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POLO
Five Questions for Mike Azzaro

Mike Azzaro sees the future looking bleak for young American players unless something is done soon
Photo by David Lominska

By Jan Westmark

American polo player Mike Azzaro, 41, holds the American record for being a 10-goal player for the most consecutive years since the 1930s. Just this year his handicap dropped to a 9, but Mike isn’t content to let it stay there.

He also isn’t content with the fact that the American polo world isn’t bringing along young players at the same rate the South American polo is. Pledging to "do something about it" Mike talked to Sidelines about his hope for polo in the future and what it will take for young American players to succeed in the game.

Sidelines: Argentinean polo players are dominating the sport. How can American riders make it to the top of the polo world?

MA: The United States needs to develop a program for young American riders to be competitive against a market that is flooded by South Americans. We have a lot of young riders with potential but they don’t get a chance to play. In South America the young riders play on a daily basis with great players. Our kids play against each other instead of against great players. Because of this we have seen the number of high goal American players in the last ten years cut in half. We need to support our country, because if we don’t, in the next five to ten years we won’t have any Americans on polo teams.

Sidelines: What are you proposing should be done to help young polo players?

MA: I am going to start a program where our young riders get to play with our great polo players. It doesn’t have an official name yet, but we might want to call it the Young American Support Group or the Future of American Players. It is the only way young Americans are going to excel. In the winter in Florida we have the best players here, so while everyone is in one place we can have the high goal players get together with young players for training games at least once a week. It won’t just be polo games, but actually training games.

It will require financial support but we just need to put a budget together and work it out. I know there are professionals that are willing to help train these kids. I have talked to Mark and Katherine Bellissimo and they are willing to donate polo fields in the winter for the teams to use for training. I have two sons, ages 6 and 1, and I would love to see them play polo someday, but I am afraid if we don’t change our training techniques now the sport will be completely dominated in the future by the South Americans. In fact look at the summer polo in England. We used to have a lot of Americans competing, but now it is almost all Argentineans.

Sidelines: What kind of training do our young riders need?

MA: I believe that a strong work ethic needs to be taught. I started from scratch; I groomed and worked my way up. A lot of Americans don’t want to work that hard. Polo is a difficult sport to succeed in and if a great work ethic isn’t trained into you then it’s even harder. If you are a polo player than you are an athlete and you need to have basic discipline in your life.

I look at Jeff Blake. He has the greatest work ethic I have ever seen in the sport. He trains, eats, and breathes polo. I also worked with Elizabeth Iorio all last year. She had an eventing background and she hadn’t played anything above a 6-goal tournament. She showed that with a lot of hard work and determination you can make it, and she was by far the most improved amateur player. Part of my training with her included showing her how to ride and what kind of horses to buy.

Sidelines: In addition to playing with high goal players in the program you develop, what kind of riding training will the young players receive?

MA: Horsemanship and riding is 80 percent of our ability as polo players. My horsemanship is what has kept me at the top for so long. When you become a better horseman, then your horses work better for you.

We will teach these kids not only to hit a ball, but to use their legs properly on their horses. It will require lots of riding, but riding the right way.

Sidelines: In addition to starting a program for young riders, do you have other goals for yourself?

MA: I want to get back to being a 10-goal player next year. But right now my focus is on getting a program started otherwise young American riders don’t stand a chance because there are so many great South Americans coming up. I am not in this to make money. I am in this because in 20 years I want to look back and see American players being 8, 9 and 10-goal players.