Polo Club hosts All-Woman’s Tournament

Lakewood Ranch resident Sylvia McNichol didn’t mind talking about her addiction.

She said polo is like a drug. She got hooked in 2008, “and I never stopped.”

McNichol was just one of the women playing in the Sarasota Polo Club’s annual All-Women’s Tournament March 18-19.

She started playing after becoming friends with Renee Strickland, another polo player. McNichol began to help Stickland get her horses prepared for matches and she got the bug to play as well.

“It’s a high-adrenaline game… and multifaceted,” McNichol said. “You have to control your horse, try to control the ball, play as an individual and as a team.”

She hopes the women’s tournaments will encourage more women to try the sport.

“I think there’s a mindset that it’s mainly a man’s sport, but it’s actually a co-ed sport,” she said. “It’s a lot of fun, never boring and very competitive.”

Six teams entered the tournament.

“It was a lot of fun,” said Megan Flynn, the director of Polo School Operations and assistant polo manager at the Sarasota Polo Club.

Flynn said interest among women in participating in polo is strong.

“We have a lot of women in the polo school right now,” she said. “We’re always looking for more people to get into the sport.”

The polo club offers a 10-week course that teaches those interested how to play polo and it culminates with a match.