The short answer: Polo is one of the few sports in the world where a woman isn't automatically confined to a women's league. If she's good enough, she can play at the highest level the sport is played, shoulder to shoulder with men. Sunny Hale proved it in 2000, when she became the first woman to win the U.S. Open Polo Championship. And at clubs across America, I met the women who keep the sport alive.
Why polo is different
To know that if I work hard enough and get good enough, I could play shoulder to shoulder with a man at the World Polo Championship: that is the most empowering offer for women I've seen in any sport. Also, every time I play, I feel like Joan of Arc or Xena Warrior Princess charging into battle. That helps too.
Polo has open play and women's play. Women's tournaments have grown into their own serious circuit, with their own handicaps and championships. But the open game, the one with the biggest trophies, has no rule that keeps women out.
The women who opened the door
1972: Women were admitted to the United States Polo Association. Sue Sally Hale, who had famously played for years disguised as a man, was the first woman registered.
1979: The U.S. Open Women's Handicap was established to showcase women's polo. It was played for 15 consecutive years, mostly at Willow Bend Polo Club in Texas.
2000: Sue Sally's daughter, Sunny Hale, won the U.S. Open Polo Championship on the Outback team alongside Adolfo Cambiaso. She was the first woman to win it. In 2006 she created the Women's Championship Tournament in Wellington. Sunny died in 2017, and she is still described as the woman who did more for women's polo than any other player.
2022: Hope Arellano became the first woman to play for the United States at the FIP World Polo Championship. She had already become the youngest player ever to win the U.S. Open Women's Polo Championship, at 14, and in 2023 she reached a 10-goal women's handicap.
The women I met on the road
When I set out to visit every polo club in America, I went to learn about fields and horses. Along the way, I met the women who keep the sport alive.
Ocala, Florida: A Thursday night of arena polo with stick and ball and instruction beforehand, dinner afterward, and the best girls' locker-room talk of the whole tour.
Northern Virginia: A small club with great female energy and a crowd of little polo girls. Morgan, a rider there, told me I looked like I'd been riding a long time and rode really well on a horse named Cutie.
Spokane, Washington: A great girl gang. About 22 members, a tight group that always hangs out together, and some of the rowdiest, most fun women in polo.
Portland, Oregon: Rose City Polo, run by two women in their seventies who welcome everyone.
Brookshire, Texas: At a kids' arena game, all the girls showed up with a banner and champagne for the players.
Michigan State: The women's team, playing two-on-two in an indoor arena right through the winter.
Maryland: I helped a player named Parker get back on her horse, then played alongside her. That felt amazing.
If you're a woman thinking about polo
You don't need to have grown up on horses. I didn't. Here's how I started.
Find the women at your club. They'll tell you which horses to ask for, which coaches are worth it, and where the good parties are.
Play women's polo and open polo. Women's tournaments build skill and friendships. Open games teach you to hold your line against anyone.
Ignore anyone who says you're not athletic enough. I was told that for years. Read You Can't Be Athletic Too.
If you want the basics first, read how to start playing polo and what to wear to a polo match.
I'm building PoloFlow so any woman, anywhere, can find a game and a good horse without needing to know the right people. Polo, wherever you are. Join the waitlist.
