A&M’s Polo Team Wins Big

Texas A&M’s men’s and women’s polo teams might be the best squads you’ve never heard of. The Aggie men’s team won three straight national U.S. Polo Association championships from 1996-1998. After a few years of finishing near the top, the Aggies returned to prominence with three titles in 2007, 2008 and 2010, thanks in large part to one man: Steve Krueger.

Krueger, a senior industrial and systems engineering major from Argyle, Texas, is considered to be the top collegiate player in the country. He and Katie Connell were recently named the U.S. Polo Association’s Players of the Year. Kreuger led the men’s team to championships his freshman and sophomore years, but the group placed second in 2009. Kreuger and the Aggies upset the heavy favorites, the University of Virginia, on home turf in Charlottesville, Va. by a score of 21-17 in the 2010 championship match.

In the same season, Stephanie Massey, a junior biomedical sciences major, captained the women’s squad to the national championship but lost to the University of Kentucky by a score of 14-15. She is gearing up for next year and said she is ready for a challenge.

“Spring is polo season, though we practice year-round,” Massey said. “Both our men’s and women’s polo teams are considered among the best in the country.”

Although the squads are successful, the sport’s existence on campus has remained in anonymity.

“I didn’t even know we had a polo team,” said Lindsay Toppert, a junior elementary education major. “It’s great to know though because I love horses.”

A collegiate polo match consists of four chukkers, which are 7.5-minute periods. Players ride their horses and swing 4-foot mallets, attempting to knock the ball through the posts.

The game is played on an area approximately the size of a football field, and three players play for each team.

“Eighty percent of the game is riding your horse,” said Massey, a junior biomedical sciences major. “To offset any advantage a team with superior horses would have, the animals are switched after every chukker. So for example, when A&M plays Texas Tech in a match, all six players on the field will use A&M’s horses, then all six will use Tech’s horses, and the process is repeated until the game is finished.”

Texas A&M has the best horses in the game, Massey said, and there is evidence to back up her claim. At the national championships, awards for best team horses and best playing pony are given after tallying up votes from the players who have ridden them in the matches. Last year, A&M’s horses won awards in both categories for the men’s and women’s teams.

Since the polo team fields three players at a time, there is limited space and usually members with years of playing experience have the ability to make the cut. To offset this reality, the A&M Polo Club was founded. Massey was the club’s president in 2009 and will serve in the same position this year.

Elizabeth Hemmi, a senior animal sciences major, said she joined the polo club because of her love for horses.

“The first semester’s dues are only $250, which is a deal if you know anything about how expensive it is to ride horses,” Hemmi said.

The club plays matches on Thursdays, and practices and trains the horses throughout the week.

“It’s become therapeutic for me,” said Hemmi. “It’s just a great way to get away from school. When you’re out there, the only things that matter are you and your horse.”