Polo Facts
Polo is a team sport played on horseback in which the objective is to score goals against an opposing team.
When played outdoors, each Polo team consists of four riders and their mounts. In the indoor variant ("Arena Polo"), each team fields only three players.
Play occurs in seven-minute periods, called chukkas. Six chukkas is the normal length of play; however, depending on league rules, matches can also have four or eight chukkas. Arena Polo has 6-minute chukkas.
Polo is now an active sport in 77 countries, and although its tenure as an Olympic sport was limited to 1900–1939, in 1998 the International Olympic Committee recognised it as a sport with a bona fide international governing body, the Federation of International Polo.
The U.S. is unique in possessing a professional women's polo league and a men's professional polo league: the United States Women's Polo Federation and the United States Men's Polo Federation, founded in 2000. The thirty-two (32) team league plays across the country.
Polo requires two teams of players mounted on horseback to play the game. When playing outdoors each team has four players, whereas arena polo is restricted to three players per team.
The field is 300 yards long, and either 160 yards or 150 yards wide if there are side boards—these are generally 12" high. There are lightweight goalposts on each side of the field spread 8 yards apart.
The object of the game is to score the most goals by hitting the ball through the goal.
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