LA CONNER — The sport of polo is many things.

It is at times furiously fast, and at others methodically slow. It is physically demanding one minute and dainty the next. At all times it takes immense concentration and good eye-hand coordination.

It’s said to be a cross between soccer and hockey.

And it all has to be done while atop several thousand pounds of muscle-bound unpredictability.

On Saturday and Sunday in La Conner, polo was 13 teams vying for the Pacific Northwest Polo Association’s Governors Cup.

“This is the fourth year we have hosted the event,” said George Dill, whose sprawling farm includes a regulation polo ground. “It started with six teams three years ago and this year we have 13. That’s nice to see.”

Dill, like most in the tournament, is a polo veteran. For him, it all started 14 years ago.

“I guy brought me a mallet and I climbed aboard (a Tennessee walker) and decided to give the sport a shot,” he said. “It turned out to be a lot of fun and I’ve been playing ever since.”

For those unfamiliar with polo, the sport consists of two teams of four players each. There is an offensive player, offensive midfielder, pivot and a defensive back. Each player guards his opposite on the field.

For safety reasons, all players must play right-handed.

The game is played upon a fairway-like field 300 yards long and 160 yards wide. At each end there are padded posts placed eight yards apart. Players try to hit a 3 1/4-inch plastic ball between the posts.

After each score, teams change directions.

Nicolai Galindo is a 21-year-old professional polo player from Palm Springs. He was invited to the tournament to play on Dill’s La Conner squad.

Galindo has been playing polo since he was 8. He travels throughout North America as what could be best described as a mallet for hire.

“My family plays polo,” explained Galindo. “So we’ve all grown up playing it. I love it. It’s a lot of fun.”

And he plays a lot.

“I do a lot of traveling,” he admitted. “But mostly it is in the states. I play a lot in San Diego and Santa Barbara (Calif.). Basically, I play there about four months out of the year and then I move on.

“It’s a nice lifestyle. You get to meet a lot of good people from all over the world.”

Playing in the Northwest was a good change of pace for Galindo, who arrived in La Conner after playing in Canada.

“It’s really nice up here, considering the last time I played down south it was somewhere around 120 degrees,” he said.

Polo players wear helmets, some with facemasks. They also wear boots and knee guards.

Mallets range in length from 48 to 54 inches. The length of the mallets used depends on the height of the horses. The mallets’ wood heads are about 91⁄2 inches in length and shaped like a cigar.

The ball is more often struck by the side of the mallet rather than by its rounded, narrow end.

Like most endeavors, polo can get spendy, especially once a horse is added to the mix.

“In order to be competitive,” explained Galindo, “you have to have the best horses possible. My family raises horses, so that helps out a lot.”

Much like darts and golf, polo players are given ratings from minus-2 to 10. These handicaps are knows as goals. There are only a handful of “10” players in the world.

Galindo sports a 4 handicap.

At this tournament, teams played “on the flat,” meaning no scoring advantage was given to the weaker (lower handicap) team. If the tournament had been handicapped, and say a team with a handicap of 3 was playing a team with a handicap of 5, the weaker team would have received two points at the start of the match.

A polo match consists of four chukkers (periods) of 7 minutes and 30 seconds each. A horn is blown at the seven-minute mark and again at 7:30 to signal the end of the chukker.

At the end of each chukker, players change horses. Fresh mounts are a must.

During halftime, spectators are invited onto the field to take part in the traditional divot stomping. This not only helps in replacing the mounds of earth torn up by horse hooves, but it allows spectators a chance to get a feel for the vastness of the field.

Well trained and well cared for, horses are obviously essential to the sport. Able to reach top speeds for short distances faster than their racehorse cousins, these equines can explode to a gallop, stop, cut and change direction with unbelievable ease and grace.

Nearly as impressive is how their riders manage to maintain their balance.

“The most important aspect of polo is learning how to ride,” said Galindo. “With horsemanship comes confidence. To get to that point, you need to ride every day in order to stay sharp.

“Then comes the eye-hand coordination you need when trying to hit the ball with the mallet while on a galloping pony. You need a lot of eye-hand coordination.”

Just beginning to learn the finer aspects of polo is 18-year-old Chelsea Rickert of Burlington. She took her first lesson a month ago and was watching the tournament from the behind the fences.

“I’ve just started out,” she said. “I’ve been riding horses for years and polo has always been something I’ve wanted to try. I’m definitely not ready to play in something like this.”

Polo isn’t easy to pick up.

“It’s hard,” said Rickert. “It’s fun at times, and at others it’s really tough. The toughest part is just getting the form down. Hitting the ball is difficult. And hitting the ball at a full gallop is really hard. But I’m learning.

“Each time I go out, it’s getting a little better. It’s something I enjoy getting up in the mornings and doing.”

Polo’s rules are enforced by two umpires on horses who follow the action, and a referee who stations himself out of bounds at the middle of the field. The unmounted referee settles any disagreements between the two mounted umpires.

A whistle is blown to indicate a foul, stopping the clock.

From the sidelines, fouls are difficult to see. The approach is this: imagine each player is on a road while pursuing the ball. The players must stay in their lanes while approaching the ball. That doesn’t mean, however, there isn’t plenty of nudging and bumping.

The player whose lane the ball happens to end up in gets the right of way to smack it.

Once the ball is hit or changes directions, all those lanes change.

“It’s important that you ride well,” said Galindo. “At the same time, you have to be physical. This is by no means a soft sport. It’s a very tough and physical sport to play.”

Most fouls occur when players charge in front of the player with the ball. Penalties range from a 5 (least offensive) to a 1 (most egregious). Penalty shots are awarded from where the infractions occur or can depend upon the severity of the infraction. Lines on the field mark from where midfield, 60-, 40- and 30-yard penalty shots are taken.

Also depending on the severity of the foul, the penalty shot may be taken toward the opposition’s defended or undefended goal.

Galindo said it takes about a year before players becomes competent at polo. After that, players should be able to take to the field with others of the same handicap and do well.

The world’s top polo players are from Argentina. There were several from that country playing in the La Conner tournament.

“In Argentina, polo is second only to soccer in popularity,” said Galindo. “Argentineans are the best around. In this sport, however, you find all kinds of players from all walks of life.”

Vince Richardson can be reached at 360-416-2181 or by e-mail at .