Photo courtesy of Shariah Harris
THE SPORT OF KINGS HAS IT’S QUEENS!
By Eeinna Louise
The sport of polo has been around for centuries. Where it began is up for debate. What we can say with certainty is the sport of polo is older than recorded history. Discussing the origin can lead you to believe Black or African people did not come to know about the sport until the 1800’s. However, research has yielded interesting information. Rumor has it the history of the sport of polo has its origins in Central Asia.
Mounted nomads played a version of polo that was part sport and part training for war. The game is said to have followed the nomads’ migration to Persia (modern Iran) sometime between 600 B.C and 100 A.D. In Persia, polo became a national sport played by the nobility and military men.
It is also said that modern polo originated in Manipur, in India. That would give one the idea that they were people of color. It was such an exhilarating game to watch that the British Military founded The Silchar Polo Club in 1859. When one thinks back to the origin, and Persia in 600 B.C, the inhabitants of Persia at that time were “Black.” That said, one could assume that the formalized polo sport was originated by black people.
I say all of this to say today many Africans play polo in Africa. One African woman Uneku Atawodi, is the only black woman in the world playing professional polo. There is one male African American professional polo player from the City of brotherly love, Philadelphia, named Kareem Rosser. He is beloved and humble. His brother, Daymar Rosser also plays polo in college.
Philadelphia is also the home of Shariah Harris, another (Work to Ride) alumni who has won many accolades, and is beautiful inside and out, with brains to boot.
Photo courtesy of Shariah Harris
There is always so much talk about polo being a male dominated sport and being difficult to break into due to the financial expense associated with the sport. We caught up with Shariah while she was on break from school on a job in Aiken, South Carolina, and got to get to know more about the first lady of the Work to Ride polo program. Check out our Q & A session.
Q: How did you get introduced to horses? And, who introduced you?
Shariah: I was introduced to horses through the Work to Ride program based in West Philadelphia in Fairmount Park. I was about 9 years old when I joined the program.
Q: What did your parents think when you said you wanted to ride horses or play polo?
Shariah: My mom was all for it, she knew we loved it and it was an outlet for us.
Q: How were you introduced to the famous “Work to Ride,” program?
Shariah: My mom got lost one day in the park, made a wrong turn and found the program at a dead end road. She saw little children riding horses so she went inside to ask around and met Lezlie Hiner, the director of the program.
Q: How many hours did you put into working vs riding in the program you attended?
Shariah: During the school year, we would work the barn all day Saturday from 8:30 am – 6pm. During the summers, we were there working summer camp everyday from 8:30 am to 5pm. In the summer time, we rode everyday almost as much as we wanted and during the school year we would come and ride 2 to 3 days a week.
Q: What did your friends in your community and at school think about you riding horses, and playing polo?
Shariah: For a long time, I kept the fact that I rode and played polo to myself because the people who knew thought it was a weird thing for me to do.
Q: Walk us through a day in the life of Shariah Harris during a work to ride day. What time did you wake up, arrive, start working and practice for polo etc.?
Shariah: On Saturday, a typical day would be to wake up at 7:00 am, get ready and leave the house no later than 8:00am to arrive at the barn no later than 8:30 am. We would feed the horses, turn out (put the horses out to graze and roam), clean stalls and by that time it would be lunch. Lezlie buys all of us lunch on Saturday usually pizza or Popeye’s chicken. After lunch, we would ride our horses and usually practice in the soccer field across the street from our barn. After we ride, we would turn the horses in (put them back into their stalls), feed them, and turn them back out for the night. Then, we would tidy up the barn and go home, which is usually at about 5:30pm or 6:00 pm.
Q: What would you tell a child who told you they want to play polo, and ultimately go pro?
Shariah: By the time that I was in the program, teams already knew about the Work to Ride kids so we had a pretty good reception from the people who knew what the program was about. We definitely received strange looks when we began venturing out to the new clubs that didn’t know much about the Work to Ride children. For my first team, it took us about two years to win a game because all of us were learning how to play at the same time, while the other teams we played had already been playing together for a while.
Q: Tell us how you came to play polo for one of the top Ivey League Schools in NY? What was the try out process like and how did the other team members receive you in the beginning vs. today?
Shariah: While in the Work to Ride program, we would always play against Cornell’s high school and sometimes college team every year, so I knew the coach since I started playing. Around the time when I was starting to apply to colleges, I really came into closer contact with the Cornell coach about my interest in the school. Thankfully, I applied and got in. The try out process was fairly easy, just simple patterns and transitions. For the most part, everyone was very nice and welcoming and by the end of the year I became very close with many of the players.
Q: What advice would you give to a teen who said they want to be a part of the Work to Ride program?
Shariah: I would tell them to be ready to put in the work because the program is not an easy ride, you have to have a good work ethic because if you are lazy then you will not last. However, if you put in the work, you won’t regret joining the program.
Shariah is 19 years old. She is from Philadelphia, but currently lives in Upper Darby. She attends Cornell University and plays as a starter on the women’s polo team. She was awarded Interscholastic Female Player of the Year last year and received numerous all-star awards during Interscholastic and Intercollegiate tournaments. This year at Cornell, she was nominated as Female Rookie of the Year.
We look forward to seeing what the future has in store for this shining star of Polo. Keep a look out for Shariah Harris!