Women In Polo Sunny Hale
That pioneer spirit is in her blood. Hale’s mother, Sue Sally Hale, broke American polo’s gender barrier in 1972 when she was the first woman to gain membership into the United States Polo Association, the sport’s national governing body, after playing polo disguised as a man in the 1950s and ’60s. The elder Hale died in 2003 at age 65, but her legacy lives on through her daughter.
“If you have any athletic inclination and like horses, you’re done for,” Hale said. “Once you get connected to polo, you’re addicted.”
Hale has been the world’s top female player for more than 20 years. She has competed with men at polo’s premier event, the U.S. Open, which she won. Hale is the first and only U.S. woman to achieve a 5-goal handicap rating. She could ride before she could walk and played her first tournament, which her team won, when she was just 10 years old.
“These girls are the sport’s future,” Hale said. “This is truly the next generation of players, and to have their player-fathers bringing them is what I want to open the door for.”
In addition to playing on some of the best polo teams in the country at the highest levels, coaching and giving clinics, her passion now is to promote the WCT and junior tournaments throughout the world.
At the recent USPA meetings, a separate women’s rating system was approved for 2014 implementation, an historic vote spearheaded by Hale.
Top female polo player Sunny Hale. Photo by Bill Barbosa www.billbarbosaphotography.com
Caroline Anier France’s top female player, Anier has been playing polo for more than three decades. She made her Gay Polo League International Tournament debut in April in Wellington and was one of the most dominant players among the men and women. Anier, along with Sue Sally Hale and her daughters Sunny and Stormie, won the first U.S. Women’s Open in 1990. “In the beginning, the men didn’t accept women players much,” Anier said. “Sunny Hale’s mom went through it, and there were already a lot of women playing in America. In France, France’s Caroline Anier during April’s GPL tournament in Wellington.
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June 2013 |wellington the magazine|
I was the only woman, but I never had any problems.” Then again, old prejudices die hard. “I’ve had some macho guys who hated it when I stole the ball away from them, but that still happens today,” Anier said with a laugh. “All my life it has been like that.” Juan Bollini felt her wrath throughout the two-day GPL tournament at Grand Champions. “She is a tough, tough player,” Bollini said. “She is very aggressive and a very good rider. I had to come out with my best to try to beat her.”