And now for part 2 of the disciplines-I-know-nothing-about series: Polocrosse.

So my first stop in the Internets, as usual, was Wikipedia. And, as usual, they have a comprehensive article. Polocrosse is, as I’m sure you have surmised, a combination of polo and lacrosse. The idea was dreamed up in England as a riding exercise, played with modified polo mallets outfitted with squash racquet heads and elongated basketball nets as goals. A couple Australian breeders took the concept back home with them and came up with the official struture of the game and the rules.

Polocrosse pits two six-person teams against each other on a 160-yard long field. Three from each team play at a time, with one defender, one midfielder, and one attacker. The game consists of four or six periods, called “chukkas,” which are six or eight minutes long apiece. The three-player team-within-the-teams alternate chukkas. A rider scoops the ball of the ground, or catches a pass, with the goal of getting the ball to the attacker who then shoots. Only an attacker and the opposite defender are allowed in the 30-yard goal-scoring areas at each end of the field.

There are tons of rules (a good thing, because player and horse safety is the most important thing), but I thought the most interesting one is that a player cannot have possession of the ball when crossing the line that bounds the goal-scoring area; so if an attacker or defender has the ball, wants to keep possession, and is going to ride over the line, he or she must bounce it to himself while crossing the line. One big difference between polo and polocrosse is that a rider must use the same horse for an entire tournament, barring injury.

Next, I visited the American Polocrosse Association site and checked out some action photos. The horses and riders are outfitted similarly to polo players and ponies. The nets on their sticks are round and have looser nets than lacrosse sticks. I was pleased to see that the APA has a rule barring bits with shanks.

Polocrosse seems to be more accessible than polo, mainly since a player only needs one horse rather than a string of ponies. I would go watch a tournament, but there are no clubs in VA! Regular old polo is really popular around here though, so I wouldn’t be surprised if a club develops in the near future. If you have a club near you, check out a match!