Prince William to find American polo 'like a pinball game'

Los Angeles (CNN) -- When Prince William takes to the polo grounds Saturday in southern California, with his wife as a spectator, he will be trying to make a royal sport more accessible to Americans accustomed to football and baseball.
"A major misconception is it is only something princes play," said Ebe Sievwright, a player and coach with the California Polo Club who said he has played with Prince William.
"It's not just something you can pick up overnight, but it is something pretty much anyone from any socio-economic strata could play if they just knew more about it," Sievwright told CNN.
Polo can be a rough-and-tumble game, especially when a rider falls.
"It is perceived to be people just riding around on horses and maybe hitting the ball to each other, but it is a high contact sport," said Sievwright, who's also a British-born actor.
When he rubs mallets with the Americans this weekend, the Duke of Cambridge will experience a faster, "pinball"-like game. The prince will also find a cowboy influence among the Yanks playing Saturday at the Santa Barbara Polo and Racquet Club in Carpinteria, California.
"There's huge differences," Sievwright said. "Polo in England is very Argentine influenced, and in America there is a great history of cowboys and riding from their own history out in the Wild West.
"In England everyone is very proper and tucked in," he continued. "The game flows out here in America. In England lately, there's been a lot of stopping and controlling the ball, which kind of slows it up. So it will be interesting for William out in Santa Barbara to play in a game where it's really flowing like a pinball game."
Among those playing Saturday will be Nic Roldan, captain of the U.S. polo team. His father and grandfather were professional polo players, and Roldan grew up playing the sport in West Palm Beach, Florida, where the game is popular, he said.
"William's team is very competitive and our team is very competitive, and it will be a close one," Roldan said.
But Roldan noted that Saturday's play is all to benefit charity -- The American Friends of the Foundation of Prince William and Prince Harry.
"In terms of publicity and the sort of hype that this event is getting, I don't think I've ever experienced anything" like it, Roldan said. "It's going to be a great event."
Polo in the United States has been growing, especially in the past five years, Roldan added.
Saturday's "Foundation Polo Challenge," sponsored by Tiffany, will allow Americans to size up how the prince plays the game -- with a competitive streak but still a good sport.
"Will is disciplined," Sievwright said. "One of the aspects of the game is marking, and it's really important to stay with your man, shadow your man. It's like basketball in that way: always be blocking, always be shadowing your man. And Will does that very conscientiously. He plays the defensive roll.
"It will be interesting to see if that's the line-up on Saturday. He takes the man first and then plays the shots to his team, usually defensive shots. He's very good with backhand. Backhand is when you hit the ball backwards in defense. But he can also hit a clean, full, right-up-the field as well."
But when compared to his father, Prince Charles, William is "a challenged player," Sievwright said. Charles played the game so hard that he often suffered injuries, Sievwright said.
"Charles was crazy, crazy about polo. He really loved the game as his father did before him. And I think William loves it, but he also has an eye on many other things like flying helicopters," Sievwright said.
As in American pro sports, polo has its share of "polo wives," and that would include Catherine, wife of Prince William, who will be enjoying the game from the viewing stands. The polo grounds lie along the scenic southern California coast -- wedged between the Pacific Ocean and the Santa Ynez Mountains foothills. The club touts itself as "truly the jewel of the American Riviera."

"I think Kate would enjoy polo because if she didn't, she may not have stuck around," Sievwright said. "You get to know the rules if you are a wife or a girlfriend, so you root for your team. She may be holding the spare stick in case it breaks, but it's my suspicion that there might be someone else doing that on the day.


Prince William to find American polo 'like a pinball game