Player of the Year 2009
Kwan Lo
One fine day, it must have been about 10 years ago, I was walking in Windsor Great Park with my ex-wife when, from a distance some kind of frenetic equestrian activity caught my eye. Even from a long way off, I was spellbound by this high-adrenaline event; “What is that?” I asked her, amazed by the incredible melange of horses, sticks and a ball, “It’s polo” she replied. And then, seeing my wonder over this spectacle, quickly followed by the realisation that it was probably a very expensive sport, she added “don’t worry, one day you’ll be able to do it”. At the time I barely had enough spare cash to run my battered old Peugeot, so I let the moment pass and we walked on.
A few years later, I decided I would start riding. As a child I was reasonably sporty, but as an adult I hadn’t done anything for years, and riding had always appealed to me when I was growing up in Hong Kong. It wasn’t quite what I expected though, in short, it was pretty dull. By chance around about the same time, I saw an article about polo in the Sunday Times, which reminded me of that day in Windsor, and I started thinking about polo again. Before I knew it, I had signed up for some polo lessons at Ham Polo Club, and I was on the road to becoming a player.
Ham didn’t really suit me however. So I tried Epsom, but I didn’t like it there either. For a while I became a “club tart”, flitting from one club to the next, after a je ne sais quoi that I was unable to find at Ham, Epson, Inglesham, Knepp Castle or Berkshire. Somehow, I had the impression that the focus was not on the game, nor the sportsmanship, nor the club but on what money could buy. Nevertheless, I persevered but not without suffering a few humiliating lessons along the way. I tried to keep up with the game and with the elite by playing with 2 pros, but rather than help improve my game, they left me behind as I was playing well out of my league. There were also several attempts on my naivety; whilst I was at Epsom someone tried to sell me a one-eyed horse called Zing Zang (I had no idea that I wouldn’t be able to play a tournament with it) and then later on, I did in fact buy a lovely horse called Jigsaw. I thought I’d done quite well, until I realised this horse couldn’t turn and she ended up being donated to a young handicapped rider not long after.
My last move was to FHM where I finally met someone who shared my outlook, Pato Furlong and he shared the malaise of not being in the right club. Since I’d already tried pretty much every club in the area, we weren’t sure where to go, but we’d heard of this new place down in Sussex and we decided to give it a try. Arriving at Sussex was like a home-coming: we felt welcome, we were happy and before long we were teamed up with Duane and Memo and the Aquila polo team was born. And that team really did soar like the eponymous bird for the first few seasons, as we just kept bringing home the trophies. I was still dissatisfied with my play though (that’s right, I’m never happy) and I felt that it had reached a plateau and I was struggling to improve. But I was having such a good time. I loved the “chess on horseback” aspect of the game, and I was enjoying being the underdog on a great team, we all shared the same attitude, and played in a seamless, cohesive manner. I managed to be a good team player without having the ball skills of the best man in the team but kept struggling to improve, listening to tips here and there from people like the great David Morley and trying not to be put off by my loveable but at times scary Argentinean team mates who sometimes screamed like banshees.
I have been trying to improve since I arrived at Sussex, and this last season I am led to believe that my efforts have paid off. Although I am honoured that I am voted “The Best Player of Year”, I am not entirely in agreement and I am not convinced either that I deserve this beautiful trophy that I am looking at as I write. I’ll always have something to learn from the players around me and I’m sure I’ll always be amazed by the skill and dexterity of other players on the field. In the meantime however, I am still loving every moment and just like that first day I saw it in Windsor, it often takes my breath away.
