About

Born in Cheltenham in July of 1998 I was lucky enough to learn riding quite young. My Grandad was a four-goal who regularly missed seasons to remain a very good three-goal.

My current focus is building the foundational skills needed to become a professional player. However, even with a background in intermediate jumping and a few years in the Household Cavalry; polo is by far the most difficult form of riding I have ever encountered.

I’m very lucky to have the opportunity to practice polo. To which I wouldn’t be able to without the support and grace of my coach Stephen, who you’ll hear me reference regularly in this blog.

Stephen and I crossed paths completely by chance. In mid June of 2026 I was playing rugby for my local club and unfortunately discovered a syrinx in my spine, following an unrelated MRI. Needless to say this ended my rugby career. After discovering this I felt lost. To clear my head I decided to go on a walk through Epping forest. I had no aim other than to walk off into the forest. It’s on this walk that I met Stephen.

Initially, when I saw Stephen, Enza, and Apollo, I was not going to go over; thankfully my inner child got the better of me. After a brief, but interesting conversation of me learning about his career and him of my background he offered to teach me polo.

I’ll forever be eternally grateful for the opportunity he gave me and I would love to share that with others however I can. I don’t know what Sam Plays Polo will become, but if it can be a source of inspiration, motivation, and maybe one day oppurtunity for others to get into polo then I’ll consider it a success.

For now though, I hope you enjoy my writings.

Best, Sam