polo
Polo is a ball game played on horseback, a traditional field sport and one of the world's oldest known team sports. The game is played by two opposing teams with the objective of scoring using a long-handled wooden mallet to hit a small hard ...
handicap is a system created by Henry Lloyd Herbert, the first president of the
United States Polo Association
The United States Polo Association (USPA) is the national governing body for the sport of polo in the United States.
Introduction
Established in 1890, by David Grubbs the USPA provides resources to over 4,500 individual members and 250 polo club ...
, at the founding of the USPA in 1890 so teams could be more evenly matched when using players with varying abilities.
The players are rated on a scale from minus-2 to 10. Minus-2 indicates a novice player, while a player rated at 10 goals has the highest handicap possible. It is so difficult to attain a 10-goal handicap that there are fewer than two dozen in the world, and about two-thirds of all players handicapped are rated at two goals or less. Currently, most living ten-goal players are Argentine, with few exceptions.
Handicaps of five goals and above generally belong to professional players. It is not (nor has it ever been) an estimate of the number of goals a player might score in a game, but rather of the player's worth to their team. It is the overall rating of a player's horsemanship, team play, knowledge of the game, strategy, and horses. At one time, polo was the only sport in the world that considered
sportsmanship
Sportsmanship is an aspiration or ethos that a sport, or activity will be enjoyed for its own sake. This is with proper consideration for fairness, ethics, respect, and a sense of fellowship with one's competitors. A "sore loser" refers to on ...
when rating a player.
In matches played by "handicapped" players (as opposed to open competition, where handicaps are not considered), the handicaps of all four players are totaled. If the total handicap of a team is more than that of the team against which they are playing, the difference is added to the scoreboard. For example, if the Mounties polo team has a total handicap of six goals and the Tayto team has a handicap of four goals, Tayto would begin the match with a two-goal advantage.
A player's handicap is usually assessed by a committee at the authorizing club of his country. A professional player may be assigned an equivalent rating in countries where he competes.
Though standards are similar, the ratings may be expressed differently. ''e.g.:''
Argentina: 0 to 10
USA: C (-2), B (-1), B+ (-0.5), A (0), A+ (0.5), 1.0, 1.5, 2 to 10
England: -2 to 10.
Ten-goal players, highest handicap achieved in outdoor polo
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Rodolphe Louis Agassiz
Rodolphe Louis Agassiz (September 3, 1871 - July 31, 1933) was a ten goal polo champion who participated in the 1902 International Polo Cup. He later became chairman of the board of the Calumet and Hecla Mining Company.
Biography
He was born on ...
(1871–1933) – USA
*
Mariano Aguerre
Mariano Aguerre, (born May 25, 1969 in Buenos Aires) is a professional polo player in Argentina and the United States. He achieved a 10-goal handicap in the United States in 1994 and in Argentina in 1998. He is currently rated at 9 goals in both ...
Mike Azzaro
Mike Azzaro is an American professional polo player from San Antonio, Texas. Azzaro's current handicap is 6 goals, but he held the sport's highest handicap of 10 goals for over ten years. Azzaro was awarded ''Polo Magazine's'' Polo Excellence ...
– USA
*
Ulysses Hu
Ulysses is one form of the Roman name for Odysseus, a hero in ancient Greek literature.
Ulysses may also refer to:
People
* Ulysses (given name), including a list of people with this name
Places in the United States
* Ulysses, Kansas
* Ulysses, ...
Gerald Barnard Balding Sr.
Gerald Matthews Balding (1903 – 16 September 1957) was a British champion polo player.
Biography
He was born in Leicestershire, England, in 1903. He had two brothers who also played polo, Ivor Godfrey Balding and John Barnard "Barney" Balding. ...
(1903–1957) - England's last 10 goal player.
*
Adolfo Cambiaso
Adolfo Cambiaso (born 15 April 1975) is an Argentine professional polo player with a 10-goal handicap rating.
Early years
From an early age his mother, Martina de Estrada Lainez, encouraged her son Adolfo and his half brothers to play polo.
Bartolomé Castagnola
Bartolomé Castagnola (born June 16, 1970, in Lomas de Zamora, Buenos Aires Province) is an Argentine polo player with a 10-goal polo handicap and ranked among the top twenty players. He is often referred to as Lolo.
Biography
Career
Bartolom ...
(born 1970) – Argentina Polo Players Handicap ''Federation of International Polo''. Retrieved February 27, 2012
*
Carlos Gracida
Carlos Gracida (September 5, 1960 – February 25, 2014) was a Mexican-American polo player. He reached a 10-goal handicap at the age of 25.
Biography
Gracida was born in Mexico City. As a product of the Gracida polo dynasty, Ca ...
Ignacio Heguy
Ignacio is a male Spanish and Galician name originating either from the Roman family name Egnatius, meaning born from the fire, of Etruscan origin, or from the Latin name "Ignatius" from the word "Ignis" meaning "fire". This was the name of sev ...
– Argentina
*
Marcos Heguy Marcos may refer to:
People with the given name ''Marcos''
*Marcos (given name)
Sports
;Surnamed
* Dayton Marcos, Negro league baseball team from Dayton, Ohio (early twentieth-century)
* Dimitris Markos, Greek footballer
* Nélson Marcos, Portugue ...
– Argentina
*
Tommy Hitchcock, Jr
Tommy may refer to:
People
* Tommy (given name)
* Tommy Atkins, or just Tommy, a slang term for a common soldier in the British Army
Arts and entertainment Film and television
* ''Tommy'' (1931 film), a Soviet drama film
* ''Tommy'' (1975 fil ...
. (1900 –1944) – USA
*
Foxhall Keene
Foxhall Parker Keene (December 18, 1867 – September 25, 1941) was an American thoroughbred race horse owner and breeder, a world and Olympic gold medallist in polo and an amateur tennis player. He was rated the best all-around polo playe ...
(1867–1941) - USA
*
Lewis Lacey
Lewis Lawrence Lacey (February 17, 1887 – November 1966) was a
Canadian polo player.
Biography
Lewis Lacey was born on February 17, 1887, in Montreal, Quebec, Canada.
Pablo Mac Donough
Pablo Mac Donough is a professional polo player from Argentina with a 10-goal polo handicap.
Biography
Mac Donough was born in Pehuajo and began playing polo with his family at a young age.
Career
His career has included wins in the Argent ...
Lucas Monteverde
Lucas Monteverde (born December 18, 1976) is an Argentina, Argentine professional polo player with a handicap of 9 (formerly 10). He grew up near the town of Veinticinco de Mayo Partido, 25 de Mayo, Buenos Aires Province, at the estancia ''El Rin ...
Gonzalo Pieres Sr.
Gonzalo Pieres is a former 10-goal handicap polo player and one of the most successful players in the sport.
Background
Gonzalo was born and grew up in Argentina.
Career
Pieres began traveling to America to play polo in 1980, when he held a ...
David Stirling
Sir Archibald David Stirling (15 November 1915 – 4 November 1990) was a Scottish officer in the British army, a mountaineer, and the founder and creator of the Special Air Service (SAS). He saw active service during the Second World War.
...
John Arthur Edward Traill
John Arthur Edward Traill (1882–1958) was the first Irish–Argentine 10-goal polo player.
He was born in 1882. He married Henrietta Margaret, from Scotland, and they had children John and James.
Traill owned a ranch in Argentina and impor ...
(1882–1958) – Argentina / Ireland
*
Ernesto Trotz Ernesto, form of the name Ernest in several Romance languages, may refer to:
* ''Ernesto'' (novel) (1953), an unfinished autobiographical novel by Umberto Saba, published posthumously in 1975
** ''Ernesto'' (film), a 1979 Italian drama loosely ba ...
- Argentina
* Hilario Ulloa (born 1985) – Argentina
*
Tommy Wayman
Tommy Wayman is an American polo player (retired).Alex WebbeGentleman Tommy Wayman Keeps Keeps Earning 10-Goal Status ''Palm Beach Daily News'', January 2, 1983
Wayman was a ten-goal player.
(born 1946) – USA
Nine-goal players, with a maximum 9-goal handicap achieved in outdoor polo
Diego Cavanagh
Santiago Miguel "Diego" Cavanagh y Hearne (May 16, 1905 – July 30, 1977) was an Argentine polo player at the 1936 Summer Olympics.
He was a squad member of the Argentine polo team, which won the gold medal. He did not compete in the Berlin tour ...
Francisco Elizalde
Francisco José Y. Elizalde (born October 10, 1932) is a Filipino sports official. He was a member of the International Olympic Committee representing the Philippines. He was elected by the committee in 1985, filling a post left vacant with the d ...
- Argentina
*
Elbridge T. Gerry Sr.
Elbridge Thomas Gerry (November 22, 1908 – February 26, 1999), known as Ebby Gerry, was an American banker and polo player.Joseph Durso ''The New York Times'', March 06, 1999
Early life
Gerry was born in New York City on November 22, 1908. Hi ...
Man Singh II
Major General Maharaja Sawai Man Singh II GCSI GCIE (born Sawai Mor Mukut Singh; 21 August 1912 – 24 June 1970) was an Indian prince, government official, diplomat and sportsman.
Man Singh II was the ruling Maharaja of the princely state ...
Eric Leader Pedley
Eric Leader Pedley (January 2, 1896 - May 9, 1986) was a champion polo player and mayor of Belvedere, California.
Biography
He was born on January 2, 1896, in Riverside, California to William Pedley and Elizabeth Barlow Massicks. Around 1923 he m ...