The Sport of Kings

Hear Polo and you might automatically think "Ralph Lauren" or "Marco," but the people here usually think of something else. Nicknamed the "Sport of Kings," the Brits think of the oldest team sport (the first match on record was played in 600 BC) and more often associate Polo with princes, ponies and Pimms.

Aaron's cousin and her husband visited us in London last weekend. After leaving Seattle, we touched down at Heathrow and met them at the airport since they'd gotten in only an hour before us. How's that for good timing!?

Sunday we went to a local market and picked up some homemade snacks, and then we headed to the only polo grounds in the London area - the Ham Polo Club - to watch a few matches. We followed the rest of the spectators by laying out a blanket on the edge of the grass, opening our beers and snacking on our earlier market purchases while we watched the games.

Polo was fun to watch, but it immediately became clear that the announcer was what was making the game along with a particular player named Coco. A voice rang out over the loud speaker shouting "Come on Coco, Get Out of the Way Coco" and other amusing phrases. Another interesting tradition is that in the middle of each chukka (time periods within the match), the spectators get up and stomp the divots on the grass.

Coco's team, the Polo Pirates, ended up taking the title home, but we took away a unique, British experience.