horses, the game is on sand strenuous than on a lawn or meadow field. The horses are changed regularly during the normal course of play in order to conserve the animals. Each horse is on each of the matches only six and a half minutes in use. Therefore, each player needs at least two horses for a tournament.