Swap Ball From Offside to Nearside? - Answering Your Polo Questions

answering your polo questions polo swing technique & stickwork Jun 12, 2020
 

This is another example of a question that comes from trying to complicate plays.

"How do you swap the ball from offside to nearside when someone is coming to ride you off?"

Firstly, Gav answers the question with what you should be doing to make sure you don't have to worry about making that complicated play, and then he chats about how to actually do it if you need to.

Enjoy. And leave your comments and questions below...


Transcription:

The next question is, 'how to stop the ball from right to left offside to nearside, when someone comes to ride you off?'

Whooo! We asking high level questions here! Okay. So, we're bringing you some good videos, from Chris McKenzie, on how to practice and the dribbling techniques and things. And you will see how he has, he's got his feet where, his feet are in a vertical line below his hips, and his shoulders over his knees.

If you get forward like that, when you dribbling, if somebody comes to you, you have the option of going from right to left. Of dribbling that ball from right to left under your horses neck, then making a ride off and playing it on the near side. Okay? The minute you sit back and dribble, you know, were you're sitting in the saddle.

Number one, it's such a bad position for you to be able to dribble because the ball is directly underneath you. Where, when it's in front of you, you can see how high it is above the ground. So, if it bounces, you can still get it. But it also gives you the option of flipping it under your horse's neck. If you're dribbling it further back, it takes out left completely. You can only go, right? So, that's the number one.

But the biggest thing for me is, if you are really awake and man focused. When you see a man coming, check-up before the ball, take him out and put the ball on your near side, you don't have to move it to your near side. If you will only pay attention to not getting hooked, to being man focused. And stop trying to be Cambiaso, running with the ball, and a man now gets on your mallet. And now you've got to do all these damn fancy things to try and get the ball away from the man. If you will just look, have that 360 vision, look and see him come, take him out. You then have it on the near side naturally anyway, without having to move it.

That is a fantastic answer Gav.