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Polo, Anyone?
,. ooking for summer enter-
tainment beyond the usual
art fairs, open-air concerts
and baseball games?
You could try watching a polo
match.
That's what the city of Southfield,
with the help of corporate sponsors,
is offering Saturday, July 22, on the
grounds of the Word of Faith
International Christian Center, for-
merly Duns Scotus, at Nine Mile and
Evergreen roads. It's the 12th Annual
Southfield Gold Cup Polo
Competition.
The match will feature one local
Jewish competitor, Harold Kalt, who
owns eight horses and participates in
eight tournaments a year.
"This will be an exhibition game
put on by the Detroit Polo Club,"
says Kalt, who explains that the com-
petition requires changing horses
periodically throughout play due to
the strenuous toll it takes on the ani-
mals.
Outdoor polo is played by two
teams on a grass field with a goalpost
at each end. Play is directed toward
striking a wooden ball with a long,
flexible mallet into the goal. The size
of the play area is nine football fields,
and the game has been described as
hockey on horseback without a
goalie.
Although the origins of polo are
disputed, British officers assigned to
India enjoyed the game in the 19th
century.
"This really will be an exhibition
game," says Kalt. "It's a combination
of professionals and amateurs, and it's
a little different from most profes-
sional sports in that a sponsor will
put together a team and play with the
team. There's no formal team in polo,
and we use a handicap system for the
players."
This year, a Southfield polo team
will be playing against a Sarasota,
Fla., polo team.
Kalt, in the travel business through
Bee Kalt Travel in Royal Oak, started
riding as a child and took it up again
in the '70s when he and friends
enjoyed weekend rides. After those
excursions became routine, he decid-
ed to try polo.
"I've been playing ever since, and
my involvement has gotten greater,"
says Kalt, who rents horse stalls in
Milford for his brood and travels to
other games in Ohio, Kentucky and
Pennsylvania. "Our season lasts six
months, and the horses go out to pas-
ture for the other six.
Kalt, who broke a collarbone when
a horse went down and rolled over
him, has not been deterred from his
sport of choice.
"The percentage of Jewish players
is relatively high in Michigan, proba-
bly 25 percent, because we've gotten
friends involved," says Kalt, a mem-
ber of Beth Ahm, ORT and B'nai
B'rith. "I've played with men from
my Mumford graduating class of
1956 — Dennis Rogers, Howard
Glazer and Sam Sobel. Sam got me
involved."
Kalt appreciates that polo players
are not restricted to a certain size, as
are jockeys, and that there also are no
restrictions on women interested in
the game. He thinks spectators will
like being invited into this year's hos-
pitality tent, where they can have a 1
p.m. brunch with the purchase of
tickets.
"Polo has brought me a lot of fun
and understanding that it takes hard
work to reach goals," says Kalt, who
has encouraged his three sons to join
him for informal horseback riding.
"Things don't come easy, and work-
ing with animals teaches patience.
My wife, Gerrie, hates the game but
doesn't mind my playing because it
keeps me fit." El
The 12th Annual Southfield
Gold Cup Polo Competition
begins 2 p.m. (brunch at 1 p.m.)
Saturday, July 22, at the Word of
Faith International Christian
Center, Nine Mile and
Evergreen, Southfield. $5
advance/$6 gate/$20 brunch.
Tickets available at Southfield
City Hall. (248) 354-4854.
',
John Tanasychuk Detroit Free Press
January 8th, 1999
• Pasta Specialties • Pizza
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An air of British gentility will _prevail in
Southfield when the polo matches come to town.
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