FOUR years ago Matt North was asked to come and try playing polocrosse by friends who told him he would enjoy it.
And isn’t he glad he took them up on the offer.
The Windsor resident has been selected to represent the NSW team which will compete against two American sides in a tri-series in the United States in June.
After being selected in a zone side last year North continued his rise to the state side despite only playing the game for a few years for his team, Canberra Royals.
The attacking player will take on America’s best in three rounds at Maryland, Alabama and Florida, but declared his the team to beat.
“They’ll be pretty strong but we’ll probably have the wood on them,” North said.
“The sport over there is expanding.
‘‘Like everything with the Americans, they latch onto something and they go bigger with it.”
The game was invented in Australia shortly after World War II and the Aussies are one of the world superpowers.
But the Americans will have an edge on their home turf.
“They’ll be using their own horses and we’ll be borrowing ours,” North said.
“It’s going to be pretty tough because you’ve got to be able to trust your horse.
“It’s pretty hard to get a good horse.
‘‘I’m pretty lucky with my one and he’s the third horse I’ve had.
‘‘My first two were all right but this one is pretty good.”
North said the sport, although strong in Australia, was not mainstream and was more similar to lacrosse than polo.
“Polo is more flowing whereas in this there’s a lot of stop-starting going on,” he said.
“This is a lot more physical than polo in that you get whacked with sticks.”
