As per Phil's request, I found a YouTube video of the match between the U21 USA vs Ireland teams. These are just clips of some of the plays, so you won't get the full effect but here it is anyway.
The weekend of July 7-8 was the Kentucky Polocrosse Club's annual tournament, held at my farm. We had players from all over the eastern portion come and play. It was a small tournament compared to most of our others, but there was a large match held in Washington D.C. the same weekend (USA vs Australia) so most polocrosse people went to that. We still had 8 full teams come to our tournament: 4 teams in two divisions. The divisions of polocrosse are simple. There are four divisions: A, B, C, and D. These divisions are sometimes called "Grade". D Grade is the lowest division, consisting of beginner players and sometimes beginner riders, too. C Grade starts getting a little faster: the players know the rules better and have better racquet skills. B grade is crazy fast sometimes and have a lot of injuries. The players are excited to be going faster and know they have good racquet skills so they are much more agressive. A grade is just as fast as B, but the players have the rules memorized, make little to no mistakes, and have impeccable racquet and riding skills. These players are the ones who can play at the International level. I play B Grade. Yes, I'm good at the game. I'm the best player in Kentucky and am getting better every tournament. I can say that because there are less than 15 players in Kentucky and my old instructer has been out for two years because she had 2 kids and barely rides now, haha. My team placed 4th at the tournament, but my teammates are extremely inexperienced (it was their second tournament and they wanted to play B Grade). Needless to say, we lost every game but I was invited to Florida for two weeks to help a family train their horses and players for their tournament that is coming next weekend. The Australian under-16 team is in the country and are coming into town tonight. I get to train with them until the tournament, which is exciting to say the least. The guy I'm staying with wants me to try out for the American youth team but I'm not sure if I will. We'll see how I play against the Australians. Oh and I forgot to mention, the game originated in Australia. These guys are some of the best in the world, and they're teenagers. I get to play with them, too. Who wants to take guesses as to how much we'll lose by? 5? 15? LOL! More to come as I get info...or get bored. ;)
I realize that most if not all of you have no idea what polocrosse is, so here I am to tell you about it. Polocrosse is a combination of lacrosse and the popular horse sport polo. The polocrosse racquet is around three feet long with a net on the end, like lacrosse. The net is round, however, and much deeper than a lacrosse racquet. The handle of the polocrosse racquet is shaped like that of a polo mallet.
The teams are made up of three players each - the number 1, number 2, and number 3. The 1 plays offense and is the only player allowed to score a goal. The 2 is the midfielder. It is his job to keep the ball away from the other team, block for his team, and keep play moving in his team's favor. The 3 is the defensive player and guards the opposing 1.
The game is played on a field that is 60 yards x 160 yards (a lot larger than a football field). It is divided into three sections - two 30 x 60 yard areas on either end of the field, and a 100 x 60 yard mid-field. There are also "T's" at both longer sides of the field. The goals are two PVC pipes that are 8 feet apart on either end of the field.
At the start of play, players line up in numerical order on both sides of the "T" facing the umpire. The ball is thrown in down the middle of the teams and the game begins. The players go after the ball and try to pick it up off the ground (moving very fast, might I add) and try to move in the direction of their goal. (For now we will call the team with posession of the ball "red" and the team without posession "blue".)
Let's say the red 2 picks up the ball. It is the blue 2's job to try and guard him, getting the ball out of the racquet by hitting it, or by pushing him out-of-bounds. The blue 3 immediately goes toward the red 1 and tries to keep him out of the area, while the blue 1 tries to keep the red 3 away from the other players so that he cannot help out. The play manages to move down-field in the direction of the red team's goal. Remember, the goal area is divided into a 30 x 60 yard rectangle. The entrance of the area is a line 30 yards away from the goal (this line is known as the 30-yard line, or the penalty line). Only the red 1 and blue 3 are allowed into the area, and the ball CANNOT be carried over. If the 1 has posessionof the ball, he must bounce it over the line. If one of his teammates has posession, they must pass it to the red 1 without crossing the penalty line. Around the goal is an 11 yard half-circle. The 1 must shoot from OUTSIDE this line for the goal to be counted (this keeps the 1 from simply putting his racquet through the posts). When the goal is made, the teams move back to the "T" and play restarts.
Lots of rules, yes, but a very fun game. Feel free to ask questions, and I will gladly elaborate.
